A self-effacing personality

Late Abdus Samad

My first contact with Samad was in October 1968. He was then Deputy Commissioner (DC), Faridpur. I reached Faridpur to move on to my new and first assignment as Subdivisional Officer (SDO), Gopalganj. When I formally met him in his office, he just struck me as a man who was stoically unconcerned. He did not start giving sermons on dos and don'ts as many officers in a supervisory capacity are prone to. Very soon I discovered, much to my delight, that he was far from being a stoic and was not at all indifferent to people around him, in particular, his junior colleagues. He was a deeply affectionate man in personal as well as in official life. His wife Razia Samad truly matched this aspect of his character.

Indeed when I married in March 1969, he never allowed me to stay in the circuit house whenever my wife accompanied me to Faridpur.

Samad's protective umbrella for his junior colleagues remains as yet unmatched. I did not know that there was a complaint against me branding me as an Awami Leaguer. He rang me up one day saying that he would visit Kotalipara. We needed a smaller launch for that. SDO's launches were not very comfortable. So I arranged one from the executive engineer of Inland Water Transport Authority. As the DC's launch parked near the SDO's bungalow, Samad came over to the launch that I had arranged. An orderly followed him with a pile of official files. As we started for Kotalipara, Mr Samad started disposing of the files. After about half an hour, he took out a piece of paper and asked me to have a look at it. This was the petition of complaint against me. It was addressed to the chief secretary who sent it to the Commissioner, Dhaka for inquiry and report.

I carefully went through the content of the petition and found that it was nothing but a pack of lies except one part of it. That part related to Khan Sahib Sheikh Mosharraf Hossain, an uncle of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Sheikh Mosharraf was a former chairman of Patgati union of which Tungipara was a part. He came to deposit his double barrel gun as required after promulgation of martial law in 1969. He saw me then and told me that the gun was very dear to him. He feared that if he deposited it in the Thana, it would be lost or damaged. After consulting with the Subdivisional Police Officer (SDPO), I sent him to the police lines where it was deposited. SDPO told me that all the guns so received at the Thana would be kept in the lines anyway.

Next morning, I was about to leave for a tour to Kotalipara. I saw the old man loitering near the bank of the river. I asked him why he was still around. "I am waiting for my boat to go to Patgati" was his reply. Since Patgati would fall on my way to Kotalipara, I offered him a lift. I told Samad that this was the fact. He did not say anything. He then took the petition of complaint from me, tore it into pieces and threw it into the river. Nervously I asked him that the complaint called for a report to the chief secretary. He quietly told me "That is my responsibility". Such was his courage of conviction.

Later, I was transferred out of Gopalganj to Kurigram. He went to Sylhet as DC. It is from Sylhet that Samad joined the liberation war sometime after March 1971. I joined Sylhet collectorate in July 1971 when late Syed Ahmed was DC. People proudly used to recall the element of quiet courage of his character when he declined to pull the Bangladesh flag down from his residence even after repeated requests from a colonel of the Pakistan army. That colonel said afterwards "Where is Samad? I have kept a bullet for him".

Samad's contribution to the liberation war as defence secretary is well-recorded in HT Imam's recently published book titled "Bangladesh Sarkar, 1971". Imam clearly recalls how reorganisation of the armed forces took definite shape, under Samad's leadership, leading to better results. I personally got confirmation of Imam's assessment much earlier in 1973 when I was DC Sylhet. General Osmany once told me that on the face of it, anyone was likely to underestimate Samad's high level of intelligence and capability to plan, organise and implement decisions that require to be taken quickly.

I happened to be a witness to the above assessment in 1972 when, at his request. I joined as deputy secretary in charge of railways. One evidence in this regard related to a purchase file of railways. Samad called me one day and asked me to carry the file for minister's signature and thereafter for onward transmission to the prime minister for final approval. I hesitated saying that a purchase file should be sent normally and not hand carried to the minister. He smiled and said that I was right but it had to be done quickly. Without saying further words, he picked up the phone, told the minister about the file that I would be carrying for his decision. I carried the file and entered the office chamber of the minister. I handed over the file to the minister and said "Sir, may be I'll come later after you have studied the file". The minister asked me if I had seen the file. Yes, was my reply. His second question was "Has Samad seen it". I told the minister that the secretary had seen and signed the summary. The minister said that since two of us had seen it, and the secretary explained the urgency of the case, he would sign it then without further delay. It was done in a minute. Such was the confidence that the minister had reposed in Samad who deserved it.

In 1982, he had a tragic setback in his brilliant career. The martial law government, for reasons as yet unknown, put him under detention but failed to establish any charge at all. On his release from detention, he joined the private sector.

As consultant to the agriculture sector review team in 1989, Samad once again displayed his strength of character. Seeing that the foreign consultants were ignoring all good recommendations that he had made, he resigned in protest. He was a person not to be bought, no matter what was the price.

In 1990-91, I joined a team of consultants in the institutional study component of the flood action plan. He was the team leader. Other members of the team included professor Shamser Ali, and MH Siddiqui, BU. Once again he displayed his remarkable ability to be brief, to the point and precise. The first draft report was prepared by me. It was about 80 pages. He looked at it and reduced it to 30 pages without impairing the substance.

I had seen this extraordinary ability in him when he was secretary, communication. For the railway rehabilitation programme, the Indian delegation led by a Secretary came to Dhaka. I was the junior most member of Bangladesh team. For two days, negotiations continued. On the third and the concluding day, the issue of draft agreement was raised. Samad proposed that the junior most members of the two governments should first prepare an agreed draft. I made the first draft of ten pages. My Indian counterpart agreed with the draft. I sent it to the secretary. After two hours, Samad called me and showed a draft of three pages without sacrificing any substance. The Indian secretary looked at it also and agreed.

Abdus Samad is no more with us. His ever smiling face, however, appears so often in my mind that gives me a mixed feeling. It is mixed because I had learnt so much from him that stood me well in my career. At the same time, this self-effacing personality had given more to his country than he had received.

AMM Shawkat Ali, PhD in a former Secretary to the government of Bangladesh