Of the seven new faces in the council of ministers, five are lesser-known figures as they are either local level leaders or relatively new in politics.
Ministers AH Mahmood Ali and Mostafa Faruque Mohammad joined politics after they retired from the foreign service more than a decade ago. They were elected lawmakers for the first time in 2008.
State Minister Omor Faruk Chowdhury switched to the AL from the BNP in 2000. He is also a new member of parliament.
Minister Hasanul Haque Inu is a seasoned politician and president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, while Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir is a bureaucrat-turned politician.
Before becoming minister, Inu was chairman of the Jatiya Sangsad standing committee on the post and telecommunications ministry and Alamgir was the chief of the JS body on public accounts.
Earlier this year, Alamgir obtained permission to set up a commercial bank.
About Abdul Hyee, a new state minister, several politicians complained to The Daily Star that he had been engaged in irregularities in sending people abroad.
Law enforcers seized Hyee’s passport at the erstwhile Zia International Airport (now Shahjalal International Airport) when another person was trying to go abroad by using it. A case was file in this connection.
Despite making repeated efforts, The Daily Star could not reach Hyee over the phone for his version of the incident.
Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir
He was born in Kochua upazila of Chandpur. According to his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission, Alamgir is an economist and earns pension.
During the tenure of the last caretaker government, the Anti-Corruption Commission had filed several cases against him on charges of corruption.
Hasanul Haque Inu
Born in 1946, Inu completed his education from Buet.
A freedom fighter, he was nominated as the founding general secretary of Jatiyo Krishak League by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1972.
He soon left the AL, however, to be part of the group of young politicians who formed the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal in the same year.
Mujibul Haque
He was born in 1947 in Chauddagram upazila of Comilla.
An income tax lawyer by profession, Mujibul contested national polls in Comilla-11 constituency and defeated Jatiya Party candidate former prime minister Kazi Jafar Ahmed.
Mostafa Faruque Mohammad
He was born in Jhikargachha upazila of Jessore in 1942.
He re-ceived honours and masters degrees from Dhaka University, standing first class second and first class first respectively.
Mostafa joined the Pakistan foreign service and served in its embassy in Japan in 1968. He later worked in favour of the Liberation War. Before retiring from the diplomatic service, he was high commissioner to India.
AH Mahmood Ali
He worked as vice-consular in the Pakistan consulate in New York till April 1971. Quitting the post, he joined the campaign in favour of the Liberation War.
Ali was Bangladesh’s ambassador to Germany and Nepal as well as high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
He joined the Bangladesh Awami League in 2001.
Omor Faruk Chowdhury
During his student life, Chowdhury was involved with the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the pro-BNP student organisation.
His mother Manjura Begum Chowdhury Usha is a “Rukon” and key leader of the women’s wing of the Rajshahi city unit Jamaat-e-Islami.
Abdul Hyee
Born in 1952 in Shailkupa upazila of Jessore, Hyee passed the SSC exams in 1967 and joined the Bangladesh Chhatra League during his college life.
In 1969, he was elected VP of KC College Chhatra Shangsad. He joined the Liberation War in 1971. He was elected MP in 2001 and 2008.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
