Saifur Rahman killed in car crash

Veteran BNP leader M Saifur Rahman, who was Bangladesh's longest-serving finance minister, was pronounced dead at Brahmanbaria General Hospital on Saturday following a road accident. He was 77.

Pijush Kanti Acharya

bdnews24.com Brahmanbaria correspondent

Brahmanbaria, Sep 5 (bdnews24.com)—Veteran BNP leader M Saifur Rahman, who was Bangladesh's longest-serving finance minister, was pronounced dead at Brahmanbaria General Hospital on Saturday following a road accident.

His sudden death drew condolences from all quarters. President Zillur Rahman and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia were among the first to express their deep shock.

Rahman, 77, was critically injured after his car lost control on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway, his personal assistant Shamsul Haque told bdnews24.com.

He was rushed to the general hospital, where he was declared dead at around 3pm, doctors said.

Local police said the accident occurred at Khariala near Ashuganj when his car lost control and fell into a roadside ditch, sinking some 4-5 feet under water.

Local Awami League MP Lutful Hye Shacchu told bdnews24.com that the car met with the accident as it tried to avoid a cow on the road. "Saifur Rahman was wearing a seat belt. It took 10-12 minutes to get him out of the water by breaking the door of the car and cutting the seat belt," said Sachchu.

Five people accompanying the BNP leader were also injured in the accident.

Rahman was on his way to Dhaka from his hometown of Moulavi Bazar; he had gone to Sylhet on Friday to offer prayers at Hajrat Shahjalal's shrine, said personal aide Haque.

Rahman's body, released from the Brahmanbaria hospital morgue was driven in an ambulance, flanked by police, back to the family home in Dhaka.

It reached Jalalabad House, in Gulshan-2, at 7:45pm, where leaders from across the political spectrum paid respects alongside family, friends and supporters.

'Great loss'

In an instant reaction to Rahman's sudden death, BNP and opposition chief Khaleda Zia called it "an irreparable loss".

She cancelled her itinerary for the rest of the day, her press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel told bdnew24.com.

BNP also postponed all programmes, including a meeting of its parliamentary party scheduled for Saturday evening, and announced three days of mourning.

Prime minister, and Awami League chief, Sheikh Hasina was out of the country on Saturday; the ruling party's acting president Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury expressed condolences in a statement at the death of the veteran opposition leader.

Incumbent finance minister AMA Muhith also expressed deep sadness, terming Rahman's death a "great loss to the nation."

"Saifur Rahman was my friend and Sylhet has lost a son to be proud of," Muhith told bdnews24.com.

The US government also condoled the death in a message. "We recall Saifur Rahman's critical role in improving the lives and bringing prosperity to millions of Bangladeshis by opening Bangladesh's economy and promoting free market reforms," said a statement from the American Centre.

Eventful career

Rahman, a BNP standing committee member on his death, was elected to parliament four times in his political career, but was defeated in the latest 2008 parliamentary elections from two constituencies—Sylhet-1 and Moulvibazar-3—that he had contested.

A chartered accountant by profession, he was inducted into politics by the late president Ziaur Rahman, who appointed him as a technocrat minister. In 1979, he visited India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as special envoy of the president.

He had served as commerce minister during Zia's regime and as finance and planning minister in later times under BNP-led governments.

Rahman formulated 12 national budgets and during the 1991-96 BNP-led government, he introduced Value Added Tax (VAT) to Bangladesh.

He represented Bangladesh to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank for different terms between 1980 and 1996.

He led the Bangladesh finance and commerce delegations to EEC, ESCAP, Commonwealth, IFD, UNCTAD, Commonwealth, the World Bank and IMF.

Rahman also served as an elected chairman of International Monetary Fund and the World Bank's board of governors.

He represented Bangladesh in the NAM summit held in Columbia in 1995, and also headed the Bangladesh delegation to the OIC conference in Bosnia in 1995.

In course of his professional career, Rahman also served as a consultant to many national and international agencies on chemical, oil and gas, transport, banking and insurance.

Rahman was born in 1932 at Baharmardan village under Moulvibazar district in greater Sylhet.

He passed BA (Hons) from Dhaka University in 1953 and obtained fellowship in chartered accountancy in 1958 from the Institute of Chartered Accounts, UK.

Rahman has left behind three sons and a daughter.

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