Eminent economist, local government expert, and former Cabinet Secretary Bir Muktijoddha (Freedom Fighter) Dr. Kamal Siddiqui has passed away (Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un). He breathed his last early Monday morning at his residence in Gulshan, Dhaka. He was 80 years old.
His funeral prayer (janaza) will be held after Asr prayers at Gulshan Azad Mosque, after which he will be laid to rest at the Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals’ Graveyard.
Born in 1945, Dr. Kamal Siddiqui was a faculty member at Monash University and the author of several acclaimed books.
During the 1971 Liberation War, he was serving as the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of Narail. He resigned from his post to join the war, later crossing into India and taking part in the armed resistance from a camp near the Ghojadanga-Satkhira border.
In June 1971, the Commander-in-Chief of the Liberation Forces, Colonel M.A.G. Osmani, brought him to Kolkata, where he was appointed Deputy Secretary to the Provisional Government of Bangladesh.
After independence, Dr. Siddiqui returned to Bangladesh on December 17, 1971, and took charge as Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Khulna. Throughout his distinguished civil service career, he held various key positions and eventually served as the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia until 2006.