11 August 2015

Along with his contemporaries, Azimuddin Ahmad lived under three flags. Born a British subject,
he spent a part of his youth as a citizen of the state of Pakistan which emerged in 1947 as the
sub-continent was partitioned. An eye-witness to the 1971 war of liberation of Bangladesh, he
served the country as a committed and competent civil servant. The partition of the sub-continent
in 1947 and the Bengali's war of liberation in 1971 were blood socked and epoch-making events which
left their enduring impress on the minds of Azimuddin and his contemporaries. The turbulent times,
however, failed to destroy the calm, composer and optimism of quite a few distinguish member of his
generation, including himself. Their courage and confidence contributed to making them noble and
dignified public servants who participated significantly in the development of the nation.

Distinguished member of the elite core, Azimuddin Ahmad retired as home secretary of Bangladesh in
1995. He also served as secretary of energy, chairman and director of the Bangladesh Petroleum
Corporation and chairman of the Bangladesh Tea Board. Earlier, he served as commissioner of the
Rajshahi division, district judge of Mymensingh and sub-divisional officer of Chandpur. He was a
civil servant per excellence. His uniqueness, however, lay in the fact that he was, in essence,
a good human being. His conduct within the office and without was marked by a quiet dignity that
reflected his excellent upbringing and thorough training. He served the country with unfailing
patriotism. As an official of the government from the relatively lower to the highest stations
he served the people with an unflinching sense of justice and fair play. As a man who had empathy
with the suffering humanity, he always used discretion in favour of the client. That gave a tender
human touch to his dealings as a public servant.

A cordial man with amiable disposition he was a pleasant companion and faithful friend. Difference
of age did not prevent him from making friends with those whom he liked. We, his juniors, lovingly
called him Azim Bhai, elder brother Azim and he spread his generous affection and kindness on us,
his juniors.

As twins, Azimuddin and Nasimuddin were naturally born on the same day, November 23, 1936.
Azimuddin, however, joined the erstwhile Civil Service of Pakistan in 1962, two years later
Khan Nasimuddin. Both the brothers were torch-bearers of a noble and distinguished family
of Bengal.

Their father Khan Bahadur Naziruddin Ahmed was one of the most brilliant students of his
generation. He obtained four gold medals on the basis of results in the BA (Honours) examinations.
In the Master of Arts examination, he stood first in first class in Calcutta University. The
government of the day directly inducted him into the Bengal Civil Service. He succeeded the
legendary leader of Bengal Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque as sub-divisional officer, Jamalpur
in 1910. He worked as a civil servant for more than a decade and when Dhaka University was
established in 1921, he became its first registrar.

The Ahmed brothers modelled themselves on their father. They zealously upheld the glorious
tradition of the family in quiet dignity. Azim bhai and Nasim bhai acquired a taste for
RabindraSangeet with spontaneous diligence. Speaking as they did Urdu at home in their
early years in accord with the tradition of many aristocratic Muslim families of the
undivided Bengal, they were essentially pure Bengalis.

One remembers a report in the vernacular daily Sangbad concerning the virtual forced exile
of the controversial writer Taslima Nasrin in the early 1990s. Azim bhai was serving as home
secretary for the second time. Sangbad reported that in a BBC Bangla Service interview regarding
the case of Taslima Nasrin, Azim bhai frankly admitted that his mother tongue was not Bengali;
he truthfully said that his mother spoke Urdu. Eager to cash in on the opportunity to display
a catchy headline Sangbad wrote, 'The mother tongue of the home secretary of Bangladesh is not
Bangla!' Azim bhai was hurt beyond measure. Like a child, he could not understand why a
Bengali could not have a mother whose mother tongue was not Bangla!

