A diplomat needs to be well-informed of the current and past situation coupled with negotiation expertise. Under no circumstance a diplomat loses temper while on a negotiating table. A diplomat could conduct any issue in a somewhat genteel atmosphere, unconstrained by the passions of public opinion. He must be suave and place his points of view in the context of the interests of the country he or she represents. Having said so, I felt Fakhruddin Ahmed represented Bangladesh as a diplomat par excellence as he possessed all the good qualities that a diplomat should possess.

Born in 1931 in Faridpur District of Bangladesh Fakhruddin Ahmed joined Pakistan Foreign Service in 1954 having obtained Master’s degree in International Relations from Dacca University. He had the privilege in serving in different capacities at Pakistan diplomatic missions in Jeddah, New York, Tehran, Accra and at the Pakistan foreign ministry office in Islamabad. It was a matter of coincidence that I met him first in 1970 some time in October in Pakistan foreign office in Islamabad where he was working as Director (personnel) to find out my position in the examination for the post as Information Officer in CENTO headquarters. Ambassador Humayun Kabir, who served as Ambassador in Bangladesh embassies in Iran, US and United Nations, was the invigilator. At that time he was serving as Deputy Chief of Protocol in Pakistan foreign office while I was working in the External Publicity Wing of Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and National Affairs in Islambad. I was the lone Bengali officer working in external publicity wing and the rest were from West Pakistan. Mr Fakhruddin Ahmad replied that it would take another three weeks or so to take a decision. By now Fakhruddin Ahmad had acquired praises from the Bengali community in Islamabad who pushed through Bengalis of East Pakistan origin in the menial posts in the administration without any hesitation. That showed his courage to promote the interest of erstwhile East Pakistani personnel.

Just before War of Liberation had begun in East Pakistan by marauding Pakistan army, Fakhruddin Ahmad was posted in Dacca branch of Pakistan foreign office in 1971 as Director-General, but he could not join because of an army crackdown on innocent people of East Pakistan. He was prevented from going to Dacca from Karachi. On return to Islamabad his mind did not rest and he had sought avenues to get out of Pakistan some way or other. Finally he along with his family slipped out of Pakistan via Kabul and Delhi. It was really dangerous adventure to sneak out of Pakistan at a time when Pakistan became hostile towards newly born Bangladesh because of prisoners of war held by Bangladesh and India jointly.

In 1973, Fakhruddin Ahmad joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an Additional Foreign Secretary. Initially he was given the responsibility to look after the administration of the Ministry. Enayet Karim joined the Foreign Ministry as Foreign Secretary on return from Pakistan embassy in Washington DC where he was posted as Minister. Both Enayet Karim and Fakhruddin Ahmad jointly made the foreign office active, lively and interesting to work at. During the formative period the foreign office witnessed a flurry of activities, including visits of as many as 12 heads of states and renowned writers and journalists. On most of the time my services were requisitioned by Chief of Protocol Nazrul Islam to become host officer to visiting heads of states or reputed writers and journalists by Director-General of External Publicity Division of Foreign Office, Humayun Kabir. Foreign Secretary Enayet Karim concentrated so much energy on the nitty-gritty of diplomacy that he succumbed to sudden heart attack while he was working in the office. In fact, Enayet Karim had been suffering from heart ailment since his diplomatic assignment in Washington DC in 1970-1971. Immediately after sudden demise of Enayet Karim Fakhruddin Ahmad was made acting foreign secretary and by December of 1974 Fakhruddin Ahmed was made foreign secretary.

Fakhruddin Ahmad had direct access to the charismatic leader of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman but Fakhruddin Ahmad stood boldly against the decision of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to make officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs join the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BAKSAL) following the passage of fourth amendment to the Constitution. Fakhruddin Ahmed succeeded in resisting BAKSAL officers to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I was directed by Fakhruddin Ahmad to watch who are the officers joining office of BAKSAL. Fakhruddin Ahmed served till November, 1975 as Foreign Secretary. In fact, Fakhruddin Ahmad was removed from this prestigious position by Khandakar Mushtaque Ahmad government as he did not comply with illogical and undemocratic decisions to make foreign postings of some disgruntled army officers who were involved in assassination of the President of Bangladesh. He was uncompromising with regard to principles. He was replaced by Tabarak Hossain who was until 1971  Director-General in Pakistan foreign office.

