I was very pleased to read in the press that the daughter and son of Bangladesh's first Prime Minister met the Chief Adviser a few days ago in connection with the celebration of Tajuddin Ahmad's birth centenary on July 23rd. It is another way to remind everyone about the 1971 Liberation War.

In 1971, I was responsible for coordinating Oxfam's refugee relief work assisting about 600,000 refugees in over 50 refugee camps in Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, Cooch Behar and different parts of West Bengal. I had the privilege and pleasure to meet with Tajuddin Ahmad in Calcutta on a few occasions. On every occasion, I was seeking his advice about our work in the refugee camps and also how to reach relief supplies inside the border areas of Bangladesh.

For my first meeting, in late October 1971, with Tajuddin I had fixed a time to call on him but when I got to his office I was told that he had been called away for an urgent meeting with Government of India officials.

The next day I received a beautifully handwritten note from Tajuddin himself apologizing for his absence the previous day. He added, "I understand that you work late into the evening and sometimes walk home to your flat in Auckland Square. Please drop in for a cup of tea if you can." This I did and introduced him to my problem. We, Oxfam in Calcutta, had received, from Oxfam Canada, 50 tons of 'Dehydrated Mashed Potato' powder which had been fortified with milk powder, vitamins and minerals.

The consignment had been received with the following instructions, "For distribution inside liberated areas of Bangladesh." The Governments of India and West Bengal had given 'No Objection' and so Tajuddin said he would manage to arrange its safe delivery to the right people across the border. However, he said he wanted to personally use it in cooking vegetable curry or dal to see how it tasted. This he did and everywhere the dehydrated mashed potato was distributed it was accompanied by cooking instructions in Bengali written by Tajuddin.

Tajuddin Ahmad always made me feel important and as I was a young man under great pressure, his caring and fatherly attitude was most encouraging for me and my work.

In late January 1972, I was one of the first members of Oxfam staff to come to Bangladesh and I met with Tajuddin Ahmad and A.H.M. Kamruzzaman and they arranged for me to make a courtesy call on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. As a result of this meeting and some subsequent ones, Oxfam was able to assist Bangladesh with the repair of a number of ferries and launches and the purchase of three roll-on, roll-off ferries which were named Kasturi, Kamini and Kasturi.

When, in 2012, Oxfam as an organization and I personally were awarded, by the Government of Bangladesh, 'The Friends of Liberation War Honour', I remembered my connection with these three remarkable Bangladeshis, all, sadly, brutally assassinated.

Julian Francis has had an association with Bangladesh since 1971, and the Government of Bangladesh awarded him with "The Friends of Liberation War Honour" in 2012 in recognition of his role in the country's War of Liberation in 1971.