DHAKA, Dec 7, 2022 (BSS) - Former Political Adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Bangabandhu Parishad President Dr S A Malek died of massive heart attack at a city hospital on Tuesday night at the age of 88.

Malek, also former lawmaker from Faridpur-1 constituency, breathed his last at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital at 11:30pm on Tuesday, Bangabandhu Parishad Presidium Member and senior Journalist Ajit Kumar Sarkar told BSS.

He is survived by two sons and two daughters, a host of relatives and admirers.

Malek was also senior most member of Awami League Advisory Council.

He was born on August 18, 1936, at Tangail while his father late Al-haj Sheikh Abdur Razzak was posted there as a forest officer.

His ancestral home is village Syed Mahalla of Mulghar union under Fakirhat Police Station in Bagerhat district.

In 1954, he passed the matriculation examination from the local Khararia English High School.

Malek passed Intermediate of Science from PC College of Bagerhat in 1956 and had his Bachelor of Science degree from Dhaka University in 1958.

Later, he obtained his M.B.B.S. degree from Dhaka Medical College. He was a meritorious student. Being a conscious politician, he took an active part in all the democratic movements of the country right from the historic language movement in 1952.

Malek considers his participation in Bangladesh's glorious War of Liberation to be the greatest event of his life.

As a dissenting political worker, he had to suffer repression and imprisonment due to political reasons at various times of his life.

In 1973, he was elected parliament member as the Awami League nominee from Faridpur-1 (Goalondo-Rajbari) constituency.

Dr. Malek played a very vital role in putting up an effective resistance movement after Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was brutally killed along with most of his family members on August 15, 1975.

For this reason, he was compelled to take refugee outside of the country at one stage. After returning home in 1980, he concentrated on properly reorganizing the Bangabandhu Parishad.

He performed the responsibility of the general secretary of the organization for the last two and a half decades and presently was performing as its president.

Dr. Malek has played a pivotal role in uniting all progressive intellectuals of the country who uphold the spirit of independence, democracy and the War of Liberation.

He was loyal to the ideology of Bangabandhu, honest, courageous, and averse to publicity.

He earned fame as an effective allopathic doctor in his early career. Later, he developed himself as a specialist homeopathic and an eminent columnist.

Malek was made the Political Adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 1996. He was the author of the Stream of Thoughts: Part I, II and III, Abarudha Ganotantrer Du Dashak, Rajniti.