Remembering four eminent persons

Khorshed Alam I was not keeping very well during the last few weeks and as such I could not write obituaries of some of very renowned, well-known and honourable persons of our country who had left this mortal world in the meantime. Earlier I had paid homage to some of our departing luminaries in time, the objective being to pay respects to them, to recall their contribution to the society and to pray to Allah to give them eternal peace in the next world where all of us will land up today or tomorrow. It is said that a society that does not pay due respect to their guni jan (eminent persons) does not produce such persons. Let me say in the first place about the order of their placement in this write-up. It has been just according to the dates of their demise, and no protocol was kept in view. These four persons have expired in quick succession in the course of the last few weeks. Though this is saddening, it is true and real. We all know that man is mortal - Qullu nafsin jaekatul mout - yet some one's death gives us pain, more so to their dear and near ones. I know it from my own experience that whenever I write an obituary for anyone and that appears in any newspaper, some or other member of his family soon thereafter thanks me even in the midst of their grief and irreparable loss. The persons whose obituaries are being covered in this piece are eminent journalist-turned-politician Nirmal Sen, former Chief Election Commissioner M.A. Sayed, the bright star in our computer world Mohammad Nurul Islam and National Professor Dr. Nurul Islam. Babu Nirmal Sen: About two months have elapsed since his demise and many organisations have already held discussion meets and paid due regard to his memory. Yet I like to share with my friends whatever little that I know about Nirmal Sen. He was a luminary in the journalistic world. He had chosen journalism as his career. He had first worked for a paper named Jihad (the information taken from the adviser-editor of the Janakantha Toab Khan), then had moved to the Ittefaq and finally, to the government-owned Dainik Bangla. All his writings were objective, factually correct and bold. I am saying this from my personal knowledge about Nirmal Sen. In the seventies of the last century, when he was working in the Dainik Bangla, I happened to be the Information Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh -from 1972 to 1974. Together with other leaders of the journalistic world, Babu Nirmal Sen had taken a leading role in getting the first Wage Board established by the Government to review the then pay-scales of the journalists and recommend new scales in their Award. He then got the Award implemented in his own paper the Dainik Bangla with support from the ministry. Nirmal Sen was a very soft-spoken and polite person. He was a bachelor and donated his dead body to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. I did not have any contact with him for a long time towards the end of his life. He breathed his last at his own home after suffering from a number of diseases due to old age. He had founded a political party at his own initiative. I pray for peace and salvation of his soul in the next world and express my sympathies to the surviving members of his family. M.A. Sayed: M.A. Sayed was a member of the CSP of 1960 batch and a very successful one. A few days back he expired due to failure of the heart at his own residence in Gulshan (Inna lilllahe wa inna ilaihe rajeun). As his son or daughter was staying abroad, his dead body was kept in a morgue for a few days. These days keeping the dead body in a morgue has become quite common since with increasing contacts with foreign countries on account of education or job or even settlement many of our families are getting split with someone or the other staying abroad. So though not yet a very large number, it has been increasing over time. Though our religion enjoins that the dead should be buried as early as possible, desire of the family members at home prevails and burial is delayed together with the attendant rituals such as janaja and qulkhani. Even though I was not keeping very well, I attended the janaja of M.A. Sayed held in the Azad mosque in Gulshan. Many friends, colleagues and relatives of Sayed turned up and many of us met each other after long intervals. There were, among others, A.H.F.K. Sadique of 1955 batch of CSP, a former Principal Secretary, M.K. Anwar of 1956 batch, a former Cabinet Secretary and presently an active politician, Shamsul Haque Chisty of 1957 batch, a former Secretary and chief of International Jute Organisation, A.K.M. Kamaluddin Choudhury of 1958 batch, a former Secretary and Ambassador, Nurul Hossain Khan, a former Secretary and Chairman of the Board of Revenue, M.R. Osmany, a member of the civil/foreign service and ambassador, Nasiruddin of 1962 batch of CSP, a former Secretary, R.R. Faruqi of the same batch, a long time official of the World Bank, Ambassador Ziaus Shams, Shah Abdul Hannan, Secretary and Chairman of NBR, and so on. All of us, who are at the fag end of our life, had been saying that janaja and qulkhani are presently the meeting grounds for most of us. The following day when Sayed's qulkhani was held at his house in Gulshan, I could not attend, but my wife did and she met Mrs. Sayed, an old friend. As I mentioned earlier, Sayed belonged to the 1960 batch of CSP which was an illustrious group. It had 11 members viz M. Mokammel Haque ( first in the batch on all-Pakistan basis), Syed Hasan Ahmed, A.T.M. Shamsul Haque, Khandkar Asaduzzaman, Dr. Ekram Hossain, late (recently) Dr. A.M.A. Rahim, Enam Ahmed Choudhury, Nasim Uddin Ahmed, Md. Nurun Nabi Choudhury, M.A. Sayed and Abdul Awwal. M.A. Sayed had served in many offices such as Chairman of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation, DG, Bangladesh Television, long-time Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, perhaps also Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission for a short while before he was appointed and joined as the BD's Alternate Director to the World Bank. I had the good fortune of working with him when he was the DGTV and I had been the Secretary