London Bangla A Force for the community…
Ashab Uddin says that every civilised nation in the world has introduced systems to give people “turn numbers” to help them avoid queuing for counter services. He tells the story of his role in helping Bangladesh to adopt a system.
On 29th October 1963, before I came to London on 20th November that year, because of blessings from my mum the harassment of having to queue came to an end (or at least, was reduced). Everyone saw a young women, who came with me to give hundreds of applicants a turn number on that day. I am so happy now, as everyone saw me that day, 28th October 1963. Now every civilised nation in the world has introduced turn numbers where ever there is a large queue.
My neighbour, Abdul Bari of Ballab Pur, and I went to Dhaka on 28th October 1963 with our valid Pakistani passports to obtain entry visas. We hired a room in a hotel in Dhaka Motijil at about 8.30 pm on Monday, 28th October 1963. The British High Commission office was just near the hotel. We went there and saw some hundreds of applicants standing in line even though it was 10pm. At that time, instead of going to the hotel, we went to the end of the line. After a few minutes, there must have been another hundred people standing behind us. In the meantime some agents had come and they jostled into the crowd by saying that they had been there before, but they had lost their place in the line because they had had to go outside for some purpose or other. They entered the line in some places by force.
I was told by all the applicants who had arrived there before us on that day that this happened every day. A high ranking official woman asked me how harassment in queues could be stopped. I was asked to represent hundreds of applicants standing in that queue, and I made an alternative proposal – that when they arrived, a number should be issued to each person who had come to stand in line as part of the queue. This would allow them to go out for a cup of tea and come back when their turn number was called. The Dhaka High Commission accepted my proposal on 29th October 1963.
Those who came to London in the Pakistani period were eager to meet their parents and relatives who were still alive after 16th December 1971. We had our Pakistani passport stamped at the Bangladeshi Mission and returned to the country. Since there were no Bangladeshi passports, it was ordered that printed passports be obtained from India. It was not possible to wait until new passports arrived, hence we were given a travel permit which said, “The permit will be considered as a Bangladeshi passport and its receiver is a Bangladeshi citizen.” I heard in August 1972 that Bangladeshi passports had been printed in India. Therefore we should apply for a Bangladeshi passport if we need to travel again to the UK.
On 20th August 1973 I went to Dhaka to obtain a re-entry visa with my new Bangladeshi passport, which had been issued on Sunday, 29th October 1972. My call date was given to me by the passport office in Sylhet as 20th Ramadan, Saturday 1392 A.H. After waiting all day outside, in the grounds of that office building, we were expecting to receive our first Bangladeshi passport before 5pm. At 5pm all the applicants were told to go home (as the office had closed for that day) and return on Monday 30th October.
I sought an explanation for this on Saturday from the Assistant Director of Immigration and Passports for the Government of Bangladesh Regional Office (Sylhet), Mr Mamun. If an applicant had a written date to collect their passport on 28th October, why couldn’t he do so? But he couldn’t give me any explanation. He wrote a notice for the newspaper and said from Sunday, 29th October the Passport Office would be open and working seven days a week until all the backlog of work had cleared and become normal. He said to me that because of the corrupt people in government, his staff couldn’t work normally and they misused us. By saying this he proved to me that he understood that applicants were wasting valuable time every day.
I went to the British High Commission of Dhaka to obtain a visa for my Bangladeshi passport as a returning resident from UK. As I went there with my passport during office hours, I was given a re-entry visa on 21st August in no time. On Tuesday, 20th August I found out that they did not open the office gate before 10.30am. I was not happy about the time on the appointment letter and the opening time.
The date of my wife’s appointment changed from 21st August to 11th September 1973. On 22nd August, we noticed that there was a list of dates posted up outside the office. It said that those who had an appointment on 21st August should come back on 10th September instead, and so on. A list of dates about three weeks long was put up there. Although my wife was given a written appointment date with the British High Commission, they did not see her on that day and nor did they tell her whether they considered that she had been given a written appointment of 8.30am on 21st August. It was a very big mistake by the High Commission.
The same happened at the Sylhet Passport Office. I was concerned about the date and time written by them. We were staying at the Sangria Hotel at Motijil from 18th August 1973. The road, shops and markets were full of robberies every day and it was not safe to travel from Hotel Sagorika in Motijil to the British High Commission Office in Indira Road every day.
I saw that applicants outside the office were experiencing harassment from the local motor bikers who drove through the queue of waiting applicant, making them jump to the side. As a result of this harassment, a sick woman was crying for help. I took this sick woman applicant inside the office to take a rest and wait until they called her for interview. I found out she had been coming for interview for every day and when she found out she was leaving empty handed each day she moved to a cheaper hotel where she had been attacked by an army of bugs.
I was chosen by all applicants on 21st August to ask the authorities to let the British people know the invited applicants were waiting outside on the muddy road and in the rain. I managed to get in by doing something other applicants had had to do before me. I waited in front of the entrance until the gate opened. The gate opened for the office staff to drive in. I was asked to move our Baby Taxi and clear the way for the office staff to drive through. The officer who asked this was very polite. I told him that I would move my carriage forward, nearer to the office, so he could move in with his car. I showed him my wife’s appointment time and told him that I had been there from 8.30am and it was already 10.30am, two hour after the appointment time. I wanted him to witness the time when I was there, so that there would no chance of saying at any time in future that I was late for interview.
He listened to me very carefully and said he would come back after he had parked his car. He took me inside the office building and asked me to take a seat in a large hall with chairs, where there were more seats then applicants. He came out from his office counter with some other staff and said that they were about six or more weeks behind with their work and they felt extremely sad for the delay. I had nothing to say on this matter. All I said was that there was a sick woman outside in the queue along the road. I asked him to consider allowing her to come inside and take a rest. I pointed out that the hall was large enough for every applicant to have a seat if they were allowed in. I said that if they could be given a turn number, they could rest and wait for their turn number to be called, as they did back on Tuesday, 29th of October 1963.
From that day, applicants did not have to wait outside in rain. This meant they were safe from the local pickpockets and from motor bikes which used to drive past very near to the waiting applicants and throw up mud which splattered over the people in the queue on the muddy footpath by the road. It was not tolerable. On that day every applicant was allowed in and the pain they suffered from having to queue outside came to an end. Everyone was happy. We were given a new date to go again in writing, and a letter was sent to every applicant by post, to our home addresses, in advance, giving us appointments to come on another day instead.
The previous practice, which was customary before 21st August 1973, was ended and we did not have to go there again and again for no good reason, wasting valuable time and money. On 21st August 1973 all the waiting applicants were allowed into the waiting room until they had been given a new date. On 21st August they called some applicants who had dates from about three weeks earlier. On 22nd August every one was given a new date and time. From that day no one had to go to the office every day – all as a result of my advice to the High Commission.
Many years later, on 17th October 1983, as a result of my constant efforts and the wisdom which God has been good enough to grant me, the education authorities in the UK introduced Halal food in school. For the first time Muslims celebrated the end of Sha’ban, Ramadan and Jilhajj 1430AH and Ramadan 1435AH. Finally may I ask all Muslim ummah to pray for me and Br Qamar Uddin from York Posting the Ummul Qura Change Petition (January 2014).
