Shawkat Ali laid to rest
Former deputy speaker Col (retd) Shawkat Ali, who was one of the accused in the historic Agartala Conspiracy Case, was laid to rest with state honours at his village home at Naria, Shariatpur yesterday.
The valiant freedom fighter passed away at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka on Monday at the age of 83.
Before the burial, a gun salute was given by Bangladesh Army in honour of the war hero, who was the first director of the Army Ordnance Corps, Udoy Shawkat Ali, grandson of the deceased, told The Daily Star.
Earlier in the morning, the body of Shawkat was flown to Naria by a helicopter of the Armed Forces from CMH mortuary, he added.
The body was first taken to Shariatpur district stadium, then to his residence -- Shadhinata Bhaban -- around 11am.
Later the body was taken to Naria Shaheed Minar premises where people from all walks of life paid respect to the valiant freedom fighter and six times MP from Shariatpur-2 constituency.
Different political and socio-cultural organisations also paid their tributes by placing wreaths at his coffin.
His second namaj-e-janaja was held at Naria BL High School ground, attended by hundreds of people.
Shawkat was admitted to CMH on October 29 with pneumonia. He was put on life support on November 5, his grandson said. Shawkat left behind his wife, two sons, a daughter and a host of relatives and well-wishers.
In the Agartala Conspiracy Case before the country's independence, he was in jail for 13 months as an accused. On February 23, 2011, he told parliament the charges brought against them in the case were true.
The case, which had set a new course in the history of the country's independence struggle, was filed in early 1968 implicating Bangabandhu as the prime accused and 34 other Bangalee civil servants, army, navy and air force officers and politicians over "hatching a plot".
The case ultimately resulted in the fall of Gen Ayub Khan in 1969 and subsequently led the nation towards the 1971 Liberation War.
Shawkat was reinstated into the army after the formation of the Bangladesh Forces in 1971 to fight the Liberation War.
He was elected unanimously the deputy speaker of the ninth parliament on 25 January 2009, following a landslide victory of Awami League.
He was also a lawyer registered with the Supreme Court.
Shawkat had completed his LLB from University of Dhaka in 1958 before he joined the Pakistan Army as a commissioned officer the following year.
Comments