Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar to be laid to rest at Parliament Complex

Former Speaker of Parliament and BNP Standing Committee member Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar will be laid to rest with full state honours at the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) Complex in Dhaka.

His funeral prayers will be held at 5:00pm at the South Plaza of the Parliament Complex on Sunday (July 12), after which he will be buried at the designated cemetery within the parliamentary premises, according to a statement issued by the Parliament Secretariat.

Parliament Secretariat Secretary Md Golam Sarwar Bhuiyan said Sircar would be buried in the southwestern corner of the Parliament Complex, where seven other distinguished politicians and national figures have already been laid to rest. Preparations for the burial have been completed.

The five-time lawmaker passed away early Sunday while undergoing treatment at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital in Dhaka's Shyamoli area. He was 94.

Born on December 1, 1931, in Nayabari village of Tetulia upazila, Panchagarh, Sircar earned a reputation as a prominent lawyer specialising in constitutional, civil and criminal law.

He began his political career through the Student Federation in 1945 before joining the Student Union, NAP, Jagodal, and later the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), where he played a key leadership role from the party's inception. He remained a member of the BNP Standing Committee until his death.

Sircar served as Speaker of the Eighth Jatiya Sangsad from October 28, 2001, to January 25, 2009. Following the resignation of President A.Q.M. Badruddoza Chowdhury in 2002, he also served as Bangladesh's Acting President for nearly two and a half months.

During his long political career, he held several ministerial portfolios, including Housing and Public Works, Foreign Affairs, Land, Education, Science and Technology, and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. His tenure also witnessed the constitutional amendment introducing the caretaker government system for parliamentary elections.