of the Ministry of Information in late seventies when Ziaur Rahman was the President of Bangladesh. The President directed the DGTV to start a new programme titled "Natun Kuri" to find out new talents from the young generation. It was inaugurated by the President himself and my wife and I happened to be amongst the large but a select gathering. M.A. Sayed arranged the whole show with great pomp and fanfare. Another event of significance was the arrangement of the instantaneous announcement of the results of the 1979 national election by the TV. The large auditorium was fitted with equipment, large boards and a crew of very efficient announcers and their aides. Together with Sayed and his senior colleagues I had supervised the arrangements till late hours of the previous evening. At that time Mr. Shamsul Huda Choudhury, a great media personality, was the Information Minister. Thus Sayed's job experience was very diverse and he acquitted himself everywhere with excellence. During his last days I did not have much contact with him. He reportedly had been suffering from multifarious diseases and eventually breathed his last in his own house and not in any hospital. We pray to Allah for his salvation, express our deep condolence and sympathy for Bhabi Sayed and other members of his family. Mohammad Nurul Islam: Chairman of the Flora Limited, Mohammad Nurul Islam, also expired all of a sudden in his own residence in Gulshan. He reportedly was not very sick. One night when he fell sick he was rushed to the United Hospital where the doctors declared him dead. The news of his death did not come to my notice while I was at home. After having been confined in my own house for a long time I had to go to Motijheel for an important personal affair and while I got stuck in front of the Razmoni hotel I noticed an old newspaper vendor who offered me a newspaper. I picked that up for seeing the day's news and alas! I found the sad news of Mr. Nurul Islam's expiry with his picture and janaja after zohr prayer the same day at Gulshan Azad mosque. My wife, who was with me, and I were mortally shocked as we had known Nurul Islam, his wife, the two sons Prince and Duke and their daughter-in-law Sufia for quite a long time. Mr. Nurul Islam was a pioneer in introducing computer in Bangladesh. Soon after liberation he established the Flora Limited in 1972 for marketing of computer gadgets in the country and had remained its Chairman all his life with his sons Prince and Duke as Directors. One of his sons, perhaps his second son Duke was a class-fellow of our second son Munna. Mr. Nurul Islam was a very handsome person. He was very friendly by nature. We liked each other. Later I learnt from his son Prince that he used to mention our names even in his house with great regards. Though we live in Banani I have been used to say my congressional prayers such as the jumma prayers, tarabih and the two Eid prayers at the Azad mosque as I come across most of my friends and some of my relatives there. During the Eid days Mr. Nurul Islam virtually waited for me and as we met he would hold me in a big hug and for a long while until his elder son Prince would separate us. I feel a great pity that I will not any more meet such a polite, gentle person who used to speak in a very low tone. My wife and I together with all other friends of Mr. Islam pray to Allah to grant him a high place in the jannat. To the members of his family, our deepest condolences and sympathies. Let Allah give them the strength to bear the irreparable loss. Ameen. National Professor Dr. Nurul Islam: In one word, it can be said that Dr. Nurul Islam had been the builder of the then PG Hospital from the scratch. He was a doctor of great fame. With his demise the nation has lost not only an erudite doctor, but also a great philanthropist and promoter of higher education. He had championed the anti-smoking drive with all vigour. My wife and I had known Dr. Islam since 1968-69 when I happened to be the DC of his home district Chittagong. He used to visit Chittagong every week-end to render his medical services to his fellow Chittagonians. My wife had been always very sickly and in Chittagong she had developed gastric ulcer due to tension arising out my nerve-wrecking busy days in maintaining law and order in the district during the fall of President Ayub Khan. At that time Dr. Islam, who used to visit Chittagong almost every week, had taken great care of my wife and we remained grateful to him. He had been the Director of PG hospital during the entire period of my acquaintance. I myself had to undergo operation for fistula in 1973 when the surgeon was Dr. Ali Ashraf and I had to stay in the VIP cabin for a long period. Dr. Islam used to go round the hospital every morning and looked up the patients in the cabins and the general wards with the doctors involved. On another occasion our second son Munna had to be confined in the PG hospital for operation of his inverted navel when the surgeon was Dr. Muniruzzaman and Dr. Nurul Islam was omnipresent. Lastly, my wife had a retinal detachment operation in 1985 and we had the courtesy of Dr. Nurul Islam. The surgeon of my wife's retinal detatchment was Dr. Ahmed Sharif. What I am trying to say is that we had known Dr. Nurul Islam from close quarters and were impressed by both his administrative and professional qualities. He had pioneered the setting up of a University for technical education in Chittagong by the side of the road leading towards the Foy's Lake and he had been the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He had taken active part in bringing the problems of the private universities to the attention of the Government through the Association of Private Universities of Bangladesh (APUB ) from time to time. That person of great head and heart is no more with us. We pray to Allah for the salvation of his soul. The nation will remember his services to the society for all time to come. Let Allah give the members of his family the strength to bear the irreparable loss. Ameen. The writer is former Governor of Bangladesh Bank & former Principal Finance Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh. alamk1230@gmail.com