Bangladesh's septuagenarian minister becomes father of twins

Bangladesh's 71-year-old railway minister Mujibul Haque has become father of twin boys.

The septuagenarian minister's wife Honufa Akhter Rikta, who is her early 30s, gave birth to twin boys at a private hospital in Dhaka last night.

The minister had made headlines in 2014 when he married then 29-year-old Honufa at the age of 67. Two years later on May 28 in 2016, he first became the father of a girl child.

"The twins and their mother are in good health," a hospital spokesman said, adding that gynecologist Dr Nargis Fatema of the facility conducted the caesarian section.

The minsiter sought countrymen's good wishes for his twin sons and said the family has planned to name them in consultation with relatives.

Becoming father at a late age is not very rare among Bangladeshi politicians.

Sher-e-Bangla A K Fazlul Haque, a major political figure in British India and later in Pakistan became father at the age of 70. His only child late AK Fayezul Haque later also became a politician.

Former military dictator-turned-politician H M Ershad in 1980s while addressing a public rally announced that he was blessed with a son while he was nearing 60.