Kamal Hossain
| First Law Minister of Bangladesh |
| Lawyer, Politician |
Full Name: Dr. Kamal Hossain
Affiliation: Gano Forum
Current Position: President
Date of Birth: April 20, 1937
Date of Death:
Place of Birth: Kolkata
Home District: Dhaka
Constituency: 184, Dhaka-14
Term: First (1st-1973)
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Profile:
Dr. Kamal Hossain (born 20April 1937) is a notable Bangladeshi politician, statesman and lawyer. He is credited as being one of the principal authors of the Constitution of Bangladesh. He was awarded a Bachelor of Jurisprudence degree with honors from the University of Oxford in 1957 and a Bachelor of Civil Law from the same institution in 1958. In 1964 he was awarded a Doctorate in International Law. He was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn, London. Dr. Hossain was arrested during the Bangladesh Liberation Was in April 1971 by the Pakistani Government and kept in custody in West Pakistan. He was released together with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman when both of them left Pakistan for London.
After East Pakistan earned its independence and became Bangladesh, Dr. Hossain served in the Government of Bangladesh under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the Minister of Law (1972- 1973), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1973-1975), and Minister of Petroleum and Minerals (1974- 1975). One of his earliest tasks as Minister of Law was the drafting of the Constitution of Bangladesh, which was completed in 1972.
Dr. Hossain was a member of the Awami League in the early 1990s, when he formed his own political party, Gano Forum (People’s Forum). He has stood for election in several General Elections.
Dr. Hossain is renowned worldwide as a jurist. He is a leading advocate in Bangladesh who has conducted a number of landmark cases and published in various law journals. He has a longstanding association with the United Nations and is a current member of the UN Compensation Commission. He has appeared in several international arbitrations, both as a lawyer and an arbitrator. He acted as an arbitrator in the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal. He has also acted as an observer in various elections around the world.
Dr. Hossain published a work on petroleum law in 1979. The book was titled Law and policy in petroleum development: Changing relations between transnationals and governments. In 2013, Oxford University Press published Hossain's memoir, titled Bangladesh: Quest for Freedom and Justice. Hossain also authored a book in Bengali in 1994, titled Svāẏattaśāsana theke svādhīnatā (Civil government and independence).
Dr. Hossain is head of Kamal Hossain & Associates, a law firm based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Hossain is the founder and president of the Gano Forum political party and leader of the Jatiya Oikya Front alliance. He is widely regarded as an icon of secular democracy in South Asia. Hossain is the leader of the pro-democracy movement in Bangladesh.
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