Dhaka: Veteran Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed passed away at a hospital in the capital on Monday. He was 82. Tofail Ahmed, a key figure in Bangladesh's Liberation War and the 1969 mass uprising, breathed his last around 4 pm at Square Hospital, according to his family sources.
According to United News of Bangladesh, Tofail Ahmed was an 8-time Member of Parliament representing the Bhola-1, Bhola-2, and Bakerganj-1 constituencies from 1973 to 2024. He also served as the Minister of Commerce and Minister of Industries. Tofail Ahmed, a member of the Awami League Advisory Council, is survived by his only daughter, Dr. Taslima Ahmed Zaman Munni. His wife, Anwara Ahmed, passed away on November 20 last year.
Tofail's namaz-e-janaza will be held at Dhanmondi's Taqwa Mosque after Maghrib prayers today. Later, the body will be kept at the morgue of Square Hospital. The body will be taken to Bhola on Tuesday, either by a helicopter or in a refrigerated hearse, according to family sources. After Zuhr prayers on Tuesday, another janaza will be held at the Bhola District School ground, after which he will be laid to rest at the family graveyard.
Tofail Ahmed, born on October 22, 1943, was one of the organizers of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 and acted as one of the chiefs of the Bangladesh Liberation Front. Ahmed joined the Awami League in support of the 1966 Six-Point Movement and was involved in the 1969 mass uprising in East Pakistan as a student leader. He was the vice-president of the Dhaka University Central Students' Union.
Besides that, after 1975, he spent about five years in jails in Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Cumilla, Barishal, Kushtia, and Rajshahi. He was a veteran parliamentarian and earned the respect of parliament members and people from all walks of life for his speeches in parliamentary debates on various national issues.
He was the Minister for Commerce and Industries from June 1996 to December 1999 and continued as the Minister for Industries until 2001. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Industry from 2009 to 2013. He was also the Minister for Housing and Public Works and Industries from November 2013 to January 2014. He continued as the Minister for Commerce from January 2014 to December 2018. In 1970, Ahmed was a political secretary to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.