Shafik Rehman

Last updated
Shafik Rehman
শফিক রেহমান
Shafik Rehman at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka 02.jpg
Rehman in 2012
Born
Shafik-ur-Rahman

(1934-11-11) 11 November 1934 (age 89)
Bogra, Bengal Province, British Raj
NationalityBangladeshi
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • writer
SpouseTaleya Rehman
Children1
Signature
Signature of Shafik Rehman.jpg

Shafik Rehman (born 11 November 1934) is a Bangladeshi journalist, political analyst, and writer. [1] He is credited for introducing Valentine's Day in Bangladesh. [2]

Contents

He has worked to gather support in favour of Bangladesh in England with Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. [3] Rehman founded the weekly Jaijaidin in 1984 which was critical to General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, a military leader who assumed power through a military coup in 1982. He was forced to leave the country in 1986 after the Ershad government suspended the declaration of Jaijaidin and was not allowed to return Bangladesh till 1991. [4] [5] Rehman was a director of Spectrum Radio in England. [6]

Rehman has been serving as the editor of magazine Mouchake Dhil from 2009. [7] Rehman was arrested on April 16, 2016, on the charge of “plotting to abduct and kill” Bangladesh Prime Minister's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. [5]

Early life and education

Rehman was born as Shafik-ur-Rahman on November 11, 1934, in Bogra. His father Sayeed-ur-Rahman was a professor of Philosophy in the University of Dhaka who taught Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as well. [2] [3]

Rehman studied in the Saint Gregory's School of the capital's Old Dhaka area from where he passed his matriculation in 1949. After the matriculation, he joined Dhaka College and passed intermediate examinations in 1951. [2] He then completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in Economics in 1956 from University of Dhaka. [2] [3] He went to England to complete his higher studies and joined Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales from where he passed the exams for Chartered Accountancy in 1965. He later returned to Bangladesh and played an important role in the country's journalism and political analysis. Shafiq Rehman will always be remembered for his career and various contributions. [8]

Career

Accountant

Rehman, after attaining chartered accountant status, worked in several multinational companies in England, Japan and Arab countries as an accountant. [2] Later, in 1969, he joined the chartered accountant firm of the country "Rahman Rahman Huq" as a senior partner where he had worked with prominent economist and three-time finance minister of Bangladesh, M. Saifur Rahman. [2] [3] He joined the Hotel InterContinental Dhaka and worked there till the liberation war of Bangladesh broke out. [3]

Journalist

Rehman published a hand-written magazine while studying in Saint Gregory's School namely Shachitra 10, around 1949. [2] In 1984, he founded the weekly satirical magazine, Jaijaidin. It became the most popular weekly within a few months. The satirical representation of social and political issues in the magazine made it a voice of the urban middle-class. Jaijaidin was known for being critical to Hussain Muhammad Ershad, the chief of staff of the Bangladesh Army who replaced a democratically elected president in 1982 and later declared himself as the president in 1983 through a bloodless coup. [2] [4]

Rehman criticized the national election of 1986 and the process of choosing 30 women for reserved seats in the parliament. He termed the 30 reserved seats as the 30 pieces of ornaments of Ershad. Ershad got infuriated by this and declared not to allow Rehman to return to Bangladesh when he left Bangladesh for England on an official trip. He was not allowed to return to Bangladesh until 1991. [4] Rehman had worked at the BBC. [7] He was a director of Spectrum Radio in London that became one of the most popular radio stations of England. He was among the two Asian Directors of the station. [6] After the fall of General Ershad through a popular uprising in 1990, and the arrival of Bangladesh Nationalist Party in power, Rehman was allowed to return to Bangladesh. On his arrival he started publishing weekly Jaijaidin again. [2]

In 2002, he came up with an art show Lal Golap (Red Rose) on the state-run BTV channel. Later, after the change of government, he continued broadcasting it on a private channel, Banglavision. [3] This weekly Jaijaidin converted into a daily newspaper in 2006 with Rehman as editor. But he was forced to sell the ownership in 2008 and had to leave the country again during the military-backed caretaker government of 2007-08 for being critical of the regime. [2] In December 2008, he arrived Bangladesh prior to the national election of December 28. He started editing the weekly Mouchake Dhil in 2009. [5] Besides, he has been writing columns in dailies like Daily Naya Diganta, Amar Desh and Daily Dinkal till date.

