Freedom fighter Maj Ziauddin Ahmed. Photo: Collected

Freedom fighter Maj Ziauddin Ahmed who spearheaded battles against Pakistan occupation army in the Sundarbans during the Liberation War of 1971 has passed away at the age of 67.

He breathed his last at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore around 4:00am today, our Pirojpur correspondent reports quoting Shahanur Rahman Shamim, a nephew of Ziauddin.

Ziauddin was admiited to Square Hospitals in Dhaka on July 1 with liver complications, but was shifted to the Singapore based hospital for better treatment the next day.

Major Ziauddin, also known as an ‘emperor without a crown’ was very influential in the Sundarbans region and he was on a battle to eliminate local bandits.

He was injured during a gun battle with the forest's bandits in 2013.

The major, also the chairman of Dubla Fisheries Group, was born in an elite family in Pirojpur town in 1950s. His father Advocate Aftabuddin Ahmed was a chairman of Pirojpur municipality.

Ziauddin was the commanding officer for the First East Bengal Regiment fighting the 1971 war against Pakistan under Sector-9.

He was the municipality chairman in Pirojpur between 1989 and 1991.

The freedom fighter had later started a non-political organisation for the forest's protection.

He authored the book 'Muktijuddhe Sundarban', to provide his narrative of the events that shaped the freedom struggle in the forest region.