Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07DHAKA87
2007-01-17 10:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dhaka
Cable title:  

NEW SLATE OF CARETAKER ADVISORS NAMED

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM BG 
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RR RUEHCI
DE RUEHKA #0087/01 0171009
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 171009Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3001
INFO RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 8884
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 9571
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1450
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 7730
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000087 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2012
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM BG
SUBJECT: NEW SLATE OF CARETAKER ADVISORS NAMED

Classified By: Amb. Patricia A. Butenis for reasons 1.4(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000087

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2012
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM BG
SUBJECT: NEW SLATE OF CARETAKER ADVISORS NAMED

Classified By: Amb. Patricia A. Butenis for reasons 1.4(d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Ten advisors for the new Caretaker
Government have been selected and are in the process of
taking office. With a few exceptions, the advisors are
viewed as non-partisan and distinguished members of society.
END SUMMARY

A New Team of Advisors
======================


2. (SBU) Five new advisors were sworn in by President Ahmed
on January 13:

A) Barrister Moinul Hossain: A well-known lawyer and
journalist, Hossain is chairman of the Board of Editors of
the respected daily Bangla-language newspaper Ittefaq. In the
1970s, he served as an Awami League (AL) member of
parliament, then broke with the party and later served as a
legal advisor for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). In
the 1990s, he left the BNP, and is now viewed as a
non-partisan columnist and writer. He will oversee the
Justice, Housing, Land, and Information ministries and the
Parliamentary Secretariat. He made headlines when he
declared shortly after being sworn in that President Ahmed's
self-appointment as Chief Adviser was unconstitutional.

B) Barrister AM Mirza Azizul Islam: Islam served with the new
Chief Advisor in the Pakistani civil service, prior to
Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971. He has a
PhD in Economics from Boston University, and worked for the
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific in Bangkok until returning to Dhaka to head the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Upon retiring, he served
as Chairman of Sonali Bank. He resigned that position over an
issue related to pressure to grant a loan to President
Iajuddin's son. Islam will oversee the Finance, Planning,
Commerce, and Post and Telecommunications ministries.

C) Geetiara Safiya Chowdhury: Chowdhury is a well-known,
successful female entrepreneur and head of ADCOM, a leading
Bangladeshi marketing firm. She was the first female
president of the Dhaka Club and is the wife of Nazim
Chowdhury, a BNP dissident who helped develop the idea for
the Four-Party Alliance in 2001. She is also the Chief

Advisor's cousin. Chowdhury will oversee the Social Welfare,
Industry, and Women's and Children's ministries.

D) Tapan Chowdhury: Chowdhury is Managing Director of Square
Group, one of Bangladesh's largest conglomerates. He is from
the Christian minority, and will oversee the Power and
Energy, Food and Disaster Management, Science, and Youth and
Sports ministries. Within days of taking up his new
position, Tapan demoted a senior civil servant in the Power
Ministry who shot up the promotion ladder with the alleged
support of corrupt elements in the previous government,
warned the country of a looming power crisis, and called for
the introduction of photo voter identification cards, even if
that means delaying the election.

E) Maj. Gen. (ret.) MA Matin: Matin is a hero of the
Liberation War and was a confidant of the late President and
BNP founder Ziaur Rahman. He is a former Director General of
the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and
also headed the old and discredited Bureau of
Anti-Corruption. He will oversee the Communications,
Shipping, Civil Aviation and Tourism, and Liberation War
Affairs ministries.


3. (SBU) Three more advisors were sworn in on January 16:

A) Anwarul Iqbal: Iqbal was the first Director General of the
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) before becoming Inspector
General of Police. He also served as Commissioner of the
Khulna and Dhaka metropolitan police forces and was chief of
the Police's Special Branch and Criminal Division Department.
He served as Police Commissioner in United Nations missions
in Angola and Mozambique. Iqbal will oversee the Local
Government and Rural Development, and Expatriate Welfare
ministries.

B) Major General (ret.) Matiur Rahman: Rahman was a physician
with the Bangladeshi army, and will oversee the Health,
Water, and Religious Affairs ministries.

C) Ayub Quaderi: Quaderi started his career in the Pakistani
civil service, and has served as a secretary in several

DHAKA 00000087 002 OF 002


government offices, including the Ministry of Planning and
the Economic Relations Division. He will oversee the
Education and Cultural Affairs ministries.


4. (C) Two additional advisors have been named, but not yet
sworn in because they were out of the country:

A) Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury: A career diplomat, Dr.
Chowdhury is currently serving as Bangladesh's Permanent
Representative to the United Nations. He is also the Chief
Advisor's brother-in-law. He is expected to oversee the
Foreign Ministry, a job that has traditionally been retained
by the Chief Advisor.

B) Faiz Khan: Khan is an information technology consultant
and worked as a senior consultant to the Home Ministry on a
now-stalled program to introduce machine-readable passports.
His appointment has generated controversy in the Bangladeshi
media, which has reported allegations that he was involved in
the failure of the project. The press also reports that he is
a U.S. citizen, which would normally preclude him, under the
constitution, from serving as an advisor. His wife is an
employee of the British High Commission.


5. (SBU) Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed will retain control
of the Establishment and Home ministries and the Election
Commission.

COMMENT: A Non-Partisan Group
=============================


6. (C) These new advisors are widely viewed as non-partisan.
Several are closely connected -- either from their time in
the the Pakistani civil service or through marriage -- to the
Chief Advisor. The only one who has created any controversy
so far is Khan, and it remains to be seen if the negative
press he has generated will prompt a rethink before he is
sworn in. END COMMENT.
BUTENIS