Humayun Kabir: The humanitarian image of a career diplomat

Mohammad Amjad Hossain :
It is indeed an honour to write about departed brilliant accomplished diplomat under whom this writer had the privilege to work in the Ministry of foreign affairs in 1972-1973 when foreign correspondents were arriving in Bangladesh by droves. At that critical time of Bangladesh we had to work day and night practically with limited manpower. Incidentally I have had received at midnight call from Director General of External Publicity Humayun Kabir to go to the Hotel Intercontinental to resolve problem of some foreign correspondent having there. Incidentally I had to rush to the hotel intercontinental.
Humayun Kabir in fact replaced as Director General of External Publicity replacing Arshad-uz Zaman who became Chief of Protocol. Arshad-uz Zaman was in East Pakistan following his transfer from Press Attaché of Pakistan in Ankara, Turkey in 1963 who was fluent in French and English plus Turkish as well. It is not coincident that Ambassador Humayun Kabir also has brilliancy in the language of English, French and Spanish as well who was awarded order of civil merit by the government of Spain. At Fletcher School in USA, he occupied top position as well and had training in Paris and London. Having joined in the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Islamabad he became Deputy Chief of Protocol.

I have an encounter as an examinee for the post of Information officer in CENTO in 1970 at that time I was working as Information officer in the Ministry of Information and National affairs in Islamabad. Incidentally Humayun Kabir was assigned as invigilator in the examination. Following independence of Bangladesh he initially joined the Ministry of Foreign affairs as Chief of Protocol and Arshaduz Zaman as Director-General of External Publicity.
Under the supervision of Humayun Kabir a booklet was published by the External Publicity which said much of the happenings in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) between 25 March and 16 December 1971 is now a matter of common knowledge. These acts of commission and omission by the government of Pakistan were generally condemned by the responsible international public opinion throughout the period as amounting to crimes against humanity. Under the instruction of Director General Humayun Kabir, this writer prepared a booklet for the trial of war crimes committed by Pakistan armed forces in Bangladesh.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto paid a visit to Bangladesh at the invitation of Banghabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from 27-29 June in 1974. Director General Humayun Kabir was asked to translate the speech given by the Pakistan Prime Minister in Bengali. Humayun Kabir translated the speech in such a manner that Prime Minister Bhutto was amazed having listen the translation in eloquent and articulate English. The Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman profusely thanked Humayun Kabir.
The visit of Secretary of States of America Henry Kissinger under President Gerald Ford from 31 October to 1 November in 1974 was significant since he was associated with President Richard Nixon of America who accorded support to Pakistan during the war of liberation of Bangladesh. Ambassador Humayun Kabir offered dinner to accompanying American journalists under the supervision of myself at Hotel Intercontinental.
As a matter of fact, after the fall of King Reza Shah Pahlavi Imam Khomeni took over the administration of Iran and Ambassador Humayun Kabir was appointed as Bangladesh Ambassador to Tehran. He did not follow the traditional path to present his credential to Imam Khomeni, the spiritual head and the real repository of political power in Iran. Ambassador Humayun Kabir attired in lungi, punjabi and cap instead of western suit met Imam Khomeni to present his credential. Ambassador Humayun Kabir succeeded to impress Ayatullah Ruhullah Khomeni since both of them had spoken in French.
During his assignment in Iran he witnessed American hostage issue in Tehran. In fact, Humayun Kabir had tried to resolve the crisis but could not succeed. He was in fact praised for his maneuverability in removing misunderstanding. Hostages were released through the good offices of Algerian Foreign minister.

Somehow Humayun Kabir did not have a good relation with General Hussain Mohammad Ershad of Jatiya Party. He was made Principal at the foreign affairs training institute. Having visited the Institute the President in fact did not find the Principal. Foreign Service Academy had been merged with BCS Training Academy at Shahbag where I had served almost three years. For quite sometime Humayun Kabir was made ineffective and the country was deprived of his services of the personality who was superbly qualified to contribute effectively to the conduct of foreign relations.
When the Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power Humayun Kabir was appointed as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York and served the country with distinction. He presented his credentials to UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar in Bhashani style. He was criticized at home for using Bhashani style dress instead of wearing suit. Humayun Kabir also served as Ambassador to the United States of America and developed friendship with President of the United States Bill Clinton.
Having retired from the Government Ambassador Humayun Kabir dedicated himself to the alleviation of poverty of tribal people at Bandarban in Chittagong hill tracts and involved himself in the programme of afforestation and self-reliance of the tribal people which reflected his benevolent bend of mind. According to Ambassador Arshad -Uz Zaman, Humayun Kabir completely identified himself with the teeming millions of Bangladesh. Ambassador Humayun Kabir departed from this world on 16 June in 2001. May Allah grant him salvation of soul.

(The writer is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh and former President of Nova Toastmaster International club of America. He writes from
Falls church, Virginia).