Ambassador Syed Muazzem Ali, the immediate past Bangladesh High Commissioner to India and former foreign secretary, passed away at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in the capital due to old age complications at 11.45 am on Monday morning.

He was 75.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her deep shook at the death of Ali and prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul. She also conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.

The premier also recalled the immense contribution of Ambassador Ali during the country’s War of Liberation in the diplomatic front.

Syed Muazzem Ali retired from a distinguished career in Diplomatic Service in December 2001. He served as Bangladesh High Commissioner to India from September 2014 to November last.

While serving in the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC in 1971, Ali declared his allegiance to the government of Bangladesh.

As a founding member of the Bangladesh Mission in Washington DC, he was active in the lobbying process for political support for Bangladesh’s independence movement and, after its independence, he was directly involved in working towards US recognition of Bangladesh.

After the independence, he was directly involved in working towards US recognition of Bangladesh as well as the US, World Bank and UN participation in the massive reconstructions efforts in war-ravaged Bangladesh.

As foreign secretary, Ali worked for the peaceful resolution of conflicts in the South Asian region and beyond.

Since Bangladesh was the chairman of the LDC group at that time, he coordinated the move that led to duty-free and quota-free access of LDC exports to the EU at the Third UN LDC Conference.

He also worked for the emergence of Bangladesh as the largest troop contributor to UN Peace keeping operations.

Apart from serving at different positions in various capacities in home and abroad, Syed Muazzem Ali was Bangladesh Ambassador to Bhutan (1991-1992), Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Turkmenistan (1995-1998), France and Portugal (1998-2000).