C. M. Shafi Sami

CM Shafi Sami (Bengali: সি এম শফি সামি) a Bangladeshi diplomat.[1] He was selected as an adviser of the caretaker government of Bangladesh under President Iajuddin Ahmed and resigned after a series of disagreement with him. Three other advisers Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, Akbar Ali Khan and Sultana Kamal also accompanied him with this resignation. His actions and that of the three other advisers sparked the fall of the caretaker government and the ensuing crackdown on corruption.

Early life

Sami passed his matriculation from Jamalpur Government College. He also got his I.Sc. from MC College in Sylhet. He got admitted into the physics department of Dhaka University in 1957. In 1962 he received first class on honors and achieved the same feat one year later in masters. He joined Pakistan Civil Service in 1966. Prior to that he also worked at the well known and prominent nuclear research institute, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and East Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology for a while.

Professional career

Sami was the chief coordinator of the first SAARC summit and was selected the deputy general secretary of the summit. He also worked at the Bangladesh embassy in Cairo and as the Charge-de-affairs in Paris. He also worked in the UNESCO as a residing representative. Shafi Sami became the Bangladeshi High Commissioner of India in 1995 and remained there till 1999. During this time he played an important part in signing the Ganges Water Distribution Agreement and Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord. After that he served as the foreign secretary till 2001. During the caretaker government of 2001 he became the chief foreign secretary. Besides he was a member of the International Civil Service Commission of United Nations. He also led Bangladeshi correspondents in UN, NAM, OIC and other international conferences.

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