BNP leader Moudud Ahmed dies aged 81

Senior BNP leader Moudud Ahmed, a lawyer and former minister, has died in a Singapore hospital at the age of 81.

A member of the party’s policymaking body National Standing Committee, Moudud passed away at Mount Elizabeth Hospital around 6:30pm on Tuesday.

Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir confirmed the news of Moudud’s death to bdnews24.com citing a relative of the former minister.   

Moudud was suffering from kidney and lung complications. He was admitted to the hospital on Feb 1.

Moudud, a key figure in Bangladesh’s politics, was one of the founding members of the BNP. He had worked as deputy prime minister during BNP founder General Ziaur Rahman’s rule and then as the vice-president during the tenure of Jatiya Party founder General HM Ershad.

He was admitted to Evercare Hospital in Dhaka on Dec 30 last year after the count of haemoglobin in his blood dropped and he felt chest pain. The doctors put a pacemaker in his heart on Jan 7 before he was taken to the Singapore hospital.

Mominur Rahman Sujon, an aide to Moudud, said the BNP leader was being treated at the intensive care unit in a critical condition for some days.

Excess fluid in his lungs impeded his ability to breathe in oxygen while he was undergoing dialysis for kidney complications, according to Sujon.

President Md Abdul Hamid has mourned the lawyer and extended sympathy to his family.

Mirza Fakhrul described Moudud’s demise as an “irreparable damage” to the nation. “He was like a guardian of the country,” said the BNP secretary general.  

Born in Noakhali’s Companyganj Upazila, Moudud received his bar-at-law degree in London after studying in Dhaka University.

A son-in-law of poet Jasimuddin, Barrister Moudud was in the legal team that defended Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the Agartala Conspiracy Case. Moudud was made the first postmaster general of Bangladesh after independence.

Later, he joined Bangladesh’s first military ruler Ziaur Rahman’s regime and played a key role in forming the BNP.

After Gen Zia’s assassination, he joined hands with Gen Ershad. Besides vice-president, he worked as minister, deputy prime minister and prime minister at that time.

He remained in the Jatiya Party after Ershad’s ouster from power in 1990 and returned to the BNP after conceding defeat in the 1996 parliamentary elections.

In the 2001-2006 tenure of the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami government, he was law minister.

Elected MP for six times, Moudud penned several books on law and contemporary politics. They include ‘Sayettosashon Theke Swadhinata’, ‘Bangladesh: Sheikh Mujibur Rahmaner Shasonkal, ‘Ganatantra O Unnoyoner Challenge – Prekkhapot: Bangladesher Rajneeti O Samorik Shason’ ‘A Study of the Democratic Regimes’, ‘Karagare Kemon Chhilam’, and ‘Bangladesh: Emergency and Aftermath 2007-2008’.

CONDOLENCES

Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the BNP, has mourned Moudud.

Barrister Abul Hasnat, one of the founding members of the BNP now staying in London, said, “The nation has lost an experienced politician and legal expert which is an irreparable loss.”

His colleague in the BNP Standing Committee, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain recalled the colourful political career of Moudud. “He was a guardian for us, the BNP,” he said.

Zafrullah Chowdhury, trustee of Ganashasthaya Kendra, said, “The nation has lost a valiant organiser of the Liberation War and veteran politician.”

BNP Standing Committee members Zamir Uddin Sircar, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku have also sent condolences to the family of Moudud.

Kader Siddique of the Krishak Sramik Janata League, Oli Ahmad of the Liberal Democratic Party, Mostafa Jamal Haider of the Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar), and other leaders of the BNP-led 20-Party Alliance have also mourned Moudud.