ZCZC
BSS-37
SHAWKAT-ALI-BURIAL
Former Deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali laid to rest
DHAKA, Nov 17, 2020 (BSS) – Former Deputy Speaker and one of the accused in the Agartala Conspiracy Case and freedom fighter Col (retd) Shawkat Ali was laid to rest today.
The veteran freedom fighter was buried at his family graveyard at his ancestral village Dakkin Naria after the second namaz-e-janaza on Naria BL High School premises.
An Army helicopter carrying Shawkat Ali’s body landed at Shariatpur Dhanuka Stadium at around 10:40 am and later, he was taken to his village in Naria this afternoon.
Shawkat Ali’s body was kept at the Naria Shaheed Minar from 11 am so that people of all walks of life could pay last homage to him.
After the namaz-e-janaza at Naria BL High School, he was laid to rest in the family graveyard after Zohr prayers.
Deputy Minister for Water Resources Ministry and Shariatpur-2 constituency lawmaker AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem, Shariatpur-1 MP Iqbal Hossain Apu and Shariatpur district Awami League president and Zilla parishad chairman Chabedur Rahman Khoka Sikder took part in the janaza.
Shawkat Ali died of old aged complications at the Dhaka Combined Military Hospital (CMH) at 9:30 am on Monday last at the age of 84.
He, also a member of the Awami League, was kept on life support prior to his demise.
He was admitted to the Dhaka CMH on October 29 due to various old age-related complications including pneumonia, kidney and heart related problems.
Shawkat Ali was elected MP from Shariatpur-2 constituency six times.
He was born in Shariatpur, British India (now Bangladesh), to Munshi Mobarak and Maleka Begum.
Shawkat Ali was a captain in 1968 when he was Accused No. 26 of the 35 implicated in the Agartala Conspiracy Case as a conspirator to secede East Pakistan from Pakistan.
Initially he was supposed to be tried before a court-martial, but the Government of Pakistan felt they would benefit more from a civil trial.
The charges were dropped the next year amidst public protest and Shawkat was forced to retire in 1969.
Shawkat was reinstated into the army after the formation of the Bangladesh Forces in 1971 to fight the Bangladesh Liberation War.
BSS/CORR/MSH/SRH/RY/18:55hrs