Humayun Rashid Choudhury
Encyclopedia
Humayun Rasheed Choudhury (1928-2001) was a career diplomat
and speaker of the Bangladesh
National Parliament (1996–2001). Humayun Rashid Choudhury was born in Sylhet on 11 November 1928. He was elected president of the 41st session of the UN General Assembly in 1986. Mr. Choudhury was fluent in Bengali
, English
, Urdu
, French
and Italian
, and had a working knowledge of Arabic
, Spanish
, Portuguese
, German
and Indonesian
. He died in Dhaka on 10 July 2001.
in London. He obtained a diploma in international affairs from the London Institute of World Affairs. Humayun Rasheed joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1953. He eventually graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts. He was President of the Pakistan Students Federation in Great Britain and Europe and in that capacity organized the first Asian Students Conference in the United Kingdom.
During his diplomatic career he held various assignments in Rome, Baghdad, Paris Lisbon, Jakarta and New Delhi. He served as the Chief of the Bangladesh Mission in New Delhi in 1971-1972 during which he negotiated the recognition of Bangladesh by over 40 countries. He was the first Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972, a post he held until 1976 having concurrent accreditation to Switzerland, Austria and the Holy See
. He was also the first Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Mr. Chowdhury was also the first Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with concurrent accreditation to Jordan and Oman. During this assignment he represented Bangladesh in the Organization of the Islamic Countries. After serving as Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981-1982 he was appointed Ambassador to the United States in June 1982.
As a member or leader of his country's delegations, he attended the United Nations General Assembly session; the Islamic Summit Conference held in Taif, Saudi Arabia (1981); the Islamic Foreign Ministers' Conference in Tripoli (1977), Dakar (1978), Fez, Morocco (1979), Islamabad (1980) and Baghdad (1981); the North-South Summit-level dialogue held in Cancun, Mexico (1981); Meetings of the Islamic Summit-level Peace Committee to resolve disputes between Iran and Iraq; the extraordinary session on Afghanistan of the Islamic Foreign Ministers in Islamabad (1980); and the extraordinary session on Jerusalem of the Islamic Foreign Ministers held in Amman (1980)
He has also led his country's delegations to a number of bilateral meetings including talks with India on border delineation, sharing of Ganges waters, demarcation of the maritime boundary
, South Asia Forum (South Asian Regional Co-operation), Bangladesh-Burma border demarcation talks, Bangladesh-Saudi Arabia Joint Economic Talks and others.
As Chairman of the fourteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM XIV), he presided over the Co-ordination Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Islamic Conference while attending the thirty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly. He also led the Bangladesh delegation to the Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting of the non-Aligned Countries on Namibia, held in New Delhi in April 1985, and the Islamic Peace Committee Meeting, Held in Jeddah in May 1985.
Humayan Rasheed Choudhury was a member of the cabinet of President Hossain Mohammad Ershad
(1985–86) in charge of the ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was elected president of the 41st session of the UN General Assembly. He was elected a member of the National Parliament in 1986 and in 1988. He was elected member of the National Parliament in 1996 as a nominee of Bangladesh Awami league and was elected Speaker of the Parliament.
Choudhury appeared as a resort to Hasina and Rehana, two daughters of Bangabandhu after his sad assassination. Perhaps that was why after Mr. Choudhury's departure Hasina lamented that she has been orphan for the second time. He died in Dhaka due to a heart attack on July 10, 2001.
in 1971 and served as chief of the mission in New Delhi
. He conducted negotiations with many countries for obtaining recognition for independent Bangladesh.
, Virginia, United States, in recognition of his contribution to world peace through his diplomatic activities. During his assignments abroad, he has actively promoted the advancement of Islamic culture in the host countries. He was awarded the U Thant Peace award posthumously.
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
and speaker of the Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
National Parliament (1996–2001). Humayun Rashid Choudhury was born in Sylhet on 11 November 1928. He was elected president of the 41st session of the UN General Assembly in 1986. Mr. Choudhury was fluent in Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and had a working knowledge of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
. He died in Dhaka on 10 July 2001.
