Mohammad Abul Quasem

Mohammad Abul Quasem (Bengali: মোহাম্মদ আবুল কাসেম) was a Bangladeshi politician and lawyer. He was a member of the 3rd National Assembly of Pakistan and the Finance Minister of East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Mohammad Abul Quasem
মোহাম্মদ আবুল কাসেম
Minister of Finance
In office 17 September 1971 – 14 December 1971
Governor	Abdul Motaleb Malik
Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan
In office 1962–1965
Succeeded by	Paniruddin Ahmed
Constituency	NE-1 (Rangpur-1)
Member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan
In office 1947–1954
Personal details
Born	1913 Sodurtilla, Goalpara District, British India
Political party	Convention Muslim League
Alma mater	University of Karachi Cotton College
Occupation	Politician and lawyer

Early life

Abul Quasem was born in 1913 to a Bengali Muslim family in the village of Sodurtilla, Mankachar Thana, Goalpara District in the then Assam Province of British India.^[1]

Education and career

He obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Cotton College in 1938.^[1] In 1946, he became a member of the Assam Legislative Council representing the South Dhubri constituency.^[1][2] In 1950, three years after the partition of India, he left Assam (which became an Indian state)^[1] and resided in Ulipur Thana, Rangpur District, East Bengal (part of Pakistan).^[3] Two years later, he became a member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Four years after obtaining his LLB from the University of Karachi in 1956, he completed a master's degree in political science from the same university.^[1] In 1962, he represented Rangpur-1 as a member of the 3rd National Assembly of Pakistan.^[4] He was appointed deputy speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan.^[1] He was a member of the Council Muslim League^[5] and became the president of the East Pakistan Council Muslim League in 1964.^[1] On 17 September 1971, during the Bangladesh Liberation War, he was appointed a member of the cabinet of Abdul Motaleb Malik,^[5] serving as the finance minister of East Pakistan.^[6] After the independence of Bangladesh, on 24 December 1971, the Government of Bangladesh arrested him for collaborating with Pakistan during the war.^[7] On 30 November 1973, he was released after the government declared a general amnesty for detained cabinet members.

Death

Quasem died in the 1980s or earlier.^[8]