Mirza Fakhrul: From left-leaning activist to Bangladesh President

Dhaka: Bangladesh’s Parliament on Thursday elected longtime BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the country’s president. Alamgir, 78, began his political journey as a left-leaning student activist at Dhaka University and became president of the East Pakistan Students’ Union’s university unit during the 1969 mass uprising. During the 1971 Liberation War, he took refuge in India and helped mobilise freedom fighters.

Alamgir joined the civil service’s education cadre in 1972 and taught economics before quitting his government job in 1986 to enter politics. He joined the BNP in the early 1990s, became acting secretary general in 2011 and took permanent charge in 2016.