Dhaka: The body of recitation artist Kazi Arif arrived in Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at about 9:00am on Tuesday, said Bangladesh Recitation Coordination Council president Golam Quddus.

The family members of Kazi Arif, who was also a freedom fighter, received the body from the airport.

The body of the architect will be kept at Central Shaheed Minar from about 11:00am to 1:00pm, where people will pay their respect.

After paying last tribute, the second namaj-e-janaza wil be held on the compound of Dhaka University central mosque.

Arif’s body will be taken to his daughter Anushuya’s residence in Dhanmondi. Later, it will be buried at Uttara sector-4 on the grave of his mother.

Bangladesh Recitation Coordination Council General Secretary Ahkam Ullah said Kazi Arif was declared ‘clinically dead’ at about Bangladesh time 10:30am on 29 April. The physicians will remove the life support at about New York time 8:30am on 30 April.

The first namaz-e-janaza of Kazi Arif, also an architect, held at New York’s Jamaica Muslim Centre after the Magrib prayer.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her deep shock at the death of freedom fighter Kazi Arif.

Kazi Arif was born on 31 October, 1952 in Faridpur’s Rajbarhi and grew up in Chittagong city. He is a cultural figure and writer as well. He fought under the command of Sector Commander Major Rafiqul Islam in 1971.

After the war he began studying at BUET and continued his work in the fields of literature, arts and culture and became one of the most renowned recitation artists in Bangladesh.