Former principal secretary Dr SA Samad dies, PM shocked

Former principal secretary to the Prime Minister valiant freedom fighter Dr SA Samad, who subsequently served as chairman of the then Board of Investment (BOI), died in Dhaka this (Wednesday) afternoon at his Baridhara residence. He was 79

“He died while asleep at his Baridhara residence,” a close relative of Dr Samad told BSS.

He said Samad, a life-long bachelor, died a day after he was released from a city hospital receiving treatment for brain complications.

A career civil servant Samad previously served as a faculty of Dhaka University’s economics department.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed profound shock at the death of Dr SA Samad.

“He (SA Samad) was an honest, skilled, courageous and sincere government official,” premier’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted her as saying.

Sheikh Hasina also pointed out Samad’s role during 1971 Liberation War recalling that he joined the Mujibnagar Government severing links with Pakistan while serving as the additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of Rangamati being a member of erstwhile Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP).

She said Samad also played a crucial role in reaching the historic 1996 Ganges Water Sharing Treaty with India and the 1997 peace agreement with Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) that saw the end of the nearly two decades long unrest in the troubled hill region.

The Prime Minister prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved relatives.

Dr SA Samad was a teacher of Economics. He has been a faculty member at the University of Dhaka, Boston State College, Boston University, the University of the South Pacific, and the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea.