Full Name: Col. Shawkat Ali (Retd.)

Affiliation: Bangladesh Awami League

Current Position: Deceased

Date of Birth: January 27, 1937

Date of Death: November 16, 2020

Place of Birth: Bangladesh

Home District: Shariatpur

Constituency: 222, Shariatpur-2

Term: Sixth (2nd-1979, 5th-1991, 7th-1996, 8th-2001, 9th-2008, 10th-2014)

Nationality: Bangladeshi

Profile:

Col. Shawkat Ali (Retd.) (27 January 1937 – 16 November 2020) was a Bangladeshi politician who served as a deputy speaker of the National Parliament. He was a member of the Awami League Central Committee.

Ali was born in Shariatpur, to Munshi Mobarak and Maleka Begum. He was the eldest son among nine children. He was married and had two sons, Firoze Shawkat Ali, Khaled Shawkat Ali and a daughter Marina Shawkat Ali. Shawkat completed his LL.B. from Comilla Law College under the University of Dhaka in 1958 before he joined the Pakistan Army as a commissioned officer the following year.

Ali was a Captain in 1968 when he was Accused No. 26 of the 35 implicated in the Agartala Conspiracy Case as a conspirator to secede East Pakistan from Pakistan. He had to live with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in jail due to the case. Initially, he was supposed to be tried before a court-martial, but the Government of Pakistan felt they would benefit more from a civil trial. The charges were dropped the next year amidst public protest; Ali was still forced to retire in 1969.

Although it was largely thought that the case was only meant to frame Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and others, in 2010, and on the anniversary of the withdrawal of the case on 22 February 2011, Ali confessed to the Parliament at a point of order that the charges read out to them were accurate, stating that they formed a Shangram Parishad under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for the sedition and secession of East Pakistan.

After Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan and the war broke out, Ali was reinstated into the army after the formation of the Bangladesh Forces in 1971 to fight the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was forced to retire the second time when he was a Colonel in 1975 working as the Director of Ordnance Services following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, since he was close to Mujib.

Ali was elected to parliament in the 1979, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2008 General Elections. During his time in office, he has served in various parliamentary committees, including the Standing Committee on Ministry of Shipping and Committee on Private Members Bills and Resolutions as their Chairman between 1996 and 2001. He was also a lawyer registered under the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

Ali was selected the Deputy Speaker of the ninth parliament on 25 January 2009, following a landslide Awami League victory.

During his time as the Deputy Speaker, Ali Chaired many sessions of the parliament when the Speaker Abdul Hamid was absent.

Ali was the founding Chairman of Muktijoddha Sanghati Parishad and Chief Advisor of 71 Foundation.

Ali authored two books, one in English and the other in Bangla, both about the Agartala Conspiracy Case.

Ali, a valiant freedom fighter had been suffering from multiple old age complications, including kidney and heart-related problems. He was admitted to the hospital on October 29 with pneumonia. He was put on life support on November 5, 2020 and died on 16 November 2020 at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka at the age of 83.

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