Former Political Adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Bangabandhu Parishad President Dr SA Malek died of a massive heart attack at a city hospital on Tuesday night at the age of 86.
Malek, also a former lawmaker from Faridpur-1 constituency, breathed his last at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital at 11:30pm on Tuesday, Bangabandhu Parishad Presidium Member and senior Journalist Ajit Kumar Sarkar told BSS.
He is survived by two sons and two daughters, and a host of relatives and admirers.
Malek was born on August 18, 1936, at Tangail while his father late Al-haj Sheikh Abdur Razzak was posted there as a forest officer.
His ancestral home is village Syed Mahalla of Mulghar union under Fakirhat Police Station in Bagerhat district.
In 1954, he passed the matriculation examination from the local Khararia English High School.
He passed his ISc from PC College of Bagerhat in 1956 and had his BSc degree from Dhaka University in 1958.
Later, he obtained his MBBS degree from Dhaka Medical College. He was a meritorious student. Being a conscious politician, he took an active part in all the democratic movements of the country right from the historic language movement in 1952.
Malek considers his participation in Bangladesh's glorious War of Liberation to be the greatest event of his life.
As a dissenting political worker, he had to suffer repression and imprisonment due to political reasons at various times in his life.
In 1973, he was elected parliament member as the Awami League nominee from Faridpur-1 (Goalondo-Rajbari) constituency.
Dr Malek played a very vital role in putting up an effective resistance movement after Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brutally killed along with most of his family members on August 15, 1975.
For this reason, he was compelled to take refugee outside of the country at one stage. After returning home in 1980, he concentrated on properly reorganizing the Bangabandhu Parishad.
He performed the responsibility of the general secretary of the organization for the last two and a half decades and presently was performing as its president.
Dr Malek has played a pivotal role in uniting all progressive intellectuals of the country who uphold the spirit of independence, democracy and the War of Liberation.
He was loyal to the ideology of Bangabandhu, honest, courageous, and averse to publicity.
He earned fame as an effective allopathic doctor in his early career. Later, he developed himself as a specialist homeopathic and an eminent columnist.
Malek was made the Political Adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 1996. He was the author of the Stream of Thoughts: Part I, II and III, Abarudha Ganotantrer Du Dashak, Rajniti.
PM condoles death of Dr SA Malek
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday expressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of Awami League Advisory Council member and Bangabandhu Parishad President Dr SA Malek.
In a condolence message, Sheikh Hasina said that Dr SA Malek, who was also former political adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former lawmaker from Faridpur-1 constituency, was also a very close associate of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
She recalled that Dr SA Malek played a very important role in all the movements and struggles for the establishment of independent Bangladesh, including the language movement and the six-point movement under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib.
Sheikh Hasina added that he participated in the Great War of Liberation and played an active role in all the political activities of that time.
The prime minister prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.
