National Professor Sufia Ahmed died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Dhaka. She was 87.

Sufia, also a Language Movement veteran and wife of former advisor to the caretaker government Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed, was a professor at the Islamic history and culture department of Dhaka University.

She died at United Hospital in Dhaka at about 8:50pm on Thursday, 9 April 2020, Advocate Md Asaduzzaman, a member of Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed and Associates, confirmed.

She is survived by her son and daughter to mourn her death. She was buried at Banani graveyard.

Prof Sufia Ahmed took part in the Language Movement in 1952. She was one of the female forerunners to break the Section 144 on Dhaka University campus on February 21.

She was awarded with Ekushey Padak in 2002 and Sufia Kamal Award in 2015.