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As I look back

AMM SHAWKAT ALI
IN 1968, I completed my usual probationary period and was posted to Gopalganj as Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) in August. I could not immediately move from Dinajpur owing to floods that hit the district at that time. I left for Gopalganj sometimes at the end of October.
By 1968, Bangabandhu had become larger than life. As is widely known, he hailed from Tungipara village, which then formed part of Patgati Union Parishad. His uncle, Sheikh Musharraf Hossain was then an ex-chairman of Patgati Union. He was a respected man of the locality.
Sometime in July 1969, I was transferred from Gopalganj to Kurigram before I could complete my usual tenure of three years. I took all preparations to move to my new place of posting. Sheikh Musharraf saw me in my office in one of those days. He told me that Bangabandhu wanted to know if I was willing to stay back in which case he would speak to the Governor to cancel my transfer order. I replied in the negative saying that I did not want to get involved in any political controversy. The reason I said this was that everybody including the Deputy Commissioner of Faridpur, then late Abdus Samad, knew that I was transferred at the insistence of some Muslim League leader. Little did I realize then that this small little thing would be remembered by Bangabandhu in January 1973 when I was called to see him in his office then located in the Bangladesh Secretariat.
Before 1973, I saw Bangabandhu in 1972 during the visit of Indira Gandhi. At that time, I was Private Secretary to President Abu Sayeed Chowdhury. I also saw him at Bangabhavan when one day he came to call on the President. But that was all official. We never met before 1973. It was not expected that he would recognise me. But it always struck me then that he was full of affection and without any air. He would smilingly accept the respectful greetings of all and not only of the big guns.
When Indira Gandhi visited Bangladesh, there was a banquet at Bangabhavan. I distinctly remember a small incident of how affectionate the great man was.
After the banquet, he was about to leave. My wife asked me if it was all right if she requested him for an autograph. Shirin, wife of M R Osmany, also joined. Lo and behold, the two ladies rushed to the stairs where Bangabandhu was slowly moving to get into the car. My wife was carrying the printed menu of the banquet and a pen. She stretched it to him for an autograph. Bangabandhu said: You belong to this country and you would have occasions to get the autograph later. He said this affectionately placing his hand on my wife's head. One of the ladies probably said: "It would be difficult to reach you." Bangabandhu smiled and put his autograph.
In January 1973, I was in the Ministry of Communications. Mohammad Ali was Deputy Secretary, Establishment. He rang up one day and asked me to have a cup of tea. I told him that if it was a question of posting out, he could send me the order. He insisted that I must come. When I saw him, he told me that the Prime Minister wanted me to see him at his office. As I was ushered into the room of the
Prime Minister, he said "Shawkat, you were in Gopalganj. You were unjustly transferred and I wanted to intervene. You did not agree. Now I want you to take charge of Sylhet". He exactly remembered the small little incident that I have earlier referred to. People who knew him already, rightly used to say that he had a photographic memory.
Prior to the first ever national elections, all DCs, SPs, Commissioners and DIGs were called for a briefing. The venue was the Prime Minister's Office at Hare Road. All the Secretaries were there also. The Prime Minister sat on a chair in the verandah of the ground floor. We were all in front of him in the lawn. He asked us to hold the elections in a free and fair manner and all that kind of thing. Suddenly, he raised his voice and referred to the lack of magisterial control over police. He said: "I know, the authority of the DC to write annual confidential reports of SPs was taken away by Ayub Khan. Let all police officers present take note that the authority is restored as of now." As I reached Sylhet by road two days later, I got an amended notification of rule 75A of the police regulations restoring the authority of the DC to write annual confidential reports of SPs.
In 1974, there were floods in Sylhet, Comilla and other districts. One day, I just returned from Habiganj after visiting the flood-affected areas. Back in Sylhet, I received information through wireless that the Prime Minister would be visiting Habiganj. I rushed to Habiganj again. The Prime Minister reached Habiganj in the morning by a helicopter. We moved in a jeep for a drive along Habiganj-Shaistaganj road. At a certain point in the road we had to stop because of heavy on rush of water. The Prime Minister alighted from the jeep and was looking at both sides of the road. One of his political aides, then very young, requested the Prime Minister to appeal for international assistance. The Prime Minister kept mum and was still looking at both sides of the road. As if to further persuade the Prime Minister, the young aide said: "Don't you see all the crops on both sides of the road have been destroyed."
Suddenly, the Prime Minister looked at me, probably for my reactions about the damage to crops. I had seen the crop fields, before the onset of floods. It was all empty. The area was a late Aman area. I mustered my courage to contradict what the young aide had said. The contradiction evoked sharp reaction, not from the Prime Minister, but from his young political aide. The aide said angrily: "You officers, what do you know of crops? You just travel by government vehicles." The Prime Minister again looked at me. I kept my cool and asked one of the accompanying peons to get some soils from the field which was submerged. It was done. There was no trace of paddy crop. The Prime Minister said: "Let us go."
