Photo: Courtesy
A brilliant diplomat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh has been victim of various forms of harassment and abuse for more than a decade during the Awami League regime. False allegations were also made against him of an attempt to harass a female employee working in his office to defame the official and prevent him from being promoted. However, an inquiry committee formed with senior officials of the Ministry later found the allegations false and baseless.
However, despite the fall of the Hasina regime, these old, baseless allegations are still being used to block his promotions and harass him home and abroad. Following the change in power, a group of people, affiliated with the fallen regime has resurfaced these fabricated claims to socially humiliate him, knowing that his merit is unmatched and his promotion based on merit cannot be easily stopped.
In this way, for years, this officer, one of the country’s most promising diplomats, has been subjected to oppression and harassment.
This victim of workplace abuse is known as one of the most talented members of the foreign cadre. He secured first place not only in his batch but also in the combined merit list of all cadres in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination.
The officer in question is Dr. Md Tauhedul Islam, ndc, a foreign cadre officer of the 17th BCS. Dr. Md Tauhedul Islam joined the foreign cadre after graduating from Chittagong Medical College. He subsequently completed postgraduate studies at the renowned Oxford University and the National Defense College. He is the first and only Bangladeshi to be elected Vice President of the Economic and Development Committee while he was serving at the Bangladesh Mission in New York for more than four years.
Recently, he completed his PhD on climate change from Dhaka University. For over four years, Dr. Md Tauhedul Islam, ndc, has been serving as Bangladesh's High Commissioner to Singapore.
How the propaganda began
The first false accusation against Dr. Md Tauhedul Islam, began within two weeks of his posting from New York to Italy in 2014. In an attempt to send a person close to the then government to Italy, a female employee was used to frame charges against Dr. Md Tauhedul Islam, with the goal of bringing him back to Dhaka and spreading propaganda. Following the ministry's order, Dr. Md Tauhedul Islam returned to Dhaka and joined the ministry. At that time, he demanded an investigation into the false incident.
The investigation proved the accusation to be false, but due to the intervention of that group of senior officials in the ministry, who were affiliated to the previous regime, the investigation Report was never made public.
Rather, propaganda began to surface time and again, particularly when his posting or promotion was imminent. Finally, after August 5, the Report regarding the investigation Report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissing the false allegations against him, reached various media outlets.
On May 12, 2014, the Report, signed by the then Director General (Administration) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Allama Siddiqui, stated, "The allegations against Dr. Md Tauhedul Islam, ndc, were proved false and thereby the allegations were withdrawn due to lack of sufficient evidence. In this situation, the decision has been taken to close the case."
When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was contacted regarding these issues, a high-ranking official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “Unfortunately, there has been a lot of false propaganda against Dr. Md Tauhedul Islam, as he didn’t yield to the undue and subversive demand of the group linked to previous regime. Despite being a victim of injustice in various ways over the last 10 years, he has worked for the country with professionalism. After this, when it was time for Dr. Md Tauhedul Islam, to be posted, those people revived the previous untrue allegations once again.
Previously, those allegations were translated into English and sent to various embassies to socially humiliate him and block his postings. It is to mention here that, in 2018, when the proposal for him to become the ambassador to the Netherlands was sent, the same group officials from the highest echelons of the ministry persuaded the then ambassador of the Netherlands in Dhaka not to accept his appointment permission letter by sending these false reports.
Naturally, the Dutch government wanted to verify the truth before making a decision; during this time, malicious circles spread the news that the Dutch government was not accepting him. This is a complete lie, as the Dutch government has never rejected him."
A member of the investigation committee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "The allegations were fabricated. The accused diplomat has no distant relation with the accusation and we have clearly written it in the report. However, regardless of what is in the report, decisions are taken at the will of the political authorities."
It is hoped that, after the August revolution, this brilliant officer will receive justice at home and abroad and the new government may use his experience and skills for the betterment of the country.
When contacted to speak to Dr. Tauhid about this, he expressed his inability to say anything considering the government employee conduct rules.
Messenger/JRTarek
