Ambassador Mijarul Quayes passes away

Bangladesh Ambassador to Brazil and former foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes has passed away, a Foreign Ministry official has confirmed. The ambassador was hospitalised in critical condition due to severe lung problems last month. “He breathed his last at a hospital in Brasilia around 6am (BdST) on Saturday,” Director General of South-East Asia wing Monjurul Karim told the Dhaka Tribune. “The body of the ambassador will be brought to Bangladesh on March 13,” he added. President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock at his death. In separate condolence messages, the president and premier prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed sympathy to the bereaved family. The foreign minister, state minister and foreign secretary also prayed for eternal peace of Quayes’s departed soul. The former foreign secretary was made ambassador to Brazil in 2014 after his removal as the High Commissioner to UK. He was previously Bangladesh's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia. Quayes, a career diplomat, joined the civil service in 1982.