Barrister Jamiruddin Sircar, a member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s national standing committee who served as acting president and speaker of parliament during the party’s last term in office, has passed away in a Dhaka hospital. He was 95.

The BNP confirmed his death in a brief statement issued by its media cell early on Sunday.

Sircar held a succession of ministerial portfolios over a political career spanning more than four decades. He served as state minister for public works and urban development, state minister for foreign affairs, state minister for land, minister of education, and minister of law, justice and parliamentary affairs.

First elected to parliament in 1979 from Dinajpur-1, he went on to represent Dhaka-9, Panchagarh-1 and later Bogura-6, winning seats in five national elections and a by-election. He also held positions on several parliamentary standing committees.

Born on December 1, 1931 in Nayabari village of Panchagarh district, Sircar earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Dhaka before completing an LLB at the same university. He was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in London and joined the legal profession on his return home in 1960. He built a reputation at the Supreme Court as a specialist in constitutional, civil and criminal law.

His political life began in 1945 with the Student Federation. He later joined the Student Union and the National Awami Party before entering Ziaur Rahman’s Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal and subsequently the BNP at its founding, rising to its highest decision-making body.

Sarkar is survived by two sons and one daughter.