Dohatec New Media has a very checkered history with many notable personalities resident here.
Dr. Kamaluddin Siddiqui, who was the first Secretary to Hon’ble Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia used to live here and did a lot of work before the amendment of the constitution to Parliamentary form of government. He had great admiration for the Hon’ble Prime Minister as a firm and decisive administrator right from the beginning.
HPM Khaleda Zia was sentenced and interned until August 5, 2024, with long confinements in prison. Dr. Kamaluddin Siddiqui was also sentenced in the same case and had to loiter around the world with very serious health issues. He could not return. He returned after the July Revolution and met colleagues, friends and family, only to pass away on November 3rd, 2025.
Kamaluddin Siddiqui’s wife Chhabi Siddiqui, and three children spent their formative years and made everyone proud with their academic and professional achievements. Ashraf Siddiqui went to LSE and Georgetown University, Shahana Siddiqui went to Oberlin and the University of Amsterdam, and Ashfaque Siddiqui went to Stanford and Carnegie Mellon. The family was scattered and hurt over the 18 years.
Kamal Siddiqui was born in 1945 in Medinipur, West Bengal, India. He had his early education in small-town schools of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), PAF Public School, Sargodha, Pakistan and Notre Dame College, Dhaka. In 1966, he obtained a First-Class MSc degree in Applied Chemistry from Dhaka University. In 1968, he joined the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) through an All-Pakistan competitive examination.
In 1971, though an elite civil servant of the country, he revolted against the Pakistan military establishment and took an active part in the War of Liberation, for which he was sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment in absentia by a Pakistani military court.
During his service career, he obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Development Administration from Leeds University and MA in Modern South Asian Studies from SOAS, London University, both with a Mark of Distinction. In 1980, he received his PhD in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University.
In the civil service, he rose to become both Cabinet Secretary as well as Principal Secretary in the PM’s Office. He retired from the civil service of Bangladesh in 2006.
During and after his civil service career, he held the following international positions:
- Project Coordinator, International Committee on the Management of Population (ICOMP), Kuala Lumpur for one year.
- Economic and Commercial Minister, Bangladesh Embassy, Beijing, China for three years, 1982-85.
- Alternative Executive Director, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila for two years (1993-95).
- Chairman, Independent South Asian Commission for Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA) for five years, 1996-2001.
- Member, United Nations Committee for the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) for four years, 1996-2001.
Training management positions held by him in Bangladesh included:
- Director-General, National Institute of Local Government (NILG) for about six years.
- Rector, Public Administration Training Centre (PATC) for about 2 years.
Research positions held by him were as follows:
- Scientific Officer, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Dhaka, 1967-68.
- Research Economist, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), 1976-1981 and 1981-1982.
- Professorial Fellow, Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Delhi for a year in 2001.
- Visiting Professor, Cornell University. Ithaca, USA for a year in 1999.
- Senior Research Fellow. Bonn University, Germany for about six months in 2012.
- Senior Research Fellow, IDPM, Manchester University, UK for about a year (September 2012 to June 2013).
His university-level teaching consisted of the following:
- Visiting Professor at Southern University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA in 2000.
- Senior Lecturer in Monash University, Melbourne, Australia for two years 2008-2009.
- Associate Professor at the University of South Pacific, Fiji for a year in 2010.
- Professor at University Utara Malaysia, Sintok in 2010 to 2012.
- Visiting Professor, International Islamic University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur for six months in 2021.
Publications: He has, to his credit, a large number of well-researched publications from both home and abroad.