Moudud Ahmed

Moudud Ahmed
Prime Minister of Bangladesh
In office 27 March 1988 – 12 August 1989
President	Hossain Mohammad Ershad
Preceded by	Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury
Succeeded by	Kazi Zafar Ahmed
Personal details
Born	(1940-05-24) 24 May 1940 Noakhali, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Bangladesh)
Political party	Bangladesh Nationalist Party (1978–1984),(1996-present)
Other political affiliations	Jatiya Party (1984–1996)
Alma mater	University of Dhaka

Barrister Moudud Ahmed (born May 24, 1940) is a Bangladeshi lawyer and politician. He is a senior figure in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Ahmed served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh between 1988 and 1989 during the regime of President Hussain Muhammad Ershad. He held the post of Vice President until the fall of the Ershad regime in 1990. He was elected several times to the Jatiyo Sangshad from the district of Noakhali. Between 2001 and 2006, he served as Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in the BNP-led government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Early life and career

Ahmed was born in 1940 in the Bengal Presidency during the British Raj. His father was a Sufi Islamic scholar and imam in Paribagh, Dacca. Ahmed obtained his BA and MA in Political Science from the University of Dacca. He was called to the English Bar at Lincoln's Inn in London in 1966.

While in the UK, Ahmed was part of a growing intellectual movement among East Pakistani students in envisioning an independent Bangladesh. After returning to Dacca, he joined the legal team of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during the Agartala Conspiracy Case trial in 1968. He accompanied the Bengali delegation led by Sheikh Mujib to the Rawalpindi Round Table Conference with Field Marshal Ayub Khan in 1969. Ahmed witnessed many important developments in the run up to Bangladesh's independence. He joined the Provisional Government of Bangladesh in Calcutta during the 1971 Liberation War. His worked in its External Publicity Division. Ahmed addressed many humanitarian rallies for Bengali genocide victims. In one rally he held up a Daily Mirror article titled Birth of a Nation and cried out "we are alive, but we are not yet free".

In the post-independence years, Ahmed criticized the Awami League for corruption and failures in governance. He irked the League when he acted as a defense lawyer for left-wing opposition politicians indicted by the government. He was jailed on orders from Sheikh Mujib in December 1974, but was released at the intervention of his father-in-law Jasimuddin.

BNP and Jatiyo Party

In the late 1970s, Ahmed was courted by Lt General Ziaur Rahman, the first military dictator of Bangladesh. Between 1976 and 1978, he served as Deputy Prime Minister. In 1977, he led the Bangladeshi delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. He was first elected to parliament in 1979 from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Ahmed later became embroiled in an intra-party fued with Senior Minister Shah Azizur Rahman and was removed from the cabinet by Zia.

In 1985, Ahmed joined the newly formed Jatiyo Party of Lt General Hussain Muhammad Ershad. He served as Communications Minister between 1986 and 1988. President Ershad appointed Ahmed as Prime Minister in 1988. Serving for a year in the office of premier, he oversaw relief operations during the catastrophic 1988 Bangladesh flood. Ahmed was invited for talks with several Western leaders during his premiership, particularly with Margret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street. However, Ershad replaced Ahmed in 1989 with the pro-Chinese leftwinger Kazi Zafar Ahmed. Ahmed was elevated to the post of Vice President of Bangladesh, which he held until the fall of Ershad in 1990, when the vice presidency was abolished.

After serving a stint in prison following Ershad's ousting, Ahmed was invited by Khaleda Zia to return to the BNP in 1996. He was elected to parliament while in jail in 1996. He was reelected for the fifth time in 2001. Begum Zia appointed him as Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in 2001. He was a leading spokesman of the BNP administration between 2001 and 2006, during which he defended the Bangladeshi government's track record on combating militancy.

In 2007, the military-backed caretaker government arrested Ahmed on charges of illegal alcohol possession. But the case was dismissed at the Supreme Court in 2008. After his release from prison, Ahmed received a jubilant reception at his constituency in Noakhali. He was reelected to parliament in 2008. He was arrested in 2013 by the Awami League government. His family told The Guardian that the country was turning into a prison under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Ahmed joined his party in boycotting the 2014 general election.

Under the current Awami League administration, Ahmed and his brother Monzur have faced charges of illegally occupying their properties in the posh Gulshan area of Dhaka. They maintain that the case is politically motivated.

Personal life and family

Ahmed is married to Hasna Jasimuddin Moudud, a daughter of the renowned Bengali poet Jasimuddin. Their daughter Anna Moudud lives in Norway. Ahmed's 34-year old son Aman Moudud died of chronic dengue fever in 2015. His first son Asif Moudud had earlier died at the age of 3.

Ahmed is a practicing barrister in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He is a fellow of Heidelberg University and Harvard University. In the fall of 1997, he was the Bland Visiting Professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. He was also a member of the Elliott School's International Council.

Publications

Ahmed is the author nine books. Publications include:

• Shongshod-e Ja Bolechhi, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 2006, ISBN=984-05-0278-6
• South Asia: Crisis of Development-The Case of Bangladesh, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 2003
• Democracy and the Challenge of Development: a Study of Politics and Military Interventions in Bangladesh, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1995
• Bangladesh: Era of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, South Asian Institute of Heidelberg University and University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1983
• Bangladesh: Constitutional Quest for Autonomy, South Asian Institute of Heidelberg University, 1976 and University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1979
• Chaloman Itihas,the book to inform the next generation the history of the country particularly the history of HM Ersahd government.