Sayed Ashraful Islam ( – 3 January 2019) 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. He was the General Secretary of the

party. He served as a member of parliament and minister of public administration of 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 Con ...

. Islam also served for a time as Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.

Early life

Syed Ashraful Islam was the eldest son of Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of the Mujibnagar government in 1971. Islam was a

Mukti Bahini 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 ...

member during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. He was involved in politics from the student life. He became the General Secretary of greater

Mymensingh Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is the capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center and educational hub of north- ...

District Chhatra League and assistant publicity secretary of the central unit. He also worked as the Acting General Secretary of Awami League after the arrest of its general secretary, Abdul Jalil. He was also working as the spokesman of Bangladesh Awami League Party before serving as General Secretary of the Awami League.

Political career

In 1975, following the killing of Islam's father in prison along with three other national leaders, he immigrated to the United Kingdom and lived in

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

. Whilst living in Tower Hamlets, he was involved in Bangladeshi community activism and played an important role in formation of Bangladesh Youth League (BYL). He was elected as an Education Secretary of Federation of Bangladeshi Youth Organisation (FBYO) and worked at an education project based at Montefiore Centre in Tower Hamlets. Before immigrating to the United Kingdom, he completed Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) in 1973 from Mymensingh Zillah School. He returned to Bangladesh in 1996 and was elected Member of Parliament (MP) from his home constituency, Kishoreganj Sadar, in the 7th national elections of Bangladesh. He was elected an MP in the 2001 election as well. He worked as a member of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign ministry. His electoral pledges include building up developed road and rail link from Dhaka to his home town, Kishoreganj. He was part of a committee to study the judicial pay scale. Ashraful was re-elected from

Kishoreganj-1 Kishoreganj-1 is a constituency represented in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) of Bangladesh from 2008 to 2018 by Sayed Ashraful Islam of the Awami League. His death in January 2019, days after his re-election, will trigger a by-election. ...

constituency in the 11th parliamentary election which was held on 30 December 2018.

Controversy

Islam questioned the role of Bangladesh in the Saudi-led military alliance against terror. He has criticised Bangladesh Bank and the Finance Ministry for the high rate of interest.

Criticism of Muhammad Yunus

Islam is known for his attacks on

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make o ...

and

Grameen Bank Grameen Bank ( bn, গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance organisation and community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requi ...

founder

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance ...

. In 2012, while addressing a program for farmers of cooperatives, he said:

His (Yunus's) basic subject is economics and he introduced microcredit programme, but did not get Nobel Prize in economics, ... He (Yunus) got Nobel Prize for Peace. But which war has he stopped with his activities and in which continent has he established peace through his microcredit program? These days many of us know how one gets Nobel Prize. There are some countries in the world and a person's popularity increases once one has chips, cheese sandwiches and white wine in those countries.

Criticism of American diplomats

Islam also criticised American diplomats. In the same gathering where he criticised Muhammad Yunus, he criticised Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

for a TV program on ATN Bangla, alleging that she and the moderator, Munni Saha, were "attempting to undermine Bangladesh." In 2014, in a meeting in

Khulna Khulna ( bn, খুলনা, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of Khulna District and Khulna Division. Khulna's economy is the third-largest in Bangladesh, contributing $53 ...

, Islam called the US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal, who was on an official visit to Bangladesh, "a minister of two pennies," and added that said she "cannot change the power in Bangladesh." On the same occasion, he belittled the US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Dan Mozena, calling him "maid Marzina."

Illness

In November 2018, Islam was diagnosed with stage-4 lung cancer. He died on 3 January 2019 in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, Thailand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Islam, Sayed Ashraful 1952 births 2019 deaths Awami League politicians General Secretaries of Awami League 9th Jatiya Sangsad members Mukti Bahini personnel Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives ministers Public Administration ministers of Bangladesh Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in Thailand State Ministers of Tourism and Civil Aviation (Bangladesh) People from Kishoreganj District 10th Jatiya Sangsad members Bangladeshi people of Arab descent