The 338-page book, published by the APPL Publishing House, documents the Muslim history of Indian Subcontinent from 1914 to 1919.

Khondker Ali Afzal, a former secretary of the Bengal Legislative Assembly and joint secretary of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, started writing the book in 1959.

It took long 36 years to get the took published as the author himself, who died in 1969, could not publish it during his lifetime, said one of the daughters of the author and former advisor to the caretaker government Rokia Afzal Rahman.

"We the sisters and brothers felt it our obligation to publish our father's work," she said, adding, "But we had to work for last four to five years collecting necessary and relevant information to make the work complete."

The work narrates the Muslim history of a certain period on which adequate documents and books are not available, she said.

There are many conventional histories on the period, but Khondker Ali Afzal has covered a part of the history that has been little known, although the author was not a historian but a Barrister, said eminent jurist Dr Kamal Hossain.

It is not correct to say that democracy in our country is nascent, as former Muslim League member Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy spoke for democracy in the National Assembly of undivided Bengal back in 1921, he added.

Turning to the Bengal Legislative Assembly, to which Afzal has been a witness, one may see the level of wisdom and depth of content in the parliamentary discussions, Dr Kamal said.

Khondker Ali Afzal was a person of great respectability, decency and integrity, said Prof Rehman Sobhan, adding that the book bears the author's labour and scholastic merit.

The work provides an insight into the contemporary history and international trends, he added.

Former ambassadors and foreign secretaries AKM Morshed and Farooq Sobhan, former ambassador Arshaduzzaman and APPL Managing Director Shahina Rahman also spoke.

Author's family members Bilquis Afzal, Nilofer Afzal, Mahboob Afzal, Brigadier Mansur Afzal, Asma Afzal, Massarrat Khan and Khadija Afzal were present on the occasion.