Fakhruddin Ahmed was an amiable and sociable personality. To corroborate his amiable personality I would like to narrate a story. It so happened that one day I was instructed to find out Syed Amirul Islam known as Hamdu bhai who had command over French language. Fakhruddin Ahmad gave some points to prepare notes, but Islam had lost the notes. Fakhruddin did not say anything. Incidentally, both of them were staying in central circuit house. I had been there for my personal affairs. Syed Amirul Islam was suffering from severe nature of disease for which no treatment was available in the country at that time. Fakhruddin Ahmed posted him to the newly established Bangladesh mission in Berlin on compassionate ground for his treatment.

From 1976 to 1986 Fakhruddin Ahmed served Bangladesh as Ambassador to Italy, Yugoslavia and as High commissioner to the United Kingdom. His contributions for the improvement of bilateral relations with the countries he served were commendable. During his tenure as High Commissioner in the UK the Queen Elizabeth along with her husband Duke of Edinburgh paid a visit to Bangladesh in the second week of November of 1983. It was a memorable visit of the British Queen, which paved the way for further improvement of bilateral relations between traditional friends of Bangladesh and the Great Britain. In this connection, I cannot resist temptation to narrate an anecdote. During her visit Queen Elizabeth was scheduled to go round a village at Sripur to know the way of lives of the rickshaw pullers and fishermen in the village. High Commissioner Fakhruddin Ahmed went along with the British entourage while I accompanied the British news media. A special train was arranged for transportation of the entourage and news media to Sripur from Dhaka and the Queen had the glimpse of the villages on both sides of the railways. At Sripur village the houses, trees and roads were beautifully decorated and the nearby pond there were plenty of fishes, which caused annoyance to High Commissioner Fakhruddin Ahmed. While walking along the pond Fakhruddin Ahmed shared with me the whole idea of showing a real village life of the people to the British Queen. The Duke of Edinburgh visited, on the other hand, two British tea estates in Sylhet. A number of host officers along with spouse, including this writer were present before the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on the concluding day of the visit. On the conclusion of the visit of the Queen I was presented a letter of appreciation along with signed photograph of the Queen by her Press Secretary which said, “I am commanded by The Queen to write to thank you for all the hard work which you have carried out in connection with the arrangements for Her Majesty’s state visit to Bangladesh with the Duke of Edinburgh. They are sorry that they did not have an opportunity to thank you personally, but have asked me to send the enclosed photograph.”

It was unique in diplomatic history of Bangladesh that Fakhruddin Ahmed had had the privilege in serving the Ministry as Foreign Secretary second time from 1986-1887, but  could not continue to serve the Ministry as a result of displeasure between the President and Foreign Secretary. He went on a leave before retirement from the service ending a long checkered career of diplomatic service.

During the period of first non-government caretaker government of Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed after the fall of military-led government of Gen Ershad, Fakhruddin Ahmed was assigned as an adviser to serve the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1991-1992. As an adviser his speech at the certificate giving ceremony of the newly recruited foreign service officers was illuminating and inspiring for the officers indeed.

As a member of election observer group Fakhruddin Ahmed observed elections in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, India and Zambia and Guyana and also participated in UN observer mission in South Africa.

After retirement Fakhruddin Ahmed concentrated on writings. His article on the foreign policy of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Ziaur Rahman and Ershad governments was illuminating and unbiased indeed which will be helpful to research-oriented students. His book: Critical Times: Memoir of a South Asian diplomat, makes an interesting reading which reflects an insight of a diplomatic role he played at difficult times of our history.

Last but not the least, my hats are off to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for designating a Memorial Hall in honour of Ambassador Fakhruddin Ahmed where present Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali, who was first diplomat in America to declare his allegiance to the exile Bangladesh government in India, unveiled on the 1st of January of 2015 the cover of a book: Regional Cooperation and Globalization: Bangladesh, South Asia and beyond. The book, a compilation of articles written in memory of Ambassador Fakhruddin Ahmed and Professor Zillur Rahman Khan, was edited by Dr Meghna Guhathakurta. Here both Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali and former foreign secretary Farooq Sobhan spoke of successful diplomatic services offered by Ambassador Fakhruddin Ahmed during his career.

Incidentally, Ambassador Fakhruddin Ahmed expired in foreign land at the residence of his daughter at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 02 November of 2001 after having suffered for long two years from cancer.

Published in the November 14, 2015 Edition of the Financial Express