Mohammed Nasim (2 April 1948 – 13 June 2020) was a

Bangladesh Awami League Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

politician who served as the

Minister of Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

and Minister of Health and Family Welfare for the

Government of Bangladesh The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Co ...

respectively during 1999–2001 and 2014–2019. He was a 6-term

Jatiya Sangsad The Jatiya Sangsad ( bn, জাতীয় সংসদ, lit=National Parliament, translit=Jatiyô Sôngsôd), often referred to simply as the ''Sangsad'' or JS and also known as the House of the Nation, is the supreme legislative body of B ...

member representing the

Sirajganj-1 Sirajganj-1 is a constituency represented in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) of Bangladesh since 2014 by Mohammed Nasim of the Awami League. Boundaries The constituency encompasses Kazipur Upazila and five union parishads of Sirajga ...

and Sirajganj-2 constituencies. He was a presidium member of Awami League and the spokesperson of the 14-party alliance.

Early life

Nasim was born on 2 April 1948, to a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...

family of Sarkars hailing from Kuripara in

Qazipur Qazipur () is one of the 44 union councils, administrative subdivisions, of Haripur District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country ...

Sirajganj Sirajganj ( bn, সিরাজগঞ্জ) is a city in north-western Bangladesh on the right bank of the Jamuna River. It is the administrative headquarters of Sirajganj District, and with a population of 167,200 is the fourteenth most popul ...

(then under

Pabna District Pabna District ( bn, পাবনা জেলা) is a district in central Bangladesh. It is an economically important district in Bangladesh. Its administrative capital is the eponymous Pabna town. History Archeologist Cunningham conjectured ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

. His parents were

Muhammad Mansur Ali Muhammad Mansur Ali (16 January 1917 – 3 November 1975) was a Bangladeshi politician who was a close confidant of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh. A senior leader of the Awami League, Mansur also served as the Prime ...

and Amena Monsur. Ali served as the 3rd

Prime Minister of Bangladesh The Prime Minister of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের প্রধানমন্ত্রী, translit=Bangladesher Prodhanmontri), officially Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজা� ...

in 1975 and was one of the four leaders killed in the

Dhaka Central Jail Dhaka Central Jail was the largest jail in Bangladesh, located in the old section of Dhaka, the country's capital. The jail has been used to house criminals as well as political prisoners, especially during the Language Movement of 1952, the 6 ...

as a part of the coup d'état on 7 November 1975. He studied at Edward College in Pabna. He was a leader of Chhatra Union, the student wing of Communist Party. In 1966,

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengali politi ...

went to Pabna for Six-point movement rally after which he visited the home of Mansur Ali where he learned Nasim was a leader of Chhatra Union. At Rahman's request, Nasim attended a program of Chhatra League, the student wing of Awami League, and subsequently joined the organization. In 1967, Nasim was elected to the Edward College Students’ Union. Nasim moved to Dhaka in 1969 and got admitted to Jagannath College. During the Bangladesh Liberation war, Nasim worked for the Mijubnagar government, the Bangladesh government in exile, in which his father was a minister. He graduated in political science from the college. Capt Monsur Ali was killed in the Dakha central on 3rd November 1975 Md REZAUL KARIM New York

Career

Nasim became the joint secretary of Pabna District unit of Awami League after the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. He sought the nomination of Awami League for the 1973 parliamentary election but lost out to a more senior politician. He was made a presidium member of Bangladesh Jubo League, the youth wing of Awami League. Following the formation of

BAKSAL Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ কৃষক শ্রমিক আওয়ামী লীগ "Bangladesh Worker-Peasant's People's League"; বাকশাল) was a political front comprising B ...

in 1975, he was appointed its general secretary. He fled to India after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the

15 August 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

. His father was arrested and subsequently killed extra judicially in prison. Nasim was imprisoned on his return to Bangladesh. In 1982, Nasim was made a presidium member of Awami League. He was elected to the parliament for the first time in 1986 representing the

constituency. He was re-elected in 1996 from the same constituency. Nasim was appointed Public Works, Post and Telecommunications Minister in June 1996. Nasim took over the home ministry as well when the incumbent Rafiqul Islam was sacked in March 1999. On 12 November 2006, he was injured after police baton charged a rally of Awami League. In February 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) published a list of 50 persons of top corrupt suspects which included Nasim's name. The 50 were asked to submit their wealth statements at the ACC office within 72 hours of receiving the notification. Nasim was arrested by the joint forces on 5 February 2007. On 8 October, he was sentenced to 13 years in jail by a special anti-graft court. His wife, Laila Arzumand Banu, was also sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment for aiding him in amassing the wealth illegally. Following the charges and convictions, Nasim did not get the Awami League nomination at the

2008 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 29 December 2008. The two main parties in the election were the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, and the Bangladesh Awami League Party, led by Sheikh Hasina. The Bangladesh Aw ...

. Instead, Nasim's son, Tanvir Shakil Joy, got the nomination and won the election subsequently Nasim was elected to the parliament from

in 2014. He was appointed the minister of Health and Family Affairs.

Personal life and death

Nasim and Laila Arjumand Banu had three sons including Tanvir Shakil Joy. On 1 June 2020, Nasim was hospitalized in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

after testing positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. Four days later, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage during his treatment. On 13 June, he died while being treated at the hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasim, Mohammed 1948 births 2020 deaths People from Sirajganj District Jagannath University alumni Awami League politicians Home Affairs ministers of Bangladesh Health and Family Welfare ministers of Bangladesh 3rd Jatiya Sangsad members 5th Jatiya Sangsad members 7th Jatiya Sangsad members 8th Jatiya Sangsad members 10th Jatiya Sangsad members 11th Jatiya Sangsad members Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh Pabna Edward College alumni 20th-century Bengalis 21st-century Bengalis