Col. Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Shawkat Ali (27 January 193716 November 2020) was a Bangladeshi politician who served as a deputy speaker of the

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 ...

. He was a member of the Awami League. He was one of the accused in the historic Agartala Conspiracy Case and a freedom fighter in the Liberation War of Bangladesh.

Early life

Ali was born in

Shariatpur Shariatpur ( bn, শরিয়তপুর জেলা, ''Shariatpur Jela'' also ''Shariatpur Zila'') is a district in the Dhaka Division of central Bangladesh. It is bounded by Munshiganj district on the north, Barisal district on the south, Ch ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(now in Bangladesh), to Munshi Mobarak and Maleka Begum. He was the eldest son among nine children. Shawkat completed his

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from Comilla Law College under the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...

in 1958 before he joined the Pakistan Army as a commissioned officer the following year.

Agartala Conspiracy Case

Ali was a captain in 1968 when he was ''Accused No. 26'' of the 35 implicated in the

Agartala Conspiracy Case The Agartala Conspiracy Case was a sedition case in Pakistan during the rule of Ayub Khan against Awami League, brought by the government of Pakistan in 1968 against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then leader of the Awami League and East Pakistan ...

as a conspirator to secede

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

from Pakistan. Initially, he was supposed to be tried before a court-martial, but the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territorie ...

felt they would benefit more from a civil trial. The charges were dropped the next year amidst public protest; Ali was still forced to retire in 1969. Although it was largely thought that the case was only meant to frame

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 ...

and others, in 2010, and on the anniversary of the withdrawal of the case on 22 February 2011, Ali confessed to the Parliament at a point of order that the charges read out to them were accurate, stating that they formed a ''Shangram Parishad'' (action committee) under Rahman for the sedition and secession of East Pakistan.

Time in the Bangladesh Army

After Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan and the war broke out, Ali was reinstated into the army after the formation of the

Bangladesh Forces The Mukti Bahini ( bn, মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as 'freedom fighters', or liberation army), also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary ...

in 1971 to fight the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was forced to retire the second time when he was a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

in 1975 working as the Director of Ordnance Services following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, since he was close to Mujib.

Political career

Ali was elected to parliament in the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, 1996, 2001 and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

general elections. During his time in office, he has served in various parliamentary committees, including the Standing Committee on Ministry of Shipping and Committee on Private Members Bills and Resolutions as their chairman between 1996 and 2001. He was also a lawyer registered under the Supreme Court. Ali was selected the Deputy Speaker of the ninth parliament on 25 January 2009, following a landslide Awami League victory. When Speaker

Abdul Hamid ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd (ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الحميد) is a Muslim male given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Ḥamīd'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which gave rise t ...

was acting President and later elected President, Ali was Acting Speaker of National Parliament. During his time as the Deputy Speaker, Ali chaired many sessions of the parliament when the Speaker

was absent.

Personal life

Ali authored two books, one in English and the other in Bangla, both about the Agartala Conspiracy Case. He was married and had two sons, Firoze Shawkat Ali, Khaled Shawkat Ali, and a daughter, Marina Shawkat Ali.

Death

Ali died on 16 November 2020 at the age of 83.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Shawkat 1937 births 2020 deaths People from Naria Upazila University of Dhaka alumni People of the Bangladesh Liberation War Bangladesh Army colonels Awami League politicians Deputy Speakers of the Jatiya Sangsad 5th Jatiya Sangsad members 8th Jatiya Sangsad members 7th Jatiya Sangsad members 9th Jatiya Sangsad members 10th Jatiya Sangsad members Pakistan Army officers