Mixed inheritance, though it did not lead to a crisis of identity in either in Nasimuddin
or Azimuddin, often put them in a difficult and delicate situation. Azim bhai described in
graphic details his experience during the beginning of the war of liberation in 1971.
Shortly before the break-up of Pakistan, Azimuddin Ahmed and his brother Nasimuddim
Ahmed were transferred to the judiciary. The government of the day did not like the
neutrality, objectivity and uprightness they displayed as civil servants in the executive
branch. Hence, their transfer to the judicial branch of the government. This is why in
March-April, 1971 immediately before and after the crackdown of the Pakistani army on
unarmed Bengalis on the March 25, Azimuddin Ahmed was stationed in Mymensingh as the
district and sessions judge. After the March 25, spontaneous and inadequately organised
resistance was built up in Mymensingh as in other outlying districts. As elsewhere, so also
in Mymensingh, the Bengali officials joined the resistance and often became the focal points.
By early April, the news came that the Pakistani military had massacred Bengalis in Dhaka and
was advancing towards the districts. In Mymensingh, the top civilian officers along with
fighting members of the erstwhile East Pakistan Rifles, police and ansars prepared to abandon
station and take refuse in the country side or go to the adjacent Indian territory. Azimuddin's
colleagues promised to take him along.

Nevertheless, at the last moment they failed to keep their promise and he was
left all alone as the Pakistani army came close to Mymensingh. Azimuddin took shelter
in the abundant house of the civil surgeon. His bench clerk and a boy servant gave him
company until the Pakistani army reached the suburb. After that he was alone with the
black dog of the civil surgeon. The servant locked the drawing room door from outside,
while Azimuddin continued to stay in an upstairs room.

As freedom Fighter Habibul Alam, Bir Pratik records in his graphic writing 'The Black
Dog of 1971' in the New Age of June 17, 2011: 'On April 23, 1971 the ruthless Pakistani
army marched into the Mymensingh town and the district judge could hear from his room the
deafening sound of gun fire all around. Gradually the sound of firing was getting closer
and closer. The district judge and the black dog waited in fear and apprehension. They
could hear the soldiers coming towards the bungalow. The sitting room door was locked
from outside indicating that nobody was available in the bungalow.

'The footsteps of the soldiers now could be heard by the district judge. He and the
black dog, inside the room remained totally silent. Azimuddin sat on his chair facing
the door, and the black dog was at his right about five yards away from where he was sitting.
Azimuddin was sweating as the soldiers came upstairs out on the verandah. He feared the black
dog would bark any time. The dog too looked at the new master and at the door continuously.
The animal that barked and howled hearing any sound quietly went near the wall and sat down
leaning against it, keeping his ears perked up.

'The soldiers banged at the door for a minute or two; there was no reply, neither any sound
from the room. They felt that nobody was inside the room. Azimuddin could hear shouts of the
soldiers saying 'Koi hai, koi hai' and then he also heard 'Koi nahinhai… Chaloyahan se' the
boots turned and the sounds gradually diminished.

'He sat dazed for couple of minutes and then looked at the dog amazingly. He couldn't
believe himself that he was alive and the black dog too. The black dog that barked and
howled all the previous days stayed absolutely silent. Pin-drop silence inside the
room saved the life of the district judge Azimuddin Ahmed and the black dog.'

Azim Bhai took pride in being a Bengali and identified the national interest with
welfare of the masses. He had immense love and care for the ordinary people. He
married but his wife died prematurely and he lived the rest of his life without
a family. For him, the family was the needy people of Bangladesh. Their miseries
and deprivation moved him deeply. In his exchanges with colleagues and friends,
he always spoke of the centrality of human beings in the scheme of things. He
spoke passionately against unjust and inequitable economic and social order
and development.

In personal life, he was generous to a fault. He was shy of mentioning the considerable
and regular charities he handed out every month to the poor and the needy. He provided
regular subsidies to his poorer and distant kins, particularly widows of good families
who had fallen in bad days. A large part of his monthly income from his salary,
pension and family assets was spent on helping the distressed.

Justice was of prime significance to him not only in economic but also in all other
aspects of life. He was a man of integrity and appreciated truthfulness and upright
conduct. He was never tired of relating to us epoch-making events that he witnessed.
These were tales of tearful tragedies such as the communal riots of 1946-47 and the
genocide of 1971. He spoke with great admiration of the courage, wisdom and farsight
of leaders such as prime ministerTajuddin Ahmed in late 1971 and early 1972. The period
between the December 16, 1971, Victory Day, and January 10, 1972, the day of Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's return to Bangladesh, was a time of critical transition. Prime
ministerTajuddin was at the helm of affairs. On account of turn of events, Azimuddin
Ahmed was then the joint secretary in charge of the ministry of law, there being no
one senior to him in the ministry. When the Mujibnagar government arrived in Dhaka,
there was the inevitable feeling of uncertainty in the minds of functionaries and
officials who had continued to work during the occupation. The justices of the Dhaka
High Court were no exception. Azim Bhai recollected that chief justice BA Siddiqi,
who had earned international fame by courageously declining to swear in the first
governor of the occupied Bangladesh, the ruthless Pakistani major general Tikka Khan,
confidentially gave to him (Azim Bhai) a message for the prime minister. Anticipating
that the new government may change the composition of the High Court, the chief justice
said, 'Please tell the premier all the justices are prepared to resign. The important
thing is to preserve and continue the powers and functions of the highest courts.'
Azim Bhai told us that when he conveyed this message to prime ministerTajuddin, he
immediately responded, 'No question of mass resignation arises and there will be no
change or interference with the work of the courts.' Azim Bahi rightly held that this
composed and farsighted step by the interim government ensured the independence of the
judiciary. He was proud to be an eye-witness to the defining event.