Personal life

Rehman is married to Taleya Rahman, a former broadcaster of BBC World Service and the founding executive director of an election watchdog "Democracy Watch". [9] The couple has a son Sumit Rehman who resides in United Kingdom. [10]

Besides being a Bangladeshi citizen, Rehman accepted UK citizenship when he was banished from Bangladesh in the 1980s. [11]

Role in the liberation war

Rehman played a significant role during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. During the war, he went to England to assist Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury in gathering support for Bangladesh abroad. [2]

Political affiliation

Rehman does not hold any post in any of the parties in Bangladesh but has been seen as a sympathizer to BNP led by Khaleda Zia. He is considered to be an influential figure in the party and an active personality in the intellectual powerhouse of the party. [3] He is widely perceived as an informal advisor of Khaleda Zia. He has been heading the pro-opposition think tank G-9 in recent years.

Amid holding no formal position, he served on the international affairs committee for the 6th National Council of BNP in 2016.

Detention

Rehman was arrested on charges of a "plot to kill" Bangladesh Prime Minister's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, [5] a claim that was dismissed by a US district court. [12] The metropolitan magistrate granted a 5-days remand for the journalist. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Bangladesh</span> Politics in Bangladesh

Politics of Bangladesh takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Bangladesh is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The Constitution of Bangladesh was written in 1972, and has undergone seventeen amendments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ziaur Rahman</span> President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981

Ziaur RahmanBU HJ HOR was a Bangladeshi military officer, freedom fighter and politician who served as the sixth President of Bangladesh from 1977 until his assassination in 1981. He was the founder of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He previously served as the third chief of army staff from 1975 to 1978 with a minor break.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangladesh Nationalist Party</span> Political party in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is a major political party in Bangladesh. Founded on 1 September 1978 by the late Bangladeshi president Ziaur Rahman, with a view to uniting people with a nationalist ideology, BNP later became one of the two dominant parties in Bangladesh, along with its archrival Awami League. Initially a big tent centrist party, it later moved towards more right-wing politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khaleda Zia</span> Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and 2001 to 2006

Begum Khaleda Zia is a Bangladeshi politician, who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and second female prime minister in the Muslim world, after Benazir Bhutto. She is the widow of one of the former presidents of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman. She is the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since 1984, which was founded by her husband in 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheikh Hasina</span> Prime Minister of Bangladesh (1996–2001, 2009–2024)

Sheikh Hasina Wazed is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first president of Bangladesh. Having served for a combined total of over 20 years, she is the longest serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh. She was the world's longest-serving female head of government. Her authoritarian regime ended in self-imposed exile following a series of violent protests in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hussain Muhammad Ershad</span> President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990 Former (4th) Army chief of Bangladesh

Hussain Muhammad Ershad was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the leader of Bangladesh from 1982 to 1990, ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1982 to 1983 and as president of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moudud Ahmed</span> Bangladeshi politician (1940–2021)

Moudud Ahmed was a Bangladeshi lawyer and politician. He was a standing committee member of Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Ahmed was elected as a Jatiya Sangsad member total five times from Noakhali-1 and Noakhali-5 constituencies.

<i>Jaijaidin</i> Bangladeshi daily newspaper

Jaijaidin is a Bengali-language daily newspaper published from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarique Rahman</span> Bangladeshi politician

Tarique Rahman, also known as Tarique Zia, is a Bangladeshi politician and businessman, who is the acting chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since February 2018. He is the eldest son of former president Ziaur Rahman and former two-time prime minister Khaleda Zia. He is widely seen as a powerful figure in BNP and held several high-profile positions within the party, including the post of senior joint secretary general. In 2018, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for organizing the 2004 Dhaka grenade attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sajeeb Wazed</span> Bangladeshi politician and businessman

Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed, also known as Sajeeb Wazed Joy, is a Bangladeshi businessman and politician. He is a member of the Bangladesh Awami League and served as an advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on information and communication technology affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilias Ali (Bangladeshi politician)</span> Bangladeshi politician

M Ilias Ali was a Bangladeshi politician and member of the Jatiya Sangsad (2001–2006) representing the Sylhet-2 constituency. He served as the organising secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. He, along with his personal car driver, Ansar Ali, went missing on 18 April 2012. Later that day, local police recovered his abandoned car near his residence in Banani neighborhood and found Ansar's cellphone inside. They have not been seen since. On the tenth anniversary of his disappearance, Netra News, an independent news platform in Sweden, reported on 21 April 2022, that Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite Bangladeshi police unit, had carried out the disappearance. The platform cited leaked confidential documents and internal investigations documents from RAB to reach the conclusion.

