In remembrance of Atiqul Alam: A great journalist of our time

I came into contact with Atiqul Alam while I was serving News section of Radio Pakistan as Assistant News Editor in Chittagong following being selected by Central Public Service Commission of Pakistan in 1963. I joined in December of 1963. Atiqul Alam was chief reporter of Daily Unity of Chittagong, apart from serving as correspondent of Pakistan Times of Lahore. Our meeting place was Chittagong Press Club where most of the journalists assembled in the evening to participate badminton game in particular. Most vocal and active member of the press club was Moyneeul Alam, Bureau Chief of Daily Ittefaq in Chittagong. Atiqul Alam was also contributor to Karachi-based weekly : The Outlook of I H Burney. Burney also served as city editor of Daily Dawn of Karachi.
When President Ayub Khan was on a visit to Chittagong he visited Hathazari in Cox's Bazar to address gatherings there sometime in April of 1965, apart from hunting in the jungle of Hathazari along with Governor Abdul Momen Khan. We did not have means to travel to Hathazari by road. Editor of the weekly Outlook left his car at the disposal of Atiqul Alam who used to drive the Volkswagen beetle car. I approached Atique to take me along with him, apart from my editor-in-chief Mr Kamaluddin Ahmed who became Director-General of Bangladesh Betar in 1976. Atique accepted my proposal. We travelled in the same car along with another reputed journalist of Daily Dawn, Fazlur Rahman, who also represented Pakistan Observer. Fazlur Rahman was settled in London while Moyeenul Alam in Canada. Fazlur Rahman was very critical of the affairs in Pakistan who discovered wide disparities that existed between East Pakistan and West Pakistan. Somehow or other he was the blue eye of Altaf Hussain, founder editor of Daily Dawn of Karachi which I noticed during the visit of Altaf Hussain as Industry Minister of Pakistan during the martial law regime of Ayub Khan to Chittagong in 1965.
On way to Hathazari tyre of the car collapsed. We were worried but Atique brought out another tyre to replace collapsed one. We reached in time before the public meeting. We listened to the speech of President Ayub Khan and henchman of Ayub Khan, Governor Monem Khan. A dance of tribal girls was presented to please the President. In the afternoon President Ayub Khan and Governor Monem Khan wearing Khaki dress went out for shooting in the jungle of Hathazari. Monem Khan pre-arranged some of jungle turkey which the President could easily shoot.  Atique took us back to Chittagong. A news item was filed to broadcast from central news agency of Radio Pakistan, Karachi.
On another occasion General K M Cariappa, first commander-in-chief of Indian army from 1949-1953, was on a visit to East Pakistan in October of 1964. He visited Chittagong on his own to study the cause for the rush of tens of thousands of refugees between India and East Pakistan. This time he stayed as a guest of Governor of East Pakistan and was given a free hand to go where he wanted to and meet whoever he wanted to. At the end of his visit he gave a press conference at Chittagong circuit house. Atiqul Alam of Lahore Times, Nurul Islam of APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), Moyeenul Alam of Daily Ittefaq and this writer of Radio Pakistan were present at the press conference. In the evening Atiqul Alam came to Radio station to meet this writer. I enquired of him what makes him to see me. His reply was very simple. Nothing was recorded in his tape record of the press conference. Nor did he keep any note. He saw my report which I prepared for broadcast for local news bulletin. Gen Cariappa visited Pakistan five times as personal emissary to develop friendly relations between two countries. All the times he was guest of honor of Presidents Major-General Iskandar Mirza and General Ayub Khan as well. Both of them served British army during their career along with Field Marshal K M Cariappa who was awarded the Order of the British Empire.
During the regime of Ayub Khan, Fazlul Quader Chowdhury was elected Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly who hailed from Chittagong. Ayub Khan declared basic democracy in Pakistan to get rid of western criticism of martial law. Under basic democracy he declared general election for the President in January of 1965. The electoral college of 80,000 basic Democrats is entitled to elect President. Nine projection meetings were earmarked by Election Commission of Pakistan. One of the projection meetings was held in Chittagong stadium in December of 1964. Miss Fatima Jinnah was the candidate of combined opposition political parties against Ayub Khan, representative of Convention Muslim League. In the projection meeting of Fatima Jinnah there was chaos and pandemonium in Chittagong stadium. Miss Fatima Jinnah blamed rowdy situation in the stadium on the Speaker of the national assembly Fazlul Qader Chowdhury who was present in Chittagong at that time. This allegation raised furor in Pakistan.
Having seen criticism the Speaker called a press conference at his hilltop  Good Hill residence next day. It was a crowded press conference. All the invited journalists, including this writer as an electronic media representative, took seats. Atiqul Alam was late in attending the press conference. He had sought permission of the Speaker to enter the room by saying, "May I come in, sir?" The Speaker asked his name. The reply was: I am Atiqul Alam of Lahore Times. The Speaker roared like a lion and asked him to get out. At this, local journalists persuaded the Speaker to ask him to attend press the conference. The Speaker agreed to the suggestion. As soon as he took his seat the Speaker asked Atique who wrote the article in the Outlook of Karachi criticizing him with obnoxious cartoon. Atiqul Alam admitted that he wrote the article, but the editor added certain portion for which he was not responsible. He said he was prepared to show his script of the article. At this stage local journalists had sought pardon for Atiqul Alam. The Speaker by now cooled down his temper and began saying, "I am a son from East Pakistan. I had been trying to protect interest of East Pakistan from the central government." West Pakistanis were critical of him. Therefore, the Speaker had sought the understanding and cooperation of the journalist friends from East Pakistan in dealing with his activities. At the press conference the Speaker denied the allegation labelled against him by Miss Fatima Jinnah for creating pandemonium in the projection meeting.
During the voyage of pilgrim ship of Hizbul Bahar to Penang and Singapore in 1978 I met Atiqul Alam in the ship who along with a few journalists, including Professor Abdul Khaleque, Editor of Daily Azadi of Chittagong, vocal artistes, businessmen and civilian officers were on board of the ship at the courtesy of President Ziaur Rahman. They were travelling free of cost. I welcomed the ship at Penang Island on Strait of Malacca on behalf of the High Commissioner Maj-Gen K M Shafiullah. On return to Bangladesh in May of 1981 on completion of diplomatic assignment in Malaysia I met Atiqul Alam on a number of occasions at Reuters office at hotel Intercontinental where he served as Bureau Chief of Reuters news agency. He also served British Broadcasting Corporation from Dhaka. Incidentally, he lost his brother-in-law Saiful Bari who started his career in Radio journalism and ended his career as Chief Adviser to ATN Bangla TV network. Atique used to live a simple life and never raised his voice in dealing with people. I heard death news of Atiqul Alam with profound grief and sadness. May Allah grant him peace in Heaven.

Mohammad Amjad Hossain is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh and freelance writer, who writes from Virginia