Rehman Sobhan
Rehman Sobhan (Bengali: রেহমান সোবহান), a prominent economist, played a significant role in the nationalist movement of Bangladesh.
Bengali Nationalism
Professor Sobhan along with other nationalist economists contributed to the drafting of six-points programme that became the basis for the struggle for autonomy in the then East Pakistan. The various writings of the young Cambridge trained economist Sobhan on regional disparity between West Pakistan (present day Pakistan) and East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) played a successful role in fomenting nationalist aspiration. During the liberation war for Bangladesh (March 26 1971 to December 16 1971) he was a roving ambassador of Bangladesh lobbying for Bangladesh in the United States.
Post Independence Career
After the independence of Bangladesh he was a member of the Planning Commission during the time of the 1974 Bangladesh famine. He was in self-exile after the military coup of August 1975. Upon his return to Bangladesh, he continued to be active in economic research and policy debates first with Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and later he founded the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a leading Think Tank in South Asia. Currently he is the chairman of CPD. CPD contributes on the important policy issues and arranges open public discussions. Mainly its for promoting an effective governance. He has authored over two dozens books and numerous articles both in professional journals as well as popular media. He was also made an advisor of the Caretaker Government in Bangladesh in 1990-91.
Professor Sobhan's cohorts at Cambridge included prominent economists of the Indian subcontinent such as Amartya Sen, Manomohan Singh, and Mahbub-ul Haque. Sobhan continues to play an active role in the civil society movement in South Asia. He is a leading public intellectual in Bangladesh.
Family
He was married to the Barisster and human rights activist, Salma Sobhan. His son is the editor of the leading English daily, The Daily Star
Recent News
An unprecedented order by the High court of Bangladesh was passed on August 10th 2006 to arrest Mr. Rehman Sobhan for creating a poverty complex with statistical misinformation to slander and defame the Bangladesh Board of Investment.