Ali, Sheikh Razzaque
Ali, Sheikh Razzaque (1928-2015) lawyer, politician, MP and speaker of the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad (House of the Nation). He was born in 1928 in Hitampur Union, Paikgacha upazilla of Khulna division. His father Sheikh Entaj Ali was a businessman, who was passionate about his son receiving higher education. Razzaque Ali obtained Bachelors degree from Brajalal Hindu Academy, (later on named Brajalal College), Daulatpur under Calcutta University and Masters in Economics in 1952 from the University of Dhaka. He then studied Law simultaneously working as Reporter in The Daily Pakistan Post (1953) and as Chief Reporter of The Daily Pakistan Observer (1954). After completing Law degree he left for Khulna and joined the Khulna Bar. Very soon he made name and fame as a prominent lawyer in civil cases and in labor, banking and shipping litigation's. In the midst of busy legal profession he obtained second Masters in Bangla from the University of Dhaka in 1967.
He was elected Secretary and President of Khulna Bar Association in 1964 and 1972 respectively. He was also elected President of the Jashore High Court Bar Association (1980s). As an educationist, Razzaque Ali actively participated in founding the Khulna City Law College (1965) and had taught there. Initially he was the Vice-Principal and later, the Principal of the College from 1970 till 1991. Besides founding a number of colleges and high schools, he was involved in the founding of the Sunderban College in Khulna city (1969) and initiated its nationalization in the 1990s.
Razzaque Ali’s involvement in politics began with his participation in the language movement in 1952 as a student of the University of Dhaka, while residing at the Iqbal Hall (later, Sergeant Zahurul Haque Hall). In Khulna, he joined the National Awami Party (NAP) headed by Maulana Bhashani. During the Liberation War in 1971, he went to Kolkata after his house was raided and ransacked by the Pakistan army in June. In Kolkata he worked with the International Red Cross for the treatment of the wounded Freedom Fighters at the Hasnabad and Bashirhat camps.
Razzaque Ali was elected President of the Khulna District Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) during the period from 1979 to 1996. He was elected member of the Bangladesh Parliament three times in 1979, 1991 and 1996. He was State Minister for Law for a brief period, then became the Deputy Speaker of the Fifth Parliament in 1991. In the same year, he was elected Speaker for the rest of the period till 1995. He was re-elected Speaker of the Sixth Parliament in 1996. Razzaque Ali contributed greatly to the twelfth amendment to the Constitution adopted on 6 August, 1991 introducing Presidential to Parliamentary system. He also drafted the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, passed on 26 March 1996, which introduced a non-party Caretaker Government system. As Deputy Speaker and Speaker, Razzaque Ali earned reputation of handling the often turbulent Parliament in a non bias manner with wisdom, wit and a decent sense of humour. In 2002-2003, he was the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to the United Kingdom. He joined the Liberal Democratic Party in 2006 but soon lost interest in politics. He remained active with the founding of the Lions’ Club Eye Hospital and other educational and charitable organizations he had been associated with in Khulna till his death in June, 2015.
Razzaque Ali had represented Bangladesh at the United Nations in 1980 as team leader on the formation of a constitution of the Least Developed Countries Group. Later on, in 1995, the year of the Golden Jubilee of the United Nations, he headed a team from Bangladesh and delivered a speech on the framing of the United Nations Charter. He was member and later Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and headed Parliamentary delegations of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) to several countries. He had organized the Speakers’ Conference of the SAARC countries. He was married to Begum Majeda Ali, a social worker and an educationist. They have five daughters.
He died on 7 June 2015. [Rana Razzaque]
