Ayub Khan's diary
Syed Badrul Haque Lalmatia, Dhaka
President Ayub Khan's diary currently being serialized in both Bangla and English newspapers draws the attention especially of the old timers for a very patent reason -- they are witness to the events narrated in the diary. One may however differ with the narratives, but the virtues of such personalised enterprise, -- even if it were not beautifully observant and wholly unpretentious -- need not be undervalued for it contributes in good measure to our understanding of time-events to construct history. The episodes that have found mention in the diary apart, I could not help recollect a 'non-event' of President Ayub Khan even after decades now. The venue was the Darling Point, an elegant two-storied building on Green Road, a quiet, middle-class neighbourhood in the provincial city of Dhaka where Mr. Habibur Rahman, a central minister was hosting a private lunch for President Ayub Khan, Amir of Kalabagh, Governor, West Pakistan and Abdul Monem Khan, Governor, East Pakistan. In the interlude before lunch, the guests were chatting in the verandah when, in an aside, the host's daughter emerged and approached the President for his autograph before the other guests. The President readily agreed, he asked for a pen. But none on the table could help. I volunteered my pen. Much to the delight of the host's daughter, the autograph book, euphemistically speaking, weighed heavier with all the signatures of the key figures presiding over nation's destiny. I too gained in the fact that my time-worn Parker pen anointed with history had acquired the status of a memento. For long, I kept it with care before I lost it so sadly. Over the decades, the non-event translates into an episode.The accompanying photograph records the Chief Martial Law Administrator Ayub Khan's impromptu press interview at the tarmac of the Tejgaon airport in 1958. Among others journalists present were Abdul Wahab, Syed Jafar Ali, Nizamuddin Ahmad, M.R.Akhtar, Syed Asaduzzaman, S.G.M. Badaruddin, Wahid Kaiser and public relations officials Syed Sadequr Rahman, Abdul Matin and Syed Badrul Haque(writer).
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