A time for farewell

ARSHAD-UZ Zaman, a successful diplomat, political confidant of the nation's high and mighty, and a man of international culture recently passed away at the mature age of 80-plus years. There were few things in life that he left unachieved, but he was also a deeply caring human being which was his life's greatest achievement and that's how we shall remember him.
He came from a family of professional aristocracy. His father Khan Bahadur Fazlur Rahman was a member of the Bengal Civil Service and retired as a District Magistrate. After graduating from the Calcutta University in the pre-1947 era, Arshad bhai went to Paris where he studied in the famous Institut d'Etudes Politiques of the Paris University. On return home, he joined the civil service of Pakistan and was posted as press attache at the Pakistan Embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, and later served in Pakistan missions in New York, Tokyo and Bonn.
Arshad bhai had a brilliant diplomatic career, and served as an ambassador to Algeria, Egypt and Senegal. These countries also have a wide mix of cultures with their colonial past, their hunger for freedom, the clash within these societies between modernity and traditions, all of which were emerging issues in the OIC world too. He must have found it immensely interesting as he saw the changes taking place all over, even if the resultant violence of that clash was always disconcerting to him.
However, it was 1971 that, like for so many of us, became a vehicle of transition in his life. A supporter of the nationalist cause, he won the confidence of the Mujibnagar government through publicising the atrocities committed on Bangladeshis to the world. Soon after independence, he joined the Foreign Ministry as director general external publicity and was later moved to the post of chief of protocol.
In 1980, he joined the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), the international body of Muslim nations, as an assistant secretary general, a task he performed with great élan. He became the first deputy of the OIC secretary general and often served as acting secretary general. He not only succeeded as an international diplomat, but also held aloft the image of Bangladesh.
To a man who was a natural mixer of cultures, these were pleasant opportunities to expand his world vision. He was fluent in Turkish and French, and had earned his bonafide credentials as a Francophile. He translated Andre Malraux into Bengali, and his affection for France and its language was a lifelong affair. The French government reciprocated his affection by honouring him with the French award Legion D' Honneur, one of the highest symbols of cultural achievements of the French nation. Arshad bhai was not just the first Bangladeshi to be bestowed with this honour, but was also a bond between the two cultures.
Yet, his love for things French represented only a part of his soul, for Turkey and Turkish was no less a part of him. He was fluent in Turkish and, of course, the most important part of his life, his marriage, was to a Turkish lady. He saw Turkey as another home, and he was in a way a citizen of another part of the world. He understood the internal tugs within that nation too, the conflicts and contradictions as well as its aspirations, that had gone into the making of modern Turkey that is still formulating its future.
These experiences prepared him to help understand better his own land, the country in whose birth he had played a role. For, in the end, Arshad bhai was a supreme patriot, and to him the desire to be part of Bangladesh's future, and the construction of nationhood of this new land with an ancient history, was deep.
Much of that, of course, was reflected in his involvement as a columnist for Dhaka Courier and Dainik Jugantor. Journalism was not a post-retirement hobby for him, but a passionate part of his commitment to Bangladesh. He was always involved with politics in an advisory capacity, and in his final days he had teamed up with the political platform of Prof. B. Chowdhury.
We will deeply miss him but we shall not grieve him, for he lived such a fulfilling life. He was a personal friend and also a friend of Dhaka Courier from the very beginning, and so we shall feel the loss of a human being as well as a fellow traveler in our media journey. His last contribution to Dhaka Courier pages came only last week.
He sought little for himself, except the opportunity to work on the many projects in life. In the end, these ventures also rewarded him with fulfillment, and his life will always be for all of us who knew him a cherished journey that he took with all his friends and family.
Farewell to you, Arshad bhai. Till we meet again.

Enayetullah Khan is Chief Editor, UNB.