Hawa Bhaban is the political office of the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and monitors party affairs on the chair's behalf. It was viewed as an "alternate power house" in Bangladesh when BNP was in power from 2001 to 2006. It became controversial during the 2006–2008 Bangladeshi political crisis when the party joint secretary was Tarique Rahman, son and heir apparent of the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party Khaleda Zia. Some government officials maintained regular contact with viya (Tareq) to manipulate administrative matters such as promotion, posting, appointment etc. in different ministries and divisions. This resulted in a parallel government being administered from Hawa Bhaban.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal</span> Student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party

Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal, also known as JCD, is the affiliate student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Many of the top BNP leaders and policy-makers today were once closely associated with JCD and developed as student leaders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaukat Mahmood</span> Bangladeshi journalist and politician

Shaukat Mahmood is a Bangladeshi journalist and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Mosaddak Ali</span> Bangladeshi entrepreneur and politician (born 1960)

Mohammad Mosaddak Ali, also known as Phalu, is a Bangladeshi entrepreneur and a politician who was a former parliamentarian from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He served as the political secretary to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia between 2001 and 2004. He was responsible for building special relations and partnership for development between the government and the private sector that is interested in investing in new and highly potential industrial sectors, and introducing new products and services to local industries, at a time when Bangladesh's economic growth accelerated. In 2003, Ali launched Bangladesh's first automation-based private satellite television station NTV. He also founded another satellite channel RTV and Bengali daily newspaper Amar Desh. He is the founding President of Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990 Mass Uprising in Bangladesh</span> Pro-democratic revolution in the South Asian country

The 1990 Mass Uprising, popularly known as '90's Anti-Authoritarian Movement, was a democratic movement that took place on 4 December and led to the fall of General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in Bangladesh. The uprising was the result of a series of popular protests that started from 10 October 1990 to topple General Ershad who came to power in 1982 by imposing martial law and replaced a democratically elected President through a bloodless coup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazmul Huda</span> Bangladeshi politician (1949–2022)

Nazmul Huda was a Bangladeshi barrister and politician. He served as the minister of information (1991–1996) and the minister of communications (2001–2006) of the government of Bangladesh. He was a four-term Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Dhaka-1 constituency. He was a member of Bangladesh Nationalist Party since its inception until 2012 when he left the party as its vice chairman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suchinta Foundation</span> Bangladeshi non-profit think tank and research centre

The Suchinta Foundation is a Bangladeshi non-profit think tank and research centre. Mohammad A. Arafat is the chairperson of the foundation. Arafat is the former minister of state for information and broadcasting. He was a teacher of management at the Canadian University of Bangladesh. Rubel Ahsan is the vice-chairperson of the foundation. Tarik Hasan is the treasurer of the foundation.

Dandy Dyeing Limited is a dyeing company owned by the family of former prime minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia. The company and former prime minister Khaleda Zia, her sons, Tarique Rahman, and Arafat Rahman, were sued by Sonali Bank on charges of defaulting on a loan. According to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the company owed 400 million BDT to state-owned Sonali Bank.

Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, also spelled Mushfiqul Fazal Ansari, is a Washington DC-based Bangladeshi journalist known for asking questions at the press briefings of the United States Department of State. He is a permanent correspondent of the United Nation headquarters. He was the assistant press secretary to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. He was a well known critic of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

References

  1. ↑ "Shafik Rehman returns home after six years". The Daily Star . 19 August 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Shafik Rehman - who is he?". The Daily Star. April 16, 2016. Archived from the original on 2023-06-05.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Who is Shafik Rehman?". Dhaka Tribune. April 16, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Ahmed, Mahiuddin (2016). Ganamadhyam Nipiran: 1972-2012গণমাধ্যম নিপীড়ণ: ১৯৭২-২০১২ (in Bengali). Bibhash. p. 56. ISBN   978-984-90285-7-4.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Bangladeshi Editor, 81, Is Accused in Plot to Kill Leader's Son". The New York Times. April 16, 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Making sound waves". India Today. October 15, 1990.
  7. 1 2 3 "Bangladesh: 81-year-old magazine editor arrested for sedition". The Indian Express. April 16, 2016.
  8. ↑ Team, Kaler Kothon. "শফিক রেহমান: জীবনের আলো ও অন্ধকার". Kaler Kothon. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
  9. ↑ "Taleya Rehman". The ASHA Centre. April 16, 2016.
  10. ↑ "London rally demands Shafik Rehman's release". bdnews24.com. April 22, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Rehman's wife visits UK High Commission, seeks justice". The Daily Star. April 17, 2016.
  12. ↑ Bergman, David (April 20, 2016). "Exclusive: US Court Dismissed Claim of Plot to Injure Bangladesh PM Son". The Wire. No. 1. Foundation for Independent Journalism. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.