IT was late Monday evening November 24 when national Professor Sufia Ahmed informed me that Ahmedul Kabir breathed his last at a Calcutta clinic. Mr. Ahmedul Kabir was not keeping well for sometime but there was no indication that he would leave us so soon. Years ago, I was introduced to him by my cousin Syed Altaf Hossain formerly a NAP leader and later on founder President of Bangladesh Gonotantrik Dal. After lapse of considerable time Mr. Ahmedul Kabir visited Rome as team leader of Bangladesh Delegation to the InterGovt. Committee on Tea under FAO. We in the Embassy did not miss the opportunity of making sure that a top media leader from Bangladesh met his homologues in Italy. The guests, inter alia, included the Minister on regional affairs, few media-men from right and centre-left of Italian politics; they were at times boisterous. Italians love to talk with gesticulation and gyration of a different kind. [distinguishing them from their French counterparts who make points through facial grimace or movements of epaulette]. But that made the evening very special; the gues of honour enjoyed it. He was amused when the Italians exclaimed 'Ilvino la verita'. In the post-prandial conversation our guests wanted to know the state of democracy in Bangladesh. His observations were in perspective and topical, critical but optimistic: after all the people who made supreme sacrifices in 1971 to achieve an independent and sovereign country mattered. He himself was put behind the bars in 1971 by the Pakistani army.

A man of great erudition and enormous learning, Ahmedul Kabir was always creative. Never for a moment he would allow his friends a dull moment. Be it a meeting, a salon or a social gathering -- everybody noted his presence. When his brother, founder of the national journal, the Sangbad, Mr. Khairul Kabir expired I went to attend the condolence at the Sangbad office. It was a time pregnant with uncertainities. Many like me were engaged in grim battle with the government of the day for our honour and dignity, taken away by a corrupt, maleficent and nontransparent bureaucracy. We won the day. My visit was a symbolic show of solidarity with an institution standing for a cause, a vision of liberal and progressive Bangladesh. When I was asked to speak, I felt embarrassed. I had very little knowledge about Mr. Khairul Kabir. I valued reading national press particularly those with liberal and progressive views. But my knowledge on Khairul Kabir was entirely based on what Altaf Bhai told me about the progressive movement in Bangladesh etc. I can't remember what I said but the host thought I spoke well! Ahmedul Kabir was crisp and precise, always with a sense of positivism. But about our politics he was less so. The experience of his two parliamentary stints left him with a sense of indifference. The emerging political culture of Bangladesh -divorced from the ideological moorings of the war of liberation, left him unhappy and disengaged. That's why he used to indulge in ironies and sarcasm. Like the Adlai Stevensons

and Jimmy Carters of the world his place in our history remains that of a conscience keeper.

In my on-again off-again search for knowledge about the liberal movement in Bangladesh, I tried to look for occasions. The golden jubilee celebration arranged by the Sangbad family some years ago at the Sheraton provided me with one such evening. It was a feast for my soul. All and everybody with some contribution, however minuscule, in the development of liberal thinking and progressive politics of Bangladesh were around. I never did so much pacing up and down the Winter Garden as I did that evening. But the party was over so soon!

From my BILIA niche, I received the phone of Mr. Ahmedul Kabir. He wanted to know about a book entitled "evsjvi ivRbxwZ‡Z E`vicš’x gymwjg ivRbxwZK‡`i f~wgKv (1905 Ñ 1925)" by Imtiaz Ahmed published under the BILIA auspices. He asked for a copy. His main purpose for calling was something else. He was curious (though he was pleased) to know how BILIA had published a book in Bangla! I said if any manuscript of national interest is handed to BILIA, I would apprise the Executive Committee about it and the Executive Committee will decide. He read the book and shared his personal knowledge about Barrister Abdur Rasul, Moulvi Abul Kasem, Advocate Abdul Halim Ghaznavi, Moulvi Mujibur Rahman of 'The Mussalman', Moulana Moni-ruzzaman Islamabadi of the 'Sultan' and many others who were pioneers in the movement of liberal and non-communal politics in Bengal. I was a silent listener. We agreed that he would visit us sometime at his convenience.

Ahmedul Kabir had a dream -dream of a society, a democratic country based on the immutable values of the war of liberation. He knew that it was not easy but he never gave in to despair. The daily Sangbad was his mirror image -- it gave us a perception about real Bangladesh -its roots, its past and history that every Bengali writer, student or scholar must instill. This nation will remember him. We owe him so much. His efforts to see certain norms, certain civility established in the country will always remain a beacon for those who want to inculcate the spirit of Bengali persona, Bengali zeitgeist and Sonar Bangla for which the glorious war of liberation was fought.

Wali-ur Rahman is Director, Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA)