Tale of a freedom fighter

Mohid Ahmed Chowdhury, after graduating from Maulvibazar College, came to the United States in July 1967. After a few months, he came across a vacancy announcement from the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, DC. It was a job for the Assistant to the Director of Defence Purchase and Procurement. He was interviewed and was recruited in October 1967.

During the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the United States, as a token of neutrality imposed embargo on the supply of military hardwares to both countries. Since the United States was the principal supplier of ammunitions to Pakistan, the impact of embargo on the Pakistan army was profound. Following the debacle in 1962 war with China, India had diversified its procurement of defence materials and received massive supply of military hardware from Moscow as well. The US arms embargo, therefore, did not have discernible impact on Indian military's capability. As for Pakistan, following the Tashkent Agreement in 1966, the arms embargo ceased and Nixon administration later resumed delivery of $35 million worth of arms and $5.0 million worth spare parts.

Mohid Chowdhury's assignment included scrutinising the Bill of Ladings (B/L), processing the payments and mailing the checks to the Defence Contractors (suppliers). NAPCO, Kessler and Caterpillar were the major suppliers. He could see the invoices valued millions of dollars were coming from the contractors and were duly processed. Agha Hellaly, Pakistan's Ambassador in Washington, used to keep a watchful eye on the orderly procurement of ammunitions and processing of the claims.

In April 1971, Mohid Chowdhury received several B/Ls valued millions of dollars from the suppliers. He discreetly copied the B/Ls and mailed to the Washington Post. Two days later, the Washington Post published these B/Ls and in its editorial, strongly denounced the Nixon administration for shipment of military hardware to Pakistan ignoring the genocide in occupied Bangladesh, then East Pakistan.

Many Senators, including Edward Kennedy, demanded explanations from the White House and the Pentagon, on how these shipments were made in flagrant breach of the commitment, the President made a few weeks ago. There was uproar inside Pakistan Embassy as well. Ambassador Aga Hellaly suspected complicity of Mohid Chowdhury but in absence of evidence, he could not take any action.

As Pakistan Army's atrocities got widely publicised, Mohid Chowdhury and his Bengali colleagues Fazlul Bari and Mustaque Ahmed stunned Ambassador Agha Hellaly by submitting a petition in which they expressed deep concern at the genocide in East Pakistan and requested the Ambassador to convey their concern to President Yahya Khan. They also condemned the dismissal of Abdur Razzak Khan, Assistant Education Officer, for attending the US Foreign Affairs Committee's meeting on the situation in East Pakistan. They termed Khan's dismissal as perpetuation of discrimination against the Bengali officials. Ambassador Agha Hillaly got angry with Chowdhury and his colleagues. They were warned for their actions. This was an unprecedented and defiant action by Mohid Chowdhury and his colleagues who, in disregard of service rule, challenged the action of the government.

East Pakistan Student Forum led by Enayetur Rahim contacted Mohid Chowdhury in mid-April and decided to stage a demonstration in front of the White House. They mobilised a good number of students and their friends and held the demonstration where Gaus Ahmed, a Bengali employee of Pakistan embassy, set fire on the Pakistani flag. On the following day, Gaus Ahmed was dismissed from service.

Kazi S. Ahmed, President of East Pakistan League of America, wrote to Mohid Chowdhury on May 29, 1971 summing up his discussions with Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury and Professor Rehman Sobhan about setting up missions in New York and in Washington, DC in order to intensify lobbying with the US Government and Senators to deny Pakistan financial aid from all possible sources.

In the same letter, Mohid Chowdhury was requested to arrange accommodation for a group of about 30 people coming from New York to participate in the demonstrations. Mohid Chowdhury arranged their accommodation at his apartment and on the following day, accompanied them to stage demonstrations in front of the White House and the World Bank.

The demonstrations were captured by many media outlets including the Washington Post. An Embassy official traced Mohid Chowdhury's picture in the newspaper and reported to Ambassador Hillaly. Mohid Chowdhury was summoned by a committee where a number of charges were read out. Mohid Chowdhury responded that while people were being killed in East Pakistan it was only fair to protest the atrocity. He was dismissed from service on June 08, 1971.

A few weeks later, M. M. Ahmed, Economic Advisor to Pakistan government, visited Washington, DC and sought economic assistance from the US government and the World Bank. It remained unknown what assurances he could extract from the US officials but his meeting with World Bank President Robert McNamara turned out to be disconcerting. When Ahmed claimed that the situation in East Pakistan was fast returning to normal, McNamara pulled a file from the shelf and showed pictures of dead bodies lying in the fields and villages destroyed. McNamara emphatically declined to consider any financial assistance to Pakistan until a political solution was reached on East Pakistan.

Hamidul Huq Choudhury, Dr. Sajjad Hussain and Kazi Din Mohammed came to the United States in summer to lobby against the liberation movement. Mohid Chowdhury and his friends placed obstructions on their movements. In one encounter, Hamidul Huq Choudhury admitted to Mohid Chowdhury that "emergence of Bangladesh was inevitable."

It was revealed in mid-August that a ship loaded with arms and ammunitions would soon sail from Baltimore port to Karachi. Mohid Chowdhury and his friends rushed to Baltimore, mobilised small boats and imposed a blockade around the ship. Several newspapers published the photographs of the blockade and denounced President Nixon for escalating armed confrontation in the sub-continent.

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Washington in November. She met with President Nixon who pleaded for more time for a negotiated settlement. But Mrs. Gandhi knew well that time for negotiated settlement was over. Her visits to Washington and European capitals were meant to convey a message that the international community had squandered the opportunity in the past nine months and now the people of Bangladesh, with Indian support, were on the verge of achieving their cherished objective - the independence of Bangladesh.

Sarder Swaran Singh, Indian Foreign Minister, participating in the debate at the Security Council in December, declared "Golden Bengal belongs neither to India nor to Pakistan. It belongs to the people of Bangladesh and none else."

Bengali diplomats posted in Pakistan embassy in Washington and in New York approached Mrs. Gandhi that they would need financial support to continue in their present locations and defect in favour of the Bangladesh government. Mrs. Gandhi immediately instructed the Indian Ambassador to extend necessary support to Bengali diplomats and non-diplomatic staff. Her gracious decision prompted seven Bengali diplomats to shift allegiance to Bangladesh government.

Mohid Chowdhury's apartment at 19th Street, North-west DC became a full-time meeting point of the Bengali activists. They would plan for demonstrations, receive visitors from other states and escorted them to different meetings.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited Washington in February 1974. He met the Bangladeshi community led by Mohid Chowdhury at the Blair House. Banghabandu thanked them for their role during the Liberation War. During the 1974 famine, Mohid Chowdhury was again in the forefront in organising fund-raising events in and around Washington. The fund generated was channelled to Bangladesh through the embassy.

Mohid Chowdhury is a well-known person in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC. He was a pioneer in setting up a mosque in Arlington. About 200 people, mostly Bangladeshis, make regular prayers at the mosque.

Mohid Chowdhury, Gaus Ahmed and Fazlul Bari are not in best of health. It is a solemn responsibility of the community and Bangladesh Embassy to extend all possible support to these freedom fighters, living in the United States, who in their youth undertook relentless struggle for the cause of Bangladesh. They deserve our honour, support and recognition.

The writer is a former official of the United Nations.

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