Akbar Ali had fierce sense of integrity: Speakers

Dr Akbar Ali Khan – who passed away on September 8 this year – had years of commitment to the public service with a fierce sense of integrity and honesty.

Scholars and colleagues, who have known Dr Khan for decades and are familiar with his work and research, said this at a webinar on Thursday titled “Dynamics of Statecraft, Governance Reform & Public Intellectualism in Bangladesh: The Legacy of Dr Akbar Ali Khan.”

They added that Dr Khan had a dynamic career as a teacher, bureaucrat, freedom fighter, policymaker, writer, and public intellectual, and all of which revolved around the fundamental principles of advancing the public, read a press release.

BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University had organised the programme to commemorate eminent economist and former caretaker government advisor Dr Akbar Ali Khan.

BIGD’s Senior Research Fellow Dr Mirza M Hassan delivered a presentation on the intellectual legacy of Dr Khan. Former cabinet secretary of Bangladesh government and Senior Advisor at the BIGD M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan had chaired the session.

The presentation focused on various concepts, analytical approaches, and theories that Dr Khan frequently used to reflect on Bangladeshi statecraft, governance reform, and many other topics.

Dr Hassan said, “Dr Khan employed various concepts, analytical approaches, and theories to reflect on the critical areas of development, state-society relationship, and governance reform.”

Dhaka University’s Department of Development Studies Associate Professor Dr Asif Shahan said, “An interesting aspect of Akbar Ali Khan was that he was both a scholar and a practitioner. He heavily contributed to providing academic explanations to bureaucratic phenomena.

“His work also challenged colonial legacies and frame of thought.”

Remembering Dr Khan, renowned economist and Chairman, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Professor Rehman Sobhan said, “The discussants duly emphasised on his academic prowess. But we also need to explore his life as a civil servant.

“As a civil servant, he was exceptional in a period where integrity and objectivity were progressively eroding in the culture of the bureaucracy. He stood firm and he had to pay the price for it periodically.”

CPD Distinguished Fellow Professor Rounaq Jahan emphasised on the contribution Akbar Ali Khan made through his writing in the public sphere, saying, “From his writings it becomes visible that he was an academic at heart.

“He believed in promoting reforms, and when he talked about reforms he was very objective about it.”