Not long ago, a reputed think-tank in Dhaka decided to come forth with a compilation of articles and essays from former Bangladesh diplomats and towards this end sought a write-up from Dr. Kamal Hossain. In the event, the article he submitted to the men behind the compilation was not included among the essays. No explanation was offered.
That is a small indication of how we in Bangladesh have often been confronted with certain uncomfortable realities. On the one hand, there have been the political classes, all rightwing, who have been doing all they can to subvert the country’s history. On the other, there are individuals and groups which have gone out almost on a limb to promote a selective view of the background to Bangladesh’s liberation. And within that process of selectivity, men like Kamal Hossain have been pushed aside. You could even suggest that they have been whitewashed out of history, or nearly.
And why is Kamal Hossain the focus of our conversation today? The simplest of responses to that question is that he matters, indeed has mattered, in the shaping of the nation’s political evolution all the way from the initiation of the Six Point movement for regional autonomy in the mid-1960s to the relentless struggle against the Ershad regime in the 1980s. It is only proper that the generations which have come of age since the traumatic days of August-November 1975 be led through the labyrinth of history in order for them to get a grasp on the intricate details of how the idea of Bangladesh gradually evolved and took final shape. It is a pity that in our endless obsession with history, we have often skirted around — and carefully and deliberately at that — a good number of milestones on the way to the making of that history.
Kamal Hossain is relevant, a significant cog in the wheel of our progressive politics. He is the only survivor of the team which, with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the lead, played a pivotal role in a transformation of politics in our part of the world between the 1960s and 1970s. Back in the days of the War of Liberation, much propaganda was disseminated about the way in which Kamal Hossain had ‘betrayed’ the nation (and this generalization certainly had to do with the misleading report from the Pakistan military junta in April 1971 that Hossain had ‘surrendered’ to the authorities, suggesting that he had gone over to the other side) by staying away from the Bengali armed struggle following the unleashing of genocide by Pakistan in March 1971. It was not to be until Bangabandhu’s arrival in London on 8 January 1972 that the world would know Kamal Hossain was with him, had like him been a prisoner in Pakistan.
Any assessment of Kamal Hossain’s place in Bangladesh’s history must begin with his role as a lawyer for Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the Agartala Conspiracy Case in 1968-69. It remains an unassailable truth that he had Bangabandhu’s confidence, enough for the future Father of the Bengali Nation to vacate a national assembly seat he had won in Dhaka and have Hossain claim it through a by-election. Kamal Hossain’s role in the Awami League expanded enormously as the constitutional crisis deepened in March 1971. His was the voice which argued the legalities involved in dealing with the crisis. As part of the team, which included such formidable political figures as Syed Nazrul Islam and Tajuddin Ahmad, responsible for presenting the Awami League point of view before the Yahya Khan legal team, Hossain deftly handled all questions and concerns raised by the junta on the nature of the constitutional scheme proposed by the party for Pakistan. The record speaks of the sure-footed confidence with which Kamal Hossain responded to the queries raised by Justice A.R. Cornelius (for the junta) and Abdul Hafiz Pirzada (for the Pakistan People’s Party).
The rest is of course history. Kamal Hossain and the rest of the Awami League leadership waited all day on 25 March 1971 for a call from the junta on its response to the final position of the Awami League — that Pakistan be reconstituted as a confederation, in line with Bangabandhu’s instructions. The call never came. Nine months of murder and rape and pillage by the Pakistan army followed.
A pivotal aspect of Bangladesh’s history is the role Kamal Hossain, as law minister in Bangabandhu’s government, played in the framing of the constitution. A lawyer with a first-rate mind, Hossain had little doubt about the nature of the Westminster-style Constitution so necessary for the new state of Bangladesh. He and his team succeeded in doing the job within a year, enabling the country to go for new elections in March 1973.
And Kamal Hossain moved on, from law to diplomacy. As minister for foreign affairs, he convinced people both at home and abroad that his articulation of Bangladesh’s interests resonated with the wishes of Bangladesh’s people. In his dealings with foreign governments, especially over matters of ensuring a wider space for Bangladesh in global forums, it was a suave and forthright Hossain who symbolized the country. His negotiating skills were put to an enormous test at the tripartite talks involving India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in Delhi in 1974. In the end, the talks were to serve as the beginning of a new phase in South Asian history, though Bangladesh was compelled by circumstances to step back from its demand that 195 Pakistani military officers be tried in Dhaka for war crimes. The Pakistanis, having promised Bangladesh that the officers would be tried by their own government in Islamabad, simply went back on their word.
In its efforts to enter the United Nations, Bangladesh found the way blocked by a Chinese veto. It remains to the credit of Bangabandhu’s government that subtle diplomacy rather than political bitterness underscored its position vis-à-vis the Chinese objections to Dhaka’s UN ambitions. Kamal Hossain, in line with that policy, was eventually able to steer Bangladesh into the world body in September 1974. Within days of the happening, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman spoke for the Bengali nation before the world, in Bangla, at the United Nations General Assembly.
Kamal Hossain was one of the few members of Bangabandhu’s government to express reservations about the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution in January 1975. It was a feeling Bangabandhu understood and with reluctance acceded to Hossain’s wish to proceed abroad. And yet Bangabandhu was uncomfortable without Hossain and called him back, to have him go on serving as foreign minister. In August 1975, Kamal Hossain was on an official visit to Yugoslavia when the conspirators struck in Dhaka. Hossain, despite the many appeals and entreaties from the Moshtaque regime to return home and be part of the cabal, stayed away.
Kamal Hossain’s was a leading voice in persuading a fractious Awami League in the early 1980s to elect the exiled Sheikh Hasina as its new leader if the party was to come together. The result was a triumphant return home by Bangabandhu’s daughter in May 1981. In November of the year, Kamal Hossain, as the Awami League nominee for the nation’s presidency, generated a huge degree of enthusiasm for democratic politics all across the country. His was a sophisticated campaign. He went down fighting.
In his youth, Kamal Hossain was a pointer to the nation’s future. In his advanced years, he remains our collective voice of conscience.
Source: Bd news24
