A BIOGRAPHY OF AKBAR ALI KHAN

Akbar Ali Khan contributed to the civil disobedience movement during March 1971 before the beginning of the war of liberation on 25 March 1971. After the war breakdown, he supplied ammunition to the guerrilla fighters, while he was the SDO of Habiganj. At that time, the Mujibnagar government was yet to be formed and the war of liberation was not formally launched; thus many police officers disagreed to give arms and ammunition without any written order.

But Khan fearlessly gave written note orders to help the freedom fighters with food and money. He collected nearly three Crore taka from the sub-divisional treasury and arranged to send to Agartala by a truck to help run the Bangladesh Government formation on 17 April 1971. Later, he left Bangladesh and moved to Agartala to participate physically in the war of liberation.

He said, “After reaching Agartala we focused on building up an ‘eastern administration’. Our main aim was to support the freedom fighters and to help the refugees who had escaped Bangladesh and lived in camps. We established a connection with the Mujibnagar Government after a few months of its formation on 17 April 1971. During the initial months, we had to struggle single-handedly”.

Later in July, he was asked to come to Kolkata to join the government. There he was deputy secretary at the Cabinet division. And in August, he was transferred to the Defense Ministry. Due to his active participation in the Liberation War of Bangladesh, he was sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment in absentia by a Pakistan military court.

Right after the independence of Bangladesh in December 1971, Mr. Khan was appointed in the Establishment Ministry of the government of Bangladesh. There he worked for six months helping rehabilitation of the freedom fighters and also people who came back from Pakistan. From there he was transferred to the Education Ministry department.

In the year 1973, he wanted to retire to continue his teaching profession. In spite of submitting his resignation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was prime minister of Bangladesh back then, did not accept it. Instead, he was permitted for a leave of absence with a lien to teach at a university. He continued his teaching profession at the Jahangirnagar University until he received the Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue higher education.

After that, he studied at Queen’s University, Canada for a PhD. in economics. In 1979, he returned to Bangladesh and was shortly promoted to Associate Professor of Jahangirnagar University. But he left teaching and returned to Bangladesh Civil Service.

In the year 1984, he joined Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (BPATC) as a member of the directing staff (MDS). Until 1987, he contributed his dedication towards the Rural Development Board, in the Water Resource Ministry and in the Bangladesh Public Service Commission. Later on he was appointed in the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington, D.C. because of his economic ministry position.

Once he completed his tenure in Washington, Akbar Ali Khan returned back to Bangladesh and joined the Banking Division of the Finance Ministry as an Additional Secretary. In the meantime, he re-organized the BCCI Bank and took over BASIC Bank.

He even worked in the Environmental Ministry until his promotion was declared as a permanent secretary to the government in 1993. In the capacity of Secretary, Internal Resources Division, he worked as the Chairman of the National Board of Revenue until 1995. He worked as the Finance Secretary of the country Between in the time period of 1995 and 2001.

As a finance secretary he was against of purchasing BNS Bangabandhu due to the financial condition of Bangladesh back then. But his decision was overruled by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Once he retired, the government nominated him as Alternative Executive Director of the World Bank, Washington. There he served until 2005.

At the time of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Prime Ministership, a rumor arose in the Dhaka University teachers regarding Rajakar or not. The Education Minister was asked to make an inquiry into the matter by the prime minister which was handed to Akbar Ali Khan. Mr. Khan was anxious about the investigation as the law rejected the investigation.

Thus he filed an investigation just the way he was ordered and provided a note mentioning his opposing points. Perusing his note of dissent, President Abu Sayeed Chowdhury requested the Education Minister to convince the Prime Minister about Khan’s points. In this connection, Dr. Khan said, “Every time I did not like or felt something that was against the law, I gave written notes, and in most cases, my experience is saying it was bound to be accepted”.

After retiring from the World Bank job, Akbar Ali Khan established the Center for Government Studies at the BRAC University. He joined there as a visiting professor. He became a prominent public face due to his appearances in different TV Talk Shows for the explanation of the current political and economic situation of the country.

Other than that, his research was on the historic and economic process of the country. On 30 October 2007, Akbar Ali Khan was appointed as the chairman of the Regulatory Reform Commission for modernizing old and ineffective laws of the country. But unfortunately he resigned from the post of Chairman of Regulatory Reforms Commission on 16 October 2009 stating that the government is not very cooperative with the work of the commission.

Khan has also served as a trusty board member of Transparency International Bangladesh from 2013. Besides, Akbar Ali Khan was fully dedicated to writing and published 14-18 books on different sectors.