Annisul Huq...The Dreamer Who Was One Of Us

There was that ubiquity of a smile which hinted at the friendliness in him.

- Syed Badrul Ahsan

Annisul Huq always smiled, even when he tended to disagree with someone on a point of critical importance. There was never the pugilistic in him, never the adversarial. In a society where conversation often turns into heated debate and debate swiftly leads to the confrontational, Annisul Huq was different. Because he could not be abrasive, because he respected others as he expected them to respect him, he was able to draw people to him. Hubris had no place in his being. Humility there was in plenty.

And that is how we who knew him up close or knew him a little will remember Annisul Huq. And those who did not know him, in that personal sense, will not forget the contributions he made to their lives in his rather brief period in office as Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation. He had pavements restored to citizens; he compelled angry transport workers, those not used to experiencing leadership of grit and determination, to move out of the road in Tejgaon they had kept commandeered for years.