AL holding doa and milad mahfil for Syed Ashraf today

Bangladesh Awami League will hold a doa and milad mahfil at Officers' Club in the capital today after Asr prayers for the salvation of the departed soul of noted politician Syed Ashraful Islam.

Ashraf, former general secretary of Bangladesh Awami League and public administration minister, passed away at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand around 9:45pm on January 3 after battling lung cancer.

His body was brought back home from Bangkok on Saturday evening.

Ashraf was laid to eternal rest next to his father Syed Nazrul Islam, who was the acting president of the Mujibnagar Government, at Banani graveyard in Dhaka on Sunday after three Namaz-e-Janaza in Dhaka, Kishoreganj and Mymensingh.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has requested all to attend the doa and milad mahfil.

Born and educated in Mymensingh, Ashraf was the general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League's (BCL) greater Mymensingh unit from 1968 to 1972. He also served as the assistant publicity secretary of the BCL central committee.

On November 3, 1975, his father Syed Nazrul Islam and three other national leaders were brutally killed inside Dhaka Central Jail. After the tragedy, Ashraf went to London and organised Bangladesh Awami League in the UK.

He came back home in 1996 and was elected a member of parliament. He served as the state minister for civil aviation and tourism from 1996 to 2001. He was also elected a parliament member in 2001 and became a member of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs.

In 2008, Ashraf was again elected a lawmaker and appointed the minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives. He took charge as minister for public administration on July 16, 2015. In the 11th parliamentary election on December 30, he was again elected but this time in absentia on account of his illness.

Ashraf was also engaged in various social welfare activities.