A. S. M. Abdur Rab

Rab was born in 1945.[1] He was general secretary of the student political organization East Pakistan Chhatra League from 1969 to 1970.[4] He was the leader of the 1969 mass uprising in East Pakistan.[5] He was the first person to hoist the Flag of Bangladesh on 2 March 1971 as the vice president of Dhaka University Central Students' Union.[1][6]

He is one of the organizers of the liberation struggle of Bangladesh. Under the leadership of Chhatra League leader Noor Alam Siddiqui, Abdul Kuddus, A S M Abdur Rab and Shajahan Siraj, the flag of independent Bangladesh was hoisted in Dhaka University on 2 March 1971. A flag of independent Bangladesh was first inaugurated by ASM Abdur Rab. In the historic Bot-tala of Dhaka University, A S M Abdur Rab handed over the flag of Bangladesh to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. After the independence of Bangladesh, Rab formed the left-wing Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (National Socialist Party). He along with Serajul Alam Khan and Shajahan Siraj, took a stand against the government led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.[7] He led the rally on 17 March 1974 towards the residence of the Home Minister at Ramna amid Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini led firing upon the crowd. Rab is a survivor of the 1974 Ramna massacre. President Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem released M. A. Jalil and Rab after taking power because of the involvement of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal in the coup d'état in November 1975.[8]

Rab became the leader of the opposition in 1988 and also served as a minister of Sheikh Hasina's cabinet from 1996 to 2001 as the Minister of Shipping and later the Minister of Fisheries and Livestock.[9][10][11]