Afsan Chowdhury
One of the finest amongst us has passed away and journalism has lost its man of integrity and accuracy.
After more than fifty years primarily as a reporter but also as an Editor, Samad bhai has finally decided to take some rest. The man who taught so many of us what it meant to be accurate, honest and uncompromising, he has stepped back to let others do the task from now on. It was a life fully led in his profession where he never thought compromise with facts could be considered.
Samad bhai began his professional life in 1959 in the print media but became nationally renowned in 1972 January when he spoke on TV so vividly and from the heart about accompanying Sk. Mujib on his journey home after release. He had made the national hero into a human being, a man who had wept seeing Bangladesh from the air and who had recited Tagore poems returning to his own land as a conquering hero.
Samad bhai had some of the most memorable and unique moments in our national history describing how personal and national history became one.
He had grown up as a professional in the 60s, the finest decade of our history. It was a time when intense Bengali nationalism was becoming militant. As a person who had once been close to the Communists, Samad bhai's sympathies were wholly with the radicals. He admired Sk. Mujib and Maulana Bhashani equally and would tell the story why he thought both worked together without making it public.
"I was covering the Agartala conspiracy trial when Sk. Sahib called me close inside the court room. When I approached him he told me to 'Go and tell Huzur the time is here.' I asked twice not understanding what it meant and then went to politician Syedul Hasan's residence where the Maulana sahib was staying. I went close to him and said I had a message from Sk. Mujib. His face changed and he took me to another room. He made me repeat the message twice. Then he called journalist Sirajul Hossain Khan and dictated a message for the media which became a clarion call for the people to revolt against Ayub Khan." Samad bhai was a true witness to history as it folded over a long time.
His work as a journalist and activist was admired by many but it was as the BBC Correspondent in Dhaka that he became a national figure. The two most recognized names in the BBC pantheon in Bangladesh are Mark Tully and Ataus Samad. Samad bhai's relentless search for accuracy made him what he was, a quality mostly missing from most news products now.
When he and I were both working for the BBC in the 90s when the Awami League was mounting a movement against the BNP government, we both covered the same hartal once during which several people were killed. As we moved through the day and bodies fell, it was amazing to see how he kept track of the events and methodically took notes to make sure. When I returned home to make the news call to London, Samad bhai rang. "How many deaths are you saying?" "Three", I said. "You can add one more. I went to the hospital and talked to the boy whose legs were blown up in front of the Awami League office this morning. He passed away. I have recorded his interview." It was a level of commitment to integrity in news making that is second to none.
Samad bhai became a national hero during the final days of the Ershad era but he never felt a political partisan. He would laugh and say all he was trying to do was do his job. But his dislike of the regime was obvious. He had seen many autocracies, civil and political, and he liked none of them.
It's a bit of an irony that the man who was so concerned about the state of diabetes of his wife – Renu bhabi – should be so decimated by the same ailment.
For me personally, my mentor and role model is gone. He was one man I always looked up to and when I took the first bound volumes of the 1971 documents to him, he received the way people receive holy books. Like so many of us, he was shattered by what he saw happen to his dream of Bangladesh but like some of us, he kept on walking, knowing patriotism is part of that stoic firmness too.
His health issues cut him down much earlier than many but he lived long enough to have served his profession and his country with the kind of dignity few of us manage in life. In his departure we have lost a person whose likes we shall never see again particularly in our profession.
So salute Samad bhai from all as we say "Good Bye!"
Afsan Chowdhury is Executive Editor with bdnews24.com.
