Published : 07 Nov 2025, 06:52 AM
Updated : 21 Aug 2026, 02:41 PM
Former finance and foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali in Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet, who served as the chief foreign representative of the Mujibnagar government in 1971, has died at the age of 82.
BIRDEM Hospital in Dhaka confirmed that Mahmood died on Thursday at 3:55pm while undergoing treatment.
The 82-year-old had been admitted to the hospital’s ICU for the past two weeks with kidney complications.
Awami League’s Relief and Social Welfare Secretary Aminul Islam Amin told bdnews24.com, “He died on Thursday evening at the BIRDEM Hospital. His funeral prayer will be held at 8am on Friday in front of his residence in Dhanmondi, followed by burial at Banani Graveyard.”
A career foreign service officer, Ali served as high commissioner to the UK before his retirement in 2001. He had served as ambassador to Germany and Bhutan. He was additional foreign secretary for bilateral affairs, a role that gave him the opportunity to serve prime minister Khaleda Zia on her major trips abroad, including India and Pakistan.
As ambassador to Bhutan, he befriended King Jigme Singye Wangchuk and took Dhaka-Thimpu relations to new heights.
In 1971, while serving as second secretary at Pakistan’s UN mission in New York, he defected to Bangladesh. A two-year antedated seniority as a freedom fighter meant he worked in Bangladesh’s foreign service till the age of 59.
Mahmud Ali was a four-time elected MP from Dinajpur-4 and last served as finance minister in the previous Awami League government. He also held portfolios as minister of disaster management from September 2012 to November 2013 and foreign minister until January 2019.
During his tenure as foreign minister, he oversaw the resolution of the maritime boundary case with India and the exchange of enclaves.
Born on Jun 2, 1943, in Doctorpara village of Khansama, Dinajpur, Ali earned his Honours in 1962 and Master’s in 1963 in Economics from Dhaka University, then joined the university as a lecturer in 1964. He left academia in 1966 to join the Pakistan Foreign Service.
During the 1971 Liberation War, he played a pivotal role on the diplomatic front. After being posted to New York in 1968, he mobilised the Bangladeshi community in the US and defected from Pakistan in April 1971 to join the independence struggle.
In May 1971, he was appointed Bangladesh’s representative to the US for the Mujibnagar government and served as executive assistant to Chief Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury of the UN delegation.
After independence, Ali held several diplomatic positions, including deputy high commissioner in Beijing, ambassador to Bhutan, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Nepal, and high commissioner to the UK. He was also Bangladesh’s first ambassador to Ireland.
As additional foreign secretary in 1992, he signed the three-bigha corridor implementation agreement with India and participated in negotiations on the repatriation of Myanmar refugees the same year.
After retiring from government service in April 2001, Ali joined the Awami League, continuing his contributions to Bangladesh’s political and diplomatic spheres.
