State Minister for Social Welfare Promode Mankin dies at 77

State Minister for Social Welfare Promode Mankin has died at a hospital in India at the age of 77.

The MP from Mymensingh was being treated at the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai.

His family said that he passed away on Wednesday early morning.

Mankin was elected a lawmaker from the Mymensingh -1 constituency four times from the ruling Awami League.

President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed their condolences over the death.

Mankin, who belonged to the ethnic ‘Garo’ community, entered politics in 1991 by joining the Awami League.

A Christian by faith, he was born on Apr 18, 1939, in Netrokona’s Durgapur Upazila.

After completing his BA from Dhaka’s Notore Dame College in 1963, Mankin went to the Mymensingh Teachers’ Training College for a BEd before starting his career as a schoolteacher.

He later obtained an LLB degree and became a member of the Mymensingh Bar Association.

According to his bio-data posted on the social welfare ministry’s website, Mankin was one of the key organisers of the refugee camp in India’s Meghalaya State during the Liberation War.

He was in charge of the camp, which housed 50,000 Bangladeshis during the 1971 war.

Apart from being a lawyer, Mankin was also involved in the development sector. He worked for the NGO ‘Caritas’ for three years in the late 80s.

After the HM Ershad regime was toppled in 1990, Mankin entered politics and got elected as an MP in the 1991 national elections from the Awami League.

He was elected for another three terms in the 2001, 2008 and 2014 polls from the Mymensingh- 1 constituency (Haluaghat-Dhobaura).

During the 2009-14 Awami League government, he was made the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs.

He was then appointed as the state minister for cultural affairs and then was tasked to handle the social welfare ministry.

The portfolio remained with him when the Awami League came to power for second consecutive term in 2014.

He was in charge of social welfare after the minister Syed Mohsin Ali died last year.

Apart from law and politics, Mankin was also a rights activist. He was involved with several organisations pressing for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities.

Mankin is survived by his wife, five daughters and a son.

The social welfare ministry said that Mankin’s body will arrive in Dhaka on Thursday.

It will be taken to his official residence in Baily Road before a prayer service at the Catholic Church in Ramna.

The Awami League leader’s body will be then kept at the Central Shaheed Minar for people to pay respect.

It will be then taken to the Parliament premises for paying tribute and a prayer service.

The family will then take the mortal remains to Mymensingh for another prayer service at the Central Catholic Church in the town.

Mankin will be buried on Friday at Haluaghat Upazila town, his constituency, after a prayer service at the Haluaghat Model School’s ground.