Education
After graduation from Aligarh Muslim University in 1947 Humayun Rasheed studied for the English Bar and became a member of the Inner TempleInner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
in London. He obtained a diploma in international affairs from the London Institute of World Affairs. Humayun Rasheed joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1953. He eventually graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts. He was President of the Pakistan Students Federation in Great Britain and Europe and in that capacity organized the first Asian Students Conference in the United Kingdom.
Career and Work
Before the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation, he joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1953 and received extensive training in the Pakistan Foreign Office and other government departments as well as in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. He obtained a graduate certificate of honour from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts, United States.During his diplomatic career he held various assignments in Rome, Baghdad, Paris Lisbon, Jakarta and New Delhi. He served as the Chief of the Bangladesh Mission in New Delhi in 1971-1972 during which he negotiated the recognition of Bangladesh by over 40 countries. He was the first Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972, a post he held until 1976 having concurrent accreditation to Switzerland, Austria and the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. He was also the first Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the International Atomic Energy Agency
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
(IAEA) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Mr. Chowdhury was also the first Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with concurrent accreditation to Jordan and Oman. During this assignment he represented Bangladesh in the Organization of the Islamic Countries. After serving as Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981-1982 he was appointed Ambassador to the United States in June 1982.
As a member or leader of his country's delegations, he attended the United Nations General Assembly session; the Islamic Summit Conference held in Taif, Saudi Arabia (1981); the Islamic Foreign Ministers' Conference in Tripoli (1977), Dakar (1978), Fez, Morocco (1979), Islamabad (1980) and Baghdad (1981); the North-South Summit-level dialogue held in Cancun, Mexico (1981); Meetings of the Islamic Summit-level Peace Committee to resolve disputes between Iran and Iraq; the extraordinary session on Afghanistan of the Islamic Foreign Ministers in Islamabad (1980); and the extraordinary session on Jerusalem of the Islamic Foreign Ministers held in Amman (1980)
He has also led his country's delegations to a number of bilateral meetings including talks with India on border delineation, sharing of Ganges waters, demarcation of the maritime boundary
Maritime boundary
Maritime boundary is a conceptual means of division of the water surface of the planet into maritime areas that are defined through surrounding physical geography or by human geography. As such it usually includes areas of exclusive national rights over the mineral and biological resources,...
, South Asia Forum (South Asian Regional Co-operation), Bangladesh-Burma border demarcation talks, Bangladesh-Saudi Arabia Joint Economic Talks and others.
As Chairman of the fourteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM XIV), he presided over the Co-ordination Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Islamic Conference while attending the thirty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly. He also led the Bangladesh delegation to the Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting of the non-Aligned Countries on Namibia, held in New Delhi in April 1985, and the Islamic Peace Committee Meeting, Held in Jeddah in May 1985.
Humayan Rasheed Choudhury was a member of the cabinet of President Hossain Mohammad Ershad
Hossain Mohammad Ershad
Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad is a Bangladeshi politician who was President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990. Previously, he was Chief of Staff of the Bangladesh Army and then Chief Martial Law Administrator in 1982....
(1985–86) in charge of the ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was elected president of the 41st session of the UN General Assembly. He was elected a member of the National Parliament in 1986 and in 1988. He was elected member of the National Parliament in 1996 as a nominee of Bangladesh Awami league and was elected Speaker of the Parliament.
Choudhury appeared as a resort to Hasina and Rehana, two daughters of Bangabandhu after his sad assassination. Perhaps that was why after Mr. Choudhury's departure Hasina lamented that she has been orphan for the second time. He died in Dhaka due to a heart attack on July 10, 2001.
Activity During Liberation War
Humayun Rasheed Choudhury joined the Bangladesh Liberation WarBangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
in 1971 and served as chief of the mission in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
. He conducted negotiations with many countries for obtaining recognition for independent Bangladesh.
Awards
In 1984 he was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize by the College of William and MaryCollege of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
, Virginia, United States, in recognition of his contribution to world peace through his diplomatic activities. During his assignments abroad, he has actively promoted the advancement of Islamic culture in the host countries. He was awarded the U Thant Peace award posthumously.
External links
- http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/C_0228.htm
- http://www.un.org/ga/55/president/bio41.htm