& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Tribute

A great man, a humble man

Enayetullah Khan
The last time I met Dr. MA Wazed Miah was when he made that final trip to Singapore for medical treatment. He looked rather frail. But then, there was no absence of enthusiasm in him. As I sat beside him on the plane, he held my hand and we talked. I was acutely conscious of the fact that he did not need to be disturbed, that he needed all the strength he could muster to pull through. It was I who did the talking. I recalled in my mind the brilliant career Wazed Miah had travelled over the years, the niche he had carved for himself in the arena of nuclear science.
The best that can be said about Dr. Wazed Miah is that he always remained his own man. and carried himself with great dignity as an individual That he was the son-in-law of the Father of the Nation, that he was married to the most influential
politician in the country, were truths that were certainly not bigger than the truth that he was a thoroughly professional man in his own right
He was surely proud of the fact that he had married into the family of a man destined to make history. On the day Sheikh Hasina took office as Bangladesh's prime minister in 1996, he beamed with pride. He knew that his wife's long, tortuous political struggle had paid off, had indeed contributed greatly to the rise of democracy in the country. He was happy for her.
The scientist was a self-effacing man and never has there been any point in time when he has been seen to take advantage of the pre-eminence of his family in politics.
As a senior official and then as chairman of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, he remained committed to his job. I often wonder about the way
he carried himself. And I do that especially when I think of all the other political spouses who, in our own era, have not been able to resist the temptation of deriving advantage from the power and prominence of their wives or husbands.
The husband oflXirkey's former prime minister Tansu Ciller had many questions raised about his predilection for wrongdoing only because of his links to the most powerful individual in the country. In Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari carried the stigma of corruption from the two stints his wife Benazir Bhutto served as prime minister. Very recently, in Britain, the husband of the home secrc tary, Jacqui Smith, landed his wife in trouble over the use of taxpayers' money for him to be able to sec adult movies.
There are innumerable examples one can cite about the many ways in which powerful spouses have earned notoriety for themselves. But Wazed Miah was
always the exception. And why shouldn't he have been? The answer to that question is simple: he was a self-made man. By the time he married Sheikh Hasina, he was already established in his field as a talented nuclear scientist. He had already been abroad and had already earned the appreciation of as significant a personality as Dr. I. H. Usmani, chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. Usmani recognised the huge potential in Miah and arranged for him to be sent abroad for higher studies and further research.
At his office at the BAEC, there was hardly anything forbidding about him. His colleagues and other staff always found him accessible. Indeed, he was one of those men for whom respect from others came naturally and spontaneously. No one would be able to suspect that he was the husband of the prime minister. When the time came for him to retire in
1999, he took it in his stride. He could have asked for an extension, since Sheikh Hasina was then the prime minister. He did not and instead went quietly into retired life, into his own cocoon as it were.
Wazcd Miah could have, like so many
others we know, used these past few years to appear on television channels or write in newspapers and give us his considered opinion of matters in general. That he chose not to remains a sign of the dignity in the man. Like any decent individual, he knew the torch had to be passed to other, younger individuals.
Just how wide and diverse was the respect for Dr. Wazed Miah can easily be observed from the plethora of tributes and condolences that have been showered on him since his death last week. Personally, I am proud to have known this great and yet humble man, one who did not seek the limelight or glow in reflected glory but stayed glued to his own honest, middle class ideals ali his life. I pray for the salvation of his departed soul.
Enayetullah Khan is Chief Editor, UNB and Editor, Dhaka Courier