Recollections of a long friendship

I met Professor Khan Sarwar Murshid when I joined the University as a young law teacher in 1961. He had been a teacher for some years and I found him to be one of a small circle who impressed as a proactive and socially committed person. He held strong opinions and would express them with forceful arguments. Lively conversations and even livelier debates were a distinctive feature of this circle. Sarwar Murshid's contribution to these debates was not only confined to the University common room or to social gatherings, but was expressed in a journal which he founded and edited called New Values. The journal had been launched in the late fifties, in the first decade following independence from British colonial rule. The title New Values reflected the values that would give meaning to such independence. By the 60s the context had already undergone significant change. The hope and optimism generated in the 50s had encountered repression by the new rulers who opposed recognising Bangla as a state language. They set about to obstruct the development of democracy because it would threaten their power. The 1954 United Front Elections proved that they could not muster an electoral majority.

Khan Sarwar Murshid was in the vanguard of the vigorous intellectual protest founded on a powerful reaffirmation of those New Values. In the changed context this meant voicing enlightened and liberal expectations that the end of British colonial rule would see the birth of democracy. He sought to generate among fellow teachers and his students the energy to engage in activism to support the goals we aspired for. He spent several years in Harvard in the early 60s.

After his return to East Bengal his University flat in Fuller Road became one of the meeting places for the academic and professionals' circle which had grown during the early 60s and had begun to identify with the emergence of Bangali nationalism. This circle developed working links with those who were providing political leadership for the nationalist movement. This attracted adverse notice of the University authorities and led to disciplinary action against Sarwar Murshid, Professor Abdur Razzaque and Professor Muzaffor Ahmed Chowdhury. We successfully challenged the University action by seeking protection of the law.

Between 1966-1971 the activities in the University flat in Fuller Road became more and more focused and a regular channel for consultation between academics and professionals with the political leaders and group. This was facilitated by the fact that his wife, Nurjahan Murshid, was herself active in the Awami League, and had been elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1954. The active participation of this group intensified as the movement against Ayub regime reached a climax in 1969. Sarwar Murshid participated in most of the consultations and traveled as one of the advisors to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League team at the Round Table Conference in Islamabad in 1969. This active consultative relationship continued and Sarwar Murshid remained an active participant in the ongoing movement.

Following the military crackdown on March 25, when many teachers and students were brutally killed by the military, Sarwar Murshid was amongst those who were forced to leave the country with his family. He then worked with the Mujibnagar Government in exile along with the Professor Anisuzzaman, Professor Rehman Sobhan and Professor Musharraf Hossain. Upon the emergence of Bangladesh he and Professor Muzaffor Ahmed Chowdhury received due recognition by being appointed as Vice Chancellors of the University of Dhaka and Rajshahi respectively. It was in the first optimistic years that we had the benefit of his views on the draft Constitution and important national policy issues such as framing of the education policy and of a University Charter which would recognise and guarantee academic freedom.

This optimism, however, began to be affected by developments which seemed to run counter to the aspirations and values which he had not only espoused since 50s or even earlier  about democracy, academic freedom and rule of law but had been core values of the liberation movement. Those values had been embodied in the 1972 Constitution but imperceptibly they began to erode, as narrow, partisan views and interests began to surface after independence. Murshid remained uncompromisingly true to his values. This led him to resign from the post of Vice-Chancellor as he could not accommodate the expectations of narrowly partisan students and would not extend patronage to them.

He then began a new phase in his career as a diplomat since some of us insisted that his involvement in our liberation movement should be recognised and the nation should use his services. He was persuaded to accept an appointment as Ambassador to Poland. While he was in Warsaw in 1975 and I was on an official visit as Foreign Minister to Yugoslavia, we both shared the shock and sorrow at receiving the terrible news of the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family. I had been in touch with Sarwar Murshid prior to August 15, to discuss the programme for the forthcoming visit of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to Europe, not realising that the terrible event the followed would not only prevent the visit but inflict irreparable damage to the nation.

I reached London on August 17, from where I announced that I had no further relation with the Government of Bangladesh. I spoke to Murshid who indicated that he would not be able to continue as Ambassador. Fortunately, the Commonwealth Secretariat was able to appoint him as Assistant Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and in that capacity Sarwar Murshid served with distinction for several years before returning to Bangladesh to resume his academic career as Professor of English in the University of Dhaka.

He continued to be a voice of conscience and to speak out on political and social issues, always upholding the values which were the core of the liberation movement and embodied in our Constitution. As a leading member of civil society he was active in the movement for restoration of democracy in the 90s and after its formal revival, he worked tirelessly to nurture a democratic culture and promote the values which are indispensable to the practice of democracy. His intellectual contribution had been reinforced by his active participation in grass roots work. As Chairman of Nagorik Uddyog, he had traveled to villages, promoting notions of justice and human rights in the resolution of disputes, and manifesting his conviction that a living democracy must relate to people's lives and involve their active participation. He supported his wife, Nurjahan Murshid, when she started a Bangla monthly Edesh Ekal, which in the tradition of New Values, continued to sustain the spirit of freedom and to nurture the hopes and aspirations that came with liberation. Her death deprived him of a life long partnership which had contributed so richly to the intellectual and political development of our society. Despite his irreparable personal loss he continued to remain in a remarkable way to be intellectually active and committed to those values which were new values in the 50s and today appear to be old values. For these are the core values of our liberation movement and need to be shared with our new generation so that the promise of liberation can be realised through their renewed commitment and sustained efforts.

The writer is an eminent jurist and one of the framers of the Bangladesh Constitution.