1. Abul Fateh was a Bangladeshi diplomat, statesman and Sufi who was one of the founding fathers of South Asian diplomacy after the Second World War, having been the founder and inaugural Director of Pakistan's Foreign Service Academy and subsequently becoming Bangladesh's first Foreign Secretary when it gained its independence in 1971.
Abul Fateh was Bangladesh's senior-most diplomat both during the 'Liberation War' period of its Mujibnagar administration as well as in peacetime.
Abul Fateh was automatically the highest-ranked and most senior foreign service officer in the new country.
Abul Fateh's story was later documented in a National Geographic documentary, Running for Freedom.
Abul Fateh was born in Kishoreganj on 16 May 1924 in a landowning family, to Abdul Gafur and his second wife Zohra Khatun.
Abul Fateh was a middle child, in a large family of a dozen children who survived to adulthood, while two other siblings died young.
Abul Fateh passed his matriculation exams from Ramkrishna High English School in Kishorganj in 1941.
Abul Fateh joined the first batch of Pakistan Foreign Service trainees in 1949, moving to Karachi.
Abul Fateh was a Director attached to the Foreign Ministry in Karachi from 1960 to 1963, during which time he was founding Director of Pakistan's Foreign Service Academy in Lahore and went for a year and a half to Geneva as a Fellow of the Graduate Institute of International Studies under a Carnegie fellowship.
Abul Fateh was First Secretary in Prague from 1965 to 1966, Counsellor in New Delhi from 1966 to 1967, and Deputy High Commissioner in Calcutta from 1968 to 1970.
Abul Fateh received his first posting as ambassador, at the Pakistan Embassy in Baghdad, in 1970.
At about the same time, in July 1971, Fateh received a summons from the Pakistan Foreign Ministry to attend a conference in Tehran of regional Pakistani ambassadors.
Abul Fateh had a key role managing relations with the United States and India whilst heading the nascent country's diplomatic service.
Abul Fateh was in communication with other governments, such as the Nixon administration in the United States and with Senators, Congressmen, and high officials in the US Administration, World Bank, and IMF; he had the advantage as well of being familiar with decision-makers and the decision-making process having served as a diplomat in Washington 20 years earlier.
Abul Fateh was one of the first high officials to reach Dhaka after its liberation, and was quartered with other senior officials in Bangabhaban until January 1972.
Abul Fateh was the highest Bangladeshi official in Dhaka until the acting president and cabinet arrived after independence; on his arrival in Dhaka he was driven under escort from the airport, becoming the first civilian official to lay a wreath at the ruins of the Shaheed Minar, an act planned to mark the first presence of the government in Dhaka.
Abul Fateh then took up the position of Bangladesh's first Ambassador in Paris.
Abul Fateh pointed out that to oblige them to forgo Bangladesh citizenship if they took up the benefits of British nationality was not conducive to the continued maintenance of their ties to the mother country.
Abul Fateh represented the Bangladesh government at conferences on Namibia in Algiers of the United Nations and the Non Aligned Conference.
Abul Fateh became a casualty of Bangladesh's complex and shifting political landscape towards the end of his career.
Abul Fateh died in London of natural causes at 0745 on 4 December 2010.
Abul Fateh was buried with Bangladesh State Honours at Hendon Cemetery, London on 7 December 2010.
The Bangladesh Government was represented by His Excellency the Bangladesh High Commissioner Professor Mohammad Sayeedur Rahman Khan Khan who delivered a homily which spoke of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's devastation at the news of Ambassador Abul Fateh's death, conveyed the condolences of Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and spoke of the highest standard of public service that Mr Abul Fateh's conduct and career represented.
The Sufi Order established by Inayat Khan, whose son Vilayat Inayat Khan was a friend of Abul Fateh, arranged a non-denominational Sufi Service.
Pir Vilayat Khan's son Pir Zia Khan sent a personal message, which stated: "Abul Fateh Sahib has lived a life of honour and service and is a mystic in spirit".