DACCA: A.K. Fazlul Huq, the grand old man of Pakistan, popularly known since the pre-Independence days as the Sher-i-Bengal, breathed his last in a Dacca Medical College Hospital cabin at 10.40 am yesterday at the ripe age of 89. The funeral prayers for the veteran politician and freedom-fighter will be held at the Outer Stadium here today.

He was in a drowsy condition for quite a few hours and in a semi-conscious state when he breathed his last. His wife and a daughter were at his bedside. His only son rushed to the hospital soon after the death of his father.

Mr Huq was admitted to the hospital on March 28 following an attack of uraemia and had been lying there since. He was running high temperature for the last five days due to lung infection; it rose to 102.2 degrees 40 minutes before the final hour.

The death brings to an end an eventful 50-year political career which culminated in his reading of the historic March 23, 1940, Pakistan Resolution at the Lahore meeting under the presidentship of the Quaid-i-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Soon the news of his death spread with lightning speed throughout the city and thousands of people thronged to the hospital.

The East Pakistan Governor, Lt-Gen Azam Khan, drove to the hospital immediately on hearing the news. He wept like a child, tears rolling down his cheeks, when he saw the leader in eternal sleep. He offered his Fateha at the hospital.