Khasru, Abdul Matin
Khasru, Abdul Matin (1950-2021) politician, Member of Parliament, Freedom Fighter, and lawyer. Khasru was born on 12 February 1950 at Mirpur village of Brahmanpara upazila in Comilla district. His father name is Abdul Malek and mother is Jahanara Begum. They were four brothers and three sisters. He passed Matriculation from Madhavpari High School, Comilla in 1966; Intermediate from Comilla Victoria College in 1968; B.Com from the same College in 1970; and LLB from Comilla Law College in 1976. He did post-graduation in social welfare from the University of Dhaka.
Khasru had been involved in the politics of East Pakistan Chhatra League since his student days. He was engaged in Bangladesh Awami Jubo League during 1974-1983, and the Bangladesh Awami League from 1980. He served as the Legal Affairs Secretary of the Central Committee of the party for three consecutive terms. Finally, he was a member of the highest policy-making forum, the Presidium of the Bangladesh Awami League. He actively participated in the Liberation War in 1971 and was the Commander of Freedom Fighters of the undivided Burichang police station in Comilla district. Apart from politics, he was a lawyer by profession. He joined the legal profession at the Comilla Judge Court in 1978 and started practicing in the High Court Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court in 1982. In 2021, he was elected President of the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association and served until his death.
He was elected Member of Parliament from Comilla-5 constituency on the nomination of the Bangladesh Awami League in 1991, 1996, 2008, 2014, and 2018 elections. In the Fifth Jatiya Sangsad (1991), he served as a member of the Standing Committee on the Ministry of Relief and Disaster Management. In 1996, he served as Minister for Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs on Sheikh Hasina’s first government. Under the guidance of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he raised a bill in the Parliament to repeal the infamous ‘Indemnity Ordinance’ enacted in 1975 to prevent the trial of the brutal killers of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his family members. He was the first to introduce a participatory approach to the legislative process in the Bangladesh Parliament, involving stakeholders including civil society. In 1999, the first pocket edition of the Constitution was published under his initiative.
In 2008, he served as the Chairman of the Committee on Private Members’ Bills and Resolutions and as a member of the Standing Committee on the Ministry for Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs and the Standing Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources in the Ninth Jatiya Sangsad (2009-2014). In the 10th Jatiya Sangsad in 2014, he first served as the Chairman of the Committee on Estimates and later as the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Ministry for Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs and as a member of the Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure. At the time of his death, he was serving as the Chairman of the Standing Committee on the Ministry for Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs and a member of the Committee on Private Members’ Bills Resolution in the 11th Bangladesh Parliament (2018- ).
Khasru served as Vice President of the Asian African Legal Consultative Committee, Member of the Parliamentary Global Action Committee, and Standing Committee Member of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties. He was a life member of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, the Bangladesh Diabetic Society (Dhaka), and the Bangladesh Apex Club. He was the founding mentor of the Bangladesh Institute of Democracy and Development (BIDD) in 2009.
He helped establish many educational institutions, including four colleges, three secondary schools, and madrasas in his constituency. He was involved in various social activities in the area.
He was infected with the COVID-19 virus and died on 14 April 2021, while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Combined Military Hospital. His wife’s name is Selina Sobhan Khasbu. They have a son and a daughter. [Sharif Ahmed Chowdhury]