There was a sincerity and innocence in him which inspired his recognition of the good
and dignified. He recognised and admired quality and talents in seniors, contemporaries
and juniors. Both within the service and without. His love and affection for friends and
juniors tinged his conduct with rare humanity. Kind and generous in his official and
social dealings, he often argued his case with gentle, firmness and quiet strength. Like
his brother Nasimuddin Ahmed, he vastly enjoyed the delightful hours at the round table
upstairs in the Dhaka Club. Both of them took pleasure in reciting inimitable verses from
Rumi, Shiekh Sadi, Bahadur Shah Zafar and Mirza Galib who wrote in Persian and Urdu.
At the same time, they would discuss the treasures of the Bangla literature and music as
epitomised in the works of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Azimuddin, like
Nasimuddin, was fond of Tagore's songs - particularly 'Je rate morduyargulibhanglojhare'
or 'Mane kidwidharekhegelechale….'

'The round table' where the twins were central figures was frequented by many illustrious
personalities such as Saiduzzaman, former finance minister, legal luminary the late
Barrister Syed Istiaque Ahmed, the late AHSK Sadique, former education minister, the
late general Mannan Siddiqie, Mr Anisuzzaman and KhandokarAsaduzzaman, former secretaries.
Younger ones who congregated at the table included writer and former secretary Hasnat
Abdul Hye, former attorney general Barrister KS Nabi, the late secretary Akhter Ali,
former secretaries Dr Ekram Hossain, Dr Shawkat Ali, Hamid Choudhury, reputed athlete
Jahangir Mohammad Jasim, freedom fighter Habibul Alam, Bir Pratik, retired high
official and tennis partner of Azimuddin, Ziaul Islam Chowdhury, writers and top
civil servants Ahbab Ahmed, Dr Syed Abdus Samad, industrialist Ataul Haque Jahangir,
Lucky Nazma Choudhury of media and Kaniz Khan, expatriates in the United Kingdom,
and the author Dr Mizanur Rahman Shelley. The latest and youngest on the list was
journalist Nurul Kabir.

Discussions and deliberations at the round table encompassed a rich, varied and
wide range of subjects - social, economic and political. These also included mysterious
and alluring topics of natural sciences such as physics, chemistry and mathematics.Azim
Bhai could carry on discussions on cosmic phenomena such as neutron stars and black
holes. He and Nasim Bhai found in physicist Hamid Choudhury, Shaheen Akhter-Hamid,
Farook Hamid and layman Shelley keen and enthusiastic participants in these engaging
exchanges.

An elegantly social and compellingly altruistic person, Azimuddin Ahmed was essentially
lonely especially after the untimely demise of his wife. He also suffered from immense
pain in the back, a legacy of a severe car accident in 1965. He had also heart and kidney
troubles but rarely spoke about these. He maintained a brave and cheerful face and
caused happiness wherever he went. His last days were spent mostly at his Dhanmondi
apartment where his loneliness was relieved by television and occasional visitors.
Himself an enthusiastic tennis player, he never missed a good show of international
competitions in Wimbledon. Like Nasim Bhai, he took great interest in cricket and
golf. Television shows of international sports and games and discussions and
analyses of international affairs filled his solitary hours at home. He died shortly
after the demise of his brother Nasimuddin Ahmed. He was virtually alone when
he breathed his last in the morning of Thursday, June 11, 2015. He died as he
lived: a good and honest man. His chequered life quietly ended in eloquent silence.