Senior Bangladesh diplomat at UN seeks leave after being bypassed for acting Chief role

Akbar Haider Kiron

New York: A senior Bangladesh diplomat stationed at the United Nations has requested leave and permission to leave his station after being passed over for the position of acting head of the country’s Permanent Mission.

Bangladesh’s Deputy Permanent Representative-1 to the UN, AKM Wahiduzzaman (who holds ambassadorial rank at Grade 1), submitted the request in a letter to Foreign Secretary Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury on November 12.

In his letter, Wahiduzzaman expressed "considerable professional concern" over the decision to appoint Deputy Permanent Representative-2 Shanchita Haque (an ambassador at Grade 3) as the chargé d’affaires. This decision was communicated to other diplomatic missions via a note verbale issued on November 12, and will take effect during the absence of Permanent Representative Irene Zubaida Khan.

According to diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New York, Wahiduzzaman argued that the decision to bypass him appeared to be contrary to government service rules. He noted that he had been serving as Deputy Permanent Representative-1 since joining the mission on July 15, 2026, and had previously acted as chargé d’affaires when his predecessor left New York in August.

Wahiduzzaman has requested 10 days of casual leave, along with permission to leave New York, from November 13 to 22. This timeframe coincides with Ambassador Irene Khan’s scheduled visit to Shanghai, China, to attend the fifth seminar on AI capacity-building.

To escalate the matter, Wahiduzzaman sent copies of his leave request to several senior government officials, including the public administration adviser, the state minister for public administration, and the cabinet secretary.