President Ershad took an active interest in foreign affairs; in fact too active and not always for the right reasons that kept everyone at the Foreign Ministry on their toes. He knew that the legitimacy of his government depended to a great extent upon its acceptance by the international community. It was during his period that the candidature of Foreign Minister Humayun Rashid Chowdhury or HRC was floated for the Presidency of the 41st session of the UNGA in 1986. In 1981, Bangladesh came as close as possible to getting that august position when our Permanent Representative to the United Nations at that time KM Kaiser was defeated by the Iraqi candidate Ismat Kittani by draw of names from the hat after the two had tied with 75 votes each. KM Kaiser was so certain of his victory that according to some of our colleagues who worked with him at that time later said that when Kittani's name was announced, KM Kaiser was shell shocked for he had made all arrangements to celebrate his victory later that evening. A professional diplomat, KM Kaiser was a former Pakistani Ambassador to China who had befriended Chou en Lai and played a role in China-US rapprochement.
HRC's victory was as much a credit to his reputation as an outstanding diplomat as it was to the professional way his candidature was handled by the Foreign Ministry and its professional diplomats at home and abroad, particularly at the United Nations. That year, it was the Asia's turn for the post and HRC was the unanimous choice of the Asian Group, unlike in 1981 when there had to be an election because the Asian group could not put forward a unanimous candidate. Our Permanent Representative there was Justice BA Siddiqui, a former Chief Justice and Vice President of Bangladesh, who was posted there for reasons of political accommodation at home but none for diplomacy or for achievement of our foreign affairs goals. The mission's professional work there was in the hands of the Deputy Permanent Representative Anwarul Karim Chowdhury (AKC), who by then had already established himself as an outstanding diplomat at the United Nations. Later AKC returned to the UN as our PR and subsequently rose to the rank of an Undersecretary General of the UN. However, AKC was recalled to the Headquarters soon after HRC became the UNGA President although he should have been retained there for the period HRC was the UNGA President because his abilities and capabilities required him to be there. He was recalled to make way for someone that the President wanted there not for professional reasons but for personal ones. At Headquarters, as DG (United Nations) AKC went to the SAARC Summit in Bangalore, India in November, 1986 as a member of the Bangladesh delegation. His inclusion in the delegation no doubt enhanced the quality of Bangladesh's participation. Unfortunately, the President did not think so. Upon the return of the delegation to Bangladesh, the Foreign Ministry, Fakhruddin Ahmed in particular, had to face the anger of the President for inclusion of AKC in the Bangladesh delegation.
As UNGA President, HRC enhanced the reputation of Bangladesh and gave it a profile that it badly needed. However, there was one incident during his Presidency that did not please the Soviet Ambassador in Dhaka. At that time, Edward Shevardnadze was the Foreign Minister of Soviet Union. He had extended an invitation to HRC to undertake an official visit to Moscow towards the end of December, 1986. HRC accepted the invitation but did not make the trip on the plea that he could not get the air connections that upset the Soviets that was communicated by the Soviet Ambassador in Dhaka to Fakhruddin Ahmed in a manner that was blunt to say the least. The Ambassador told the Foreign Secretary that they were upset that HRC kept the Soviet Foreign Minister waiting to please the other Superpower of the time, the United States of America.
My posting in New Delhi in 1983-1986 had exposed me to a country where I gathered firsthand the role of diplomats and diplomacy in governance. The Indians of course have a high quality professional foreign service. Within the government, the External Affairs Ministry (as the Indian Foreign Ministry is known) is the final authority on any issue that is a matter of the country's external relations. This importance that the External Affairs Ministry is given in the Indian government because it is the correct thing to do and the other Ministries of the government and the country gains by letting it take the lead in conducting India's foreign relations. In fact, our Foreign Ministry worldwide plays the same role as the Indian External Affairs Ministry plays in India. During my four years in the office of the Foreign Secretary I had the pain of experiencing almost every day the sharp contrast when I compared, as I could not help doing, our Foreign Ministry and the Indian External Affairs Ministry.
President Ershad contributed a great deal in ensuring that the Foreign Ministry became innocuous. A number of other Ministries such as the External Resources Division, Ministry of Commerce, Water Resources, Home, were allowed to contact foreign governments and international organisations directly by-passing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At home, these Ministries, by an amendment to the Rules of Business, were given the authority to contact foreign missions in Dhaka without the need to keep the Foreign Ministry even in the picture. As professional diplomats, sidelining the Foreign Ministry of course angered us but the attitude of the rest of the government for professional diplomats at that time was an either take it or leave it situation. The fate of the Foreign Ministry, unfortunately, was sealed much earlier; only during the Ershad period it was institutionalised, like for instance the amendments to the Rules of Business. I can recollect one incident as a junior officer during the period SAMS Kibria was the Foreign Secretary that left me with little doubt that the rest of the government would eventually ensure that the Foreign Ministry was permanently placed in the sidelines.
SAMS Kibria had then just returned from Geneva where he was the Permanent Representative. The year was 1978. SAMS Kibria was an outstanding diplomat who had topped the Central Superior Examination of Pakistan in 1954. His experience in Geneva led him to believe that Bangladesh's participation at UN meetings was uncoordinated where delegations ended up representing a Ministry rather than the government. As Foreign Secretary soon after assuming office, he called a meeting of his peers from other Ministries with the intention of creating an inter ministerial coordinating body for our participation in international conferences. Most of his peers sent their representatives to this meeting. Those of his peers who attended not only did not see the rationale of the Foreign Secretary's proposal; they thought the Foreign Ministry was being audacious and was trying to become a "Super Ministry." In fact, the meeting ended in pandemonium that left an indelible print in my memory about how people in position and authority use their power for their personal views and bother very little about how it affects greater interests. SAMS Kibria had not sought anything from his peers that day that was unusual or irrational; he asked of his colleagues for a coordinated approach to a very important national business, namely the professional conduct of foreign affairs. He was rebuffed because there were powerful individuals in government who had committed themselves not to allow the Ministry of Foreign Affairs an important role in government; in fact not even a major role in matters of the country's foreign relations.
While HRC was earning credit for Bangladesh in New York, there was the growing apprehension in the Foreign Ministry that Fakhruddin Ahmed would not be around for long as the Foreign Secretary. There were silly issues that were common knowledge that everyone would talk about suggesting that the President was not happy with the Foreign Secretary. One such issue was the use of the Red Phone or the lack of it by the Foreign Secretary. The President used the Red Phone to keep his Ministers and the Secretaries, who were given the privilege of its use as a means of instant communication, on a tight leash. The President would frequently mention aloud that he seldom could reach the Foreign Secretary on the Red Phone.
Published in The Daily Independent, October 16, 2009
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