Ex-minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali passes away

Former finance minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has passed away at the age of 82.

The information desk of Birdem Hospital confirmed The Business Standard that Mahmood Ali's body was kept in the hospital morgue around 8pm.

According to media reports, the former MP from Dinajpur-4 died while undergoing treatment at Birdem Hospital in Dhaka this evening (6 November). 

Citing family sources, Ittefaq reported that Mahmood Ali had been undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Birdem for the past 13 days due to kidney complications. 

Mahmood Ali was appointed as the finance minister of the ousted Awami League government after winning the election from the Dinajpur-4 seat on 7 January last year.

He served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018. He joined the Awami League in 2001.

Born on 2 June 1943 in Khamar Bishnuganj village of Khansama upazila, Dinajpur, Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali completed his degree in economics from Dhaka University in 1963 and joined the same institution as a lecturer the following year.

In 1966, Abul Hassan joined the Pakistan Foreign Service (PFS) and served in various capacities at the headquarters (Dhaka) and at Bangladesh Missions abroad, including New York (Vice-Consul, Acting Consul General), New Delhi (First Secretary, Counsellor, and Deputy High Commissioner), and Beijing (Deputy Chief of Mission with the rank of an Ambassador).

He also played a significant role on the diplomatic front during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971. In that year, he joined the Bangladesh Liberation Movement and was appointed as the Representative of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh at Mujibnagar in the United States in May 1971. He later served as the Ambassador to Bhutan, Germany, and Nepal between 1986 and 1996.

In 1996, he was appointed as the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.