Life sketch of Lt. Col. (rtd) Akbar Hossain

Dhaka, June 25 (BDNEWS) - Lt. Col. (rtd) Akbar Hossain, who was elected from Comilla-8 Constituency in the 2001 general election, was born on January 18, 1941 in Comilla.

He joined politics actively in 1974. Akbar valiantly participated in the liberation war in Sector 2 before joining Ziaur Rahman's Z-Force.

Later, he was awarded with the Bir Protic gallantry for his heroic contribution in the liberation war.

Akbar Hossain was one of pioneers during the establishment of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 1978 and led Bangladesh in the UN Security Council Election in New York on the same year.

He was appointed as the Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources in 1978 and was elected Member of Parliament from the Comilla-8 constituency in 1979. He was also elected MP in 1991, 1996 and the last 2001 elections.

On September 13, 1993, he was appointed as the Minister for Environment and Forest and later on October 10, 2001, he was appointed as the Shipping Minister.

Akbar was jailed for five times during the autocratic regime.

He was the senior vice chairman of BNP and chief adviser to the Bangladesh Muktijoddhha Sangsad.

BDNEWS/0005 hrs