Veteran Awami League leader and key Liberation War organizer Tofail Ahmed passed away at a hospital in the capital on Monday. He was 82.
Tofail Ahmed, an influential figure in Bangladesh's independence struggle and the historic 1969 mass uprising, breathed his last at around 4 pm at Square Hospital, according to family sources.
He is survived by his only daughter, Dr. Taslima Ahmed Zaman Munni. His wife, Anwara Ahmed, predeceased him on November 20 of last year.
Born on October 22, 1943, Ahmed rose to prominence as a frontline student leader. He served as the vice-president of the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) and was heavily involved in mobilizing the 1969 mass uprising in East Pakistan alongside supporting the historic 1966 Six-Point Movement.
During the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, he served as one of the organizers and chiefs of the Bangladesh Liberation Front (Mujib Bahini). In 1970, he also served as a political secretary to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
A veteran parliamentarian, Ahmed was elected as a Member of Parliament eight times between 1973 and 2024, representing the Bhola-1, Bhola-2, and Bakerganj-1 constituencies.
Throughout his long political career, he earned widespread respect across party lines for his sharp, constructive speeches during parliamentary debates on critical national issues.
Over the decades, Ahmed held several key cabinet portfolios. He served as the Minister for Commerce and Industries from June 1996 to December 1999, continuing exclusively as the Minister for Industries until 2001.
He later chaired the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Industry from 2009 to 2013 and briefly held the portfolios for Housing & Public Works and Industries from November 2013 to January 2014.
His final cabinet stint was as the Minister for Commerce from January 2014 to December 2018.
His political journey was also marked by significant hardships; following the political turnaround of 1975, he spent nearly five years imprisoned across various regional facilities, including jails in Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Cumilla, Barishal, Kushtia, and Rajshahi.
