Former diplomat Faruk Ahmed Chy passes away

Former foreign secretary and ambassador Faruk Ahmed Chowdhury passed away at a city hospital early Wednesday. He was 84.

He breathed his last around 4:30am, one of his fellow colleague said this morning.

Namaz-e-janaza of Faruk Ahmed Chowdhury will be held at the Baitul Aman Mosque at Dhanmondi-7 after asr prayers on the day.

Before that, his body is scheduled to be taken at the foreign ministry for holding another namaz-e-janaza.

Born in 1934, Faruk A Chowdhury entered the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1956 and subsequently held various appointments in the Pakistan Foreign Office and Missions abroad.

Upon the emergence of Bangladesh, he was appointed the first chief of protocol of Bangladesh in 1972.

He served as deputy high commissioner of Bangladesh in the United Kingdom from 1972-76. During this period, he was involved with final phase of the negotiations leading to Bangladesh’s entry to the Commonwealth.

From 1976-78, he was ambassador to UAE and Bahrain and he was ambassador to EEC and Benelux countries from 1978-82.

After returning to the headquarters in 1982, he became the chief coordinator of the 13th OIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Dhaka in 1983. He was additional foreign secretary in the ministry from 1983-84.

He became foreign secretary in 1984 and continued in that position up to 1986. He then served as Bangladesh high commissioner to India from 1986-92.

After retirement from the government service in 1992, Choudhury associated himself with social services and authored a number of books.

He also served Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, one of the largest NGOs of the world, in different capacities.

Source: New Age