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Remembering Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed

Waliur Rahman
I knew Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed for a considerable period of time, both by courtesy of family vineyard as well as through professional needs. When he was appointed the Additional Attorney General by Bangabandhu, his name became familiar, not least because of the leading role he played for steering the Third International Criminal Law Conference, (December 26-29, 1974). The conference was sponsored by the USbased Foundation for the Establishment of an International Criminal Court and held under the auspices of Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA). Dr. Kamal Hossain, then Foreign Minister was the convener. Recently the proceedings of this historic meeting has been published by BILIA. He wanted to chair its launch. Alas destiny had other plans.
As Director of BILIA, I got to know Ishtiaq Bhai well. He was chairman of BILIA from 1992. Earlier he served as Alternate Chairman from 1985-1991 with Justice F. K. M. A. Munim as President. Officially I would prefer to address him as Sir, Mr. Chairman; privately he would be happy to be addressed Ishtiaq Bhai. Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed had a three dimensional character. The Institute grew, developed and got new momentum under his care. He was firm in decision making but generous in relating himself to the Institute. He was never harsh or unreasonable, anytime, ever. His ability to allow things to play themselves out was phenomenal; his capacity to take decisions was enormous. He would never falter. While on occasions members of the Executive Committee hesitated, they would pari passu eagerly await the Chairman's intervention. His summing-up would never be prolix. Brevity was his hallmark.
Some of the other characteristic facets of his personality must be noted to appreciate the person as a whole. At any BILIA social get-together, official or informal he would insist on paying at least half of the bill if not the whole. When the South African Chief Justice Ismail Mahomed was visiting Dhaka on 22 December 1998, he phoned me at about 5:00pm to arrange an ifter-dinner meeting at BILIA premises. Not to our surprise he gave us a special treat from Dhaka Club.
His last visit to the Institute on 23 January 2003 was indeed memorable. He was extremely ill at that time. When I visited him the day before, I spoke to his wife Sufia Apa-she informed me that Ishtiaq Bhai wanted to be present at the BILIA event. He came on time, he received guests, friends of the Institute along with Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Shah AMS Kibria, Barrister M. Amir-Ul Islam, Justice Naimuddin Ahmed, Prof. K. A. A. Quamruddin and Dr. M. Zahir. We presented the model architectural plan for the new Suhrawardi Bhaban. He watched the power point multimedia projection, a mixture of Chatham House and Arundel House (IISS Head Office).
The Chairman's memorable words were: "It is a marvelous idea and with our joint efforts this dream will come true some day". He then said, " I have now certain inability to bear on the speed of work as I used to keep on in the past, but soon I will be able to do it again, and now I must go because I have to take my medicine."
In June 2002 he spent a number of days at the Institute Seminar room to update some facts and dates in the manuscript he has written in his memories of the struggle for restoration of democracy in Bangladesh. Together with his knowledge of law and history he amazed me with his scholarship in English literature. On numerous occasions he made his cook help us with extra dishes. The fare was simple but perked up with his exotic delicacies and of course the occasional sausages from nearby Sausley outlet!
Little escaped his eyes! Some old newspapers from the early 70s and 80s were not properly stacked. He wanted them to be fixed and opened for the researchers using BILIA facilities. His directives to get some micro films of the missing newspapers from the Bangladesh National Library and Archives at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar have not yet been carried out. Once he asked me to launch a project to compile a list of war children thousands of them, many in foreign lands yearning to find their roots in Bangladesh. Added to his leadership qualities his kindness was devastating; meanness was something he did not understand. Sometime in mid August last year he suddenly phoned me and invited me to Dhaka Club at around 8:00pm. Mr. Faiz Ahmed, writer and author of children's books and a distinguished columnist was waiting there. At his request special dishes were prepared by the chef and we helped ourselves generously. If he was happy with any work, he would always say thank you; he had a gentler way of saying that too- he would sometimes invite people to his home over a cup of tea, he would then overwhelm them with a sample of roses from his garden---many of them rare species from Basra or Ispahan.
I do not wish to mourn his death---I would celebrate his life.