Among the qualities that he will be remembered for were his ability to work with people at all levels, irrespective of age, rank or social standing, and his commitment and dedication to the people he worked with. Perhaps the most important of all this was the professionalism with which he carried himself, his political neutrality and above-board integrity, which should be the hallmarks of a civil servant.

A senior colleague in government service, I first came to know of Shamim Ahsan as a probationer in the civil service at Jessore in 1970. He and I met accidentally in the border outpost of Benapole, where he had gone to see-off his mother traveling to India, and I to see-off a relative.

Shamim Ahsan was going through a rather bad patch at that time. A few months earlier his name was included in the list of officials put under investigation by the new martial law regime. He was employed as Secretary to the Governor prior to that time.

Contrary to my expectation that I would see a dejected Shamim Ahsan because of the malignant action, I was struck by the cheerfulness and optimism that he exhibited at a moment when the likes of us would meet people with our heads down. He not only seemed not bothered by the government action, he was positive that the cloud over him would soon disappear, and he would be put back in his job with honour.

His faith in God and in himself was unshakable. As I recall, Syed Shamim Ahsan was one of the very few civil servants who were honourably reinstated in service within a couple of months.

I did not meet Shamim Ahsan, at least officially, until after liberation, when he had joined the newly formed Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation, first as deputy secretary and later as joint secretary. He persuaded me to move from my job at the prime minister's office and join the new ministry as private secretary to minister Kamaruzzaman, a man whom I did not know.

Little did I know at that time that the job would be one of the most fulfilling in my rather short civil service career. In one job I came to know two of the finest minds -- Shamim Ahsan and Kamaruzzaman.

Along with a sharp mind and intellect, Shamim Ahsan gave the full weight of his energy and effort toward the rebuilding effort that was the primary occupation of the ministry. He was responsible for coordination of all external relief efforts, and storage and distribution of relief goods country-wide, in the crucial first few months in 1972.

In amazement I would watch him work hours at his desk, conferring with a horde of foreign aid agencies, UNHCR, International Red Cross, local agencies, relief seekers, above all political workers, who would be routinely channeled to him by the minister. He dealt with the foreign aid agencies adroitly and skillfully; very politely and patiently with the rather aggressive lot of relief seekers and political workers.

Throughout the entire workday and evening he endured his ordeal on copious amounts of tea. We had a secretary to the ministry, but to minister Kamaruzzaman, Syed Shamim Ahsan was his Mushkil Asan -- the solver of complex problems.

I worked in close association with Shamim Ahsan for another year only, but I would observe with fascination in the later years, from afar, his ability to work with, and earn the trust and confidence of, subsequent political and non-political bosses.

In more than the three decades he worked for the government his dedication had been only to his profession, not to the political environment that he worked within. His motto all his life had been to prize his profession above everything else, to work with dedication, and earn the trust and love of all he worked with.

In life, particularly in government work, it is near to impossible not to alienate people or earn animosity of some. It is the nature of the work itself that leads to such unwanted outcomes. Shamim Ahsan had been one of the rare civil servants that I knew who elicited love and respect from one and all that he came across.

In a remark to Shamim Ahsan in my presence in 1972, late J.N. Dixit, Deputy High Commissioner of India at Dhaka that time (he later was Indian foreign secretary, and national security advisor) said: "Shamim, you are the quintessential gentleman."

In paying respect to his departed soul I only wish there were more of the kind of Syed Shamim Ahsan in today's civil bureaucracy.

Ziauddin Choudhury is a former Civil Servant.