Remembering Dr. Anwar Hossain

I was sitting in my office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, Pakistan thirty-seven years ago. I was exhausted trying to find a solution to the problem of simultaneous interpreters (in French and Arabic) required for the upcoming Second Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers being hosted in Karachi.
At that juncture, when irritation was written all over my face, in walked Mr. A.W. Shamsul Alam, Director (South East Asia Desk), later to be Bangladesh Ambassador. With him was another gentleman, totally at ease, a smile on his face and twinkle in his eyes. Mr. Alam introduced his companion as "my teacher Dr. Anwar Hossain, a Bangali nuclear physicist, a friend of Professor Salam (later a Noble laureate) and Professor I H Usmany (a famous Pakistani nuclear scientist)."
I was overwhelmed. I had heard of Dr. Anwar Hossain and his brilliant scientific career from Professor Usmany one evening over dinner in the Islamabad Club. He had informed me how Dr. Hossain, after serving as a Major in the Pakistan Army Education Crops had moved into the nuclear field-first as Director, Pakistan Atomic Energy Center, Lahore, then as Director, Atomic Energy Center, Dhaka, then as Chief Scientific Officer and Director General, PINSTECH, Rawalpindi, Pakistan and eventually as Director (Research), Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Karachi.
I was surprised to see such an eminent scientist in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more so in the office of a junior Section Officer. I asked him whether his visit had anything to do with the Islamic Conference or the question of peaceful use of nuclear energy by Islamic countries. Both Dr. Hossain and Mr. Alam laughed and said that it was nothing of that sort. It related to something else and that I would know about it later on. I did, the next day.
My mother telephoned me from Dhaka to inform me that "a famous Bangali scientist" called Dr Hossain might meet me and that I should try my best to be respectful towards him. Apparently, Dr. Hossain's views would decide whether I could get married to someone my mother had selected for me. That was true. Eventually, on the reasonable report given by Dr. Hossain, I got married to my wife who has been with me ever since.
I met Dr. Hossain as a matchmaker and over the years grew to admire this soft-spoken person even more for his many other accomplishments. He inspired many to try and achieve higher goals in life and to write one's observations on important and significant issues. He was instrumental in persuading me to start writing as a columnist in The Daily Star after my retirement from government service.
An internationally respected scholar, nuclear physicist, environmental and alternative energy use activist, and a columnist, Dr. Anwar Hossain passed away in Dhaka on September 23, from complications resulting out of a sudden heart attack. He was 76. He left behind his wife, two daughters, a son, a son-in-law and grand children. An enthusiastic contract bridge player, he will also be remembered for his seriousness in this sport by his many friends. Those who shared with him his love for travel and the safeguarding of the environment will also miss him.
An erudite person, Dr. Awami Hossain was appointed Member in the newly constituted Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission in May 1973, and later Chairman in the same Institution in 1977. He was also the founder Director General of the Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (Sparrso). He, quite fittingly, signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty on behalf of Bangladesh and helped to set up the first and only Nuclear Research reactor in Savar.
A brilliant student, Dr. Anwar Hossain hailed from Nallapara, a village in Tangail district. Born in an enlightened family, he received great support for his early scientific studies from his father, late Mr. Velayet Hossain, who retired as a judge. In his later life, he received a lot of encouragement from his elder brother Mr. Delwar Hossain and other members of his family, his friends and former colleagues, in his effort to raise the standard of scientific education in Bangladesh.
Dr. Anwar Hossain was a nuclear scientist but was firmly against nuclear weapons. This view was best reflected in his inscription in the Visitor's Book at the Hiroshima Atom Bomb Museum. He went to Japan in 1989 to visit his daughter and her family and later accompanied them to see the Museum. He noted -- "as a nuclear scientist I am ashamed of what we have done in Hiroshima. I hope this is never repeated any where in the world again." It is probably this belief that led him to refuse being associated with any research or activity that might lead to the creation of a nuclear bomb during his stint at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.
He believed not only in the peaceful use of nuclear energy but also in the accessing of solar, wind-driven and bio-fuel energy. It is this commitment that persuaded him to write several articles on this subject in different journals and newspapers over the years. His latest observations were punished in The Daily Star a few weeks ago. It proposed the establishment of nuclear reactors in Bangladesh and the use of nuclear energy to meet our future requirements. Through his death, Bangladesh has lost an eminent patriot.
To the best of my knowledge, Dr. Hossain had no enemies. This was so because he did not know how to make one. I pray for his soul's eternal salvation.
Muhammad Zamir is former Secretary and Ambassador.