Online Desk:  Former BNP leader Major General (retd) Abu Ahmed Zahirul Amin Khan (ZA Khan) has passed away. He was 79.

Family sources confirmed that ZA Khan breathed his last at his residence in Gulshan around 11 am on Wednesday.

He left behind his wife, two sons, and a host of relatives and well-wishers to mourn his death.

The first namaz-e-janaza for Khan will be held at Dhaka Cantonment’s Central Mosque after Zuhr prayers, followed by the second one on the premises of Gulshan Jame Mosque after Asr prayers.

Later, he will be laid to rest at Banani Military Graveyard.

Before the 1/11 political changeover in 2007, ZA Khan was a member of the BNP Chairperson’s Advisory Council. Later, he became inactive in politics.

He served as the Chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society from 2001 to 2004 and as the Director-General of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) in 1996.

Born in Chattogram’s Mirsarai on May 11, 1944, Khan joined the army in 1967. After his retirement from the army in 1997, Khan joined BNP. He worked as the defence adviser to former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia from 2001 to 2006.