Abdul Malek Ukil

Abdul Malek Ukil (Bengali: আব্দুল মালেক উকিল) (1 October 1924 – 17 October 1987) was the former President of Bangladesh Awami League, Speaker of Parliament, Home Minister, Health Minister, a member of Parliament for many years and a lawyer of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He was one of the drafters of the Constitution of Bangladesh and also one of the founding members of East Bengal Muslim Students League.

Early life

Abdul Malek Ukil was born in Rajapur village of Noakhali Sadar Upazila in Noakhali District.^[1] His educational life began at Noakhali Ahmadia High Madrasa, from where he passed his Madrasa Examination with general scholarship and a Letter in Mathematics. He pursued education in Calcutta for some years. In the year 1947 he passed his IA Examination from the Magura College in Jessore District. Two years later, in 1949, he graduated in BA from the University of Dhaka (Dhaka University). The following year, he received his MA degree and completed LL. B from the same institution. He started his professional career as an Advocate at Noakhali District Bar in 1952. Subsequently, in 1962 he became a member of the Dhaka High Court Bar.

Political career

He had been associated with politics from his student life. As a student he became one of the founding members of the East Bengal Muslim Students League. He played an active role in the movement of independence of the Indian sub continent. In 1946, he had devoted himself in the campaign for Pakistan in Bengal, Bihar and Asam.

Abdul Malek Ukil had faced imprisonment many a times in his political life. He was first arrested on 11 March 1948 during the Language Movement, and was held in prison with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka Central Jail. Later, on 22 February 1952 and in June 1954 he was arrested under the then East Bengal Public Safety Ordinance. In 1975, he was once again arrested and imprisoned by the army after the assassination of the Bangabandhu family.

In 1953, he became the President of Noakhali Sadar Mahkuma Awami League and was also elected as the President of the Noakhali district Awami League and a member of central executive committee of the party from 1962 to 64, from which, he resigned in 1972. Furthermore, Malek Ukil was elected a member of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly in 1956, 1962 and 1965. In 1965, he was the leader of the Awami League parliamentary party and the leader of the combined opposition party in the Provincial Assembly. During the Six-Point Movement Malek Ukil was arrested and kept confined. In 1969 he was elected as one of the nine members of the Awami League Parliamentary Board, and attended the round table conference in Lahore with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Later they travelled to Karachi together. In 1970 he was elected a member of the Pakistan National Assembly from Noakhali.

In 1964, Abdul Malek Ukil carried on an election campaign for Fatema Jinnah enabling her to win majority vote against Ayub Khan in Noakhali. During 1965-66 Malek Ukil had been an elected member of the East Pakistan and Pakistan Bar Council. After the arrest of Bangabandhu in the Agartala Conspiracy Case, he as the leader of the opposition had raised the quotable question, "The people of Bengal want to know where Sheikh Mujib is today?" to the present government, reflecting the emotions of the entire nation.

He worked both at home and abroad during the Liberation War of 1971. He was a member of the Relief and Rehabilitation Committee in the Mujibnagar Government, and a member of the parliamentary delegation sent to Nepal for mobilizing support in favor of the War Of Liberation. After the war he played a crucial role in re-establishing the independent but war affected Bangladesh.

Abdul Malek Ukil was a member of the committee for drafting the Constitution of Bangladesh. He was a member of the cabinet of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1972 in charge of ministry of Health and Family Planning. Malek Ukil was elected a member of the Jatiya Sangsad in 1973, and was the Minister in charge of Home Affairs. He was elected Speaker of the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad on 28 January 1974. As the Speaker he went to Bulgaria, London, Japan, Korea and Australia on foreign visits.

On 5 March 1978, he was elected the President of Awami League. The same year he was invited by the Iraq Arab Bath Socialist Party to visit Iraq and in 1979 he attended the World Peace Seminar in Lisbon, Portugal. He also traveled to various parts of the United Kingdom and organized many political activities for Awami League.

In 1981, Sheikh Hasina the daughter of the father of the nation, became the leader of the Awami League Council and Malek Ukil was elected the Acting President of the Council.

In 1985, with a deteriorating health condition he became a candidate of the Jatiya Sangsad and without being present in his constituency in person gained huge victory, subsequently getting elected as a member of the Parliament and the deputy leader of the opposition parliamentary party, a post he maintained till his death in 1987.

Controversy

After the assassination of Bangabandhu on 15 August 1975, Abdul Malek Ukil, then speaker of parliament dominated by the AL, said in London in September 1975, "The Pharaoh has fallen. The country has been freed from the autocrat."^[2]

Personal life

Abdul Malek Ukil was associated with various social and cultural institutions as well. He had been the Secretary of the then Art Council of Pakistan, and the Public Library of the Noakhali District. He also made immense contribution to the society as the founder of the Noakhali College, Maijdi Girls High School, Maijdi Ideal High School and Badher Haat Abdul Malek College.

In 1979 he performed the Umrah and went on a pilgrimage to Hajj in 1983.

He had been an avid reader and collector of the autobiographies of renowned people. On 17 October 1987, he died in Dhaka Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital at the age of 63, leaving his wife, two sons and five daughters behind.

His family is now living in Bangladesh.

List of immediate family members:

Wife: Mrs. Sabura Khatun

Sons: Gulam Mohiuddin Latu, who has three sons, Mehedi Malek Sajib, Tanzil Malek and Fahad Malek.

Baharuddin Khelon, who has two daughters and one son, Faiha Bahar, Nabiha Bahar and Ryan Bahar Malek.

Daughters: Fatema Begum (Ruby), Amena Begum (Baby), Nurun Nahar (Lily), Nurunnesa (Maya), Lima Malek

References