We all flew in the helicopter for Sunamganj and finally to Sylhet. After quiet lunch at the circuit house, some leading citizens of Sylhet town came in a delegation to meet the Prime Minister. They handed over a written petition and the Prime Minister asked them to explain what it was all about. They explained that Hazrat Shahjalal was given 'Lakhiraj' land by one of the Mughal emperors. The whole of Sylhet town should be 'Lakhiraj'.
The Prime Minister looked at me and asked what was 'Lakhiraj'. I promptly replied it meant
rent or tax free land. He smiled and told the delegation that the proposal was unacceptable. All affluent people living in towns must pay taxes, was what he told them further. The delegation started arguing. The Prime Minister kept on listening but without nodding his approval to the proposal made.
I knew the background of the case. Such claims go back to history. The two Land Revenue Commissions/Committees of the fifties rejected this proposal on the ground that only three acres of land were made rent-free and not the whole of Sylhet town. Suddenly, I remembered that there was a litigation pending in the High Court. I mentioned this to the Prime Minister. He asked me to send him a complete report on the issue, which I did.
The above two incidents clearly showed that in matters of executive decision making, he was not given to take spontaneous and on the spot
decisions as many politicians would like to do. He would lend his ears to everyone relevant and weigh the pros and cons before taking any decision.
I witnessed another scene at the airport, which confirmed that the Prime Minister had a photographic memory as earlier stated. Thousands came to see him off. The airport tuned into a sea of human heads. He was talking and smiling to everybody who could come near him. Suddenly, he spotted an old man from Zakiganj. Immediately, he uttered his name and the man confirmed his identity. The Prime Minister embraced him with deep affection and then said: "Do you remember, we worked together in 1947 to prevent transfer of Zakiganj to India". The man was in tears and narrated how movements were organized by Sheikh Mujib of those days on this issue.
In mid-1974, I was transferred from Sylhet to
Dhaka in the Secretariat. I left Sylhet without waiting for my successor to join. Margub Murshed, then Additional Deputy Commissioner, held the fort. One day, I got a call from Quazi Habibul Huq, then Joint Secretary, Prime Minister's Secretariat. He told me that I was proposed for posting to Chittagong as DC. I requested him to stop it. Hardly two months ago I was in Sylhet. He advised me to come to Ganobhavan. I rushed. I was allowed to see the Prime Minister. He told me to take over as DC Chittagong. I marshaled courage, knowing his affectionate nature, to say that I just came from Sylhet and I wanted to gain some experience in Secretariat work Luckily for me, the Prime Minister agreed.
A few months later my transfer order was approved in the file. This time it was Barisal, the district as it was then, to which I belonged. Emboldened by my previous experience, I could manage to see the Prime Minister. I explained to him that I could not be posted to my home district. The Prime Minister said: "I always thought you are from Dhaka". He then asked the village I belonged to. As I named the village, he immediately started identifying some of the rivers and bazaars of the area. The order of transfer was not issued. As I was leaving his room, he said "You must be posted as DC, may be I'll make you DC, Dhaka". It is a strange coincidence that I did become DC, Dhaka in February 1976.
I met him for the lat time again in towards the late part of 1974. I was then in the Bangladesh Water Development Board. The Joint Rivers Commission was to go to India for talks on water sharing. Abdur Rab Serniabat, then Minister for Water Resources, desired that the Chairman and Members of the Board should also be present when the Commission goes to brief the Prime Minister before leaving for Delhi. We all lined up in the lounge. When Prime Minister came, the Minister started introducing the members of the Board. When my turn came, the Prime Minister said "I know him, I know him. You have some good officers in your outfit". I was deeply touched by his remark. In course of the briefing, some of the people present suggested that the Prime Minister might like to talk over phone to his Indian counterpart emphasising the urgency of resolving the water sharing issue. It was in our national interest that demanded top level intervention. Bangabandhu immediately said, "At political level the problems are less than at the technical level. Since the Commission is going for bilateral talks, it should first narrow down the differences at that level. Mrs. Gandhi would definitely also get briefing from her technical experts".
Looking back, I sometimes wonder why Bangabandhu decided on more occasions than one to post me as DC. One probable reason could be I had to be pulled out of Sylhet before I could complete the normal tenure of three years. As I learnt later, this was done at the instance of a senior Minister who belonged to Sylhet. Of all the great qualities of head and heart that Bangabandhu was endowed with, it is his deeply affectionate nature that I always cherish in my memory, as indeed millions at home and abroad do.
The writer is former Secretary, Ministry ofAgriculture