Salahuddin Choudhry <\/p>\n
There have been some extraordinary people of exquisite acumen and leadership qualities coming from revolutionary zeal and purpose. President Ho Chin Minh having been such a man was the most beloved of the Vietnamese people having the metaphorical brilliance of a comet as an activist in national liberation and international communist movements.
\nHo Chi Minh, a remarkable leader of the Vietnamese nationalist movement for more than three decades, spurred his people to first fight the Japanese, then the French colonial power, and last not the least the US-backed South Vietnamese.
\nDescribed by the Western world, especially the former adversaries, as the \u2018Great Man of Diplomacy\u2019, Ho Chi Minh (originally Nguyen That Thanh, born on 19th May 1890) was known and envied to be an unparalleled leader in \u201cnegotiating\u201d for many long years \u2013 and not warring \u2013 to achieve freedom for the Southern Part of Vietnam after the North was liberated with the \u2018Declaration of Independence\u2019 (under the UN Charter) in 1945, although the French refused to relinquish their colony and war broke out in 1946.
\nHo Chi Minh (meaning \u2018bringer of light\u2019) \u2013 a title he got from his loving people \u2013 excelled all the others in the (communist) Party leadership as at one time it acquired the name of \u2018VietMinh\u2019, Vietnamese Independent Alliance Association; the \u2018man of pride\u2019, so popular and honourable (and revered owing to unquestionable power he enjoyed), was humble and like an \u201cinnocent child\u201d and a patriot par excellence compared to all his comrades; all this yet notwithstanding, his indomitable revolutionary zeal & commitment engaged deeply in all activities to liberate the Vietnamese nation and other oppressed peoples under difficult conditions and hardships. The 1946 (13th Dec) appeal of Ho Chi Minh to rise and resist the French colonialism uniquely for the sake of national independence and freedom saw them win a resounding victory at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
\nAfter the North Vietnam fell to the Ho Chi Minh resistance movement and its liberation came about in 1955, the socialist revolution and the struggle was turned south against the American aggressors under the catalytic leadership and unflinching guidance of that charismatic leader that ended in a grand finale of US withdrawal in 1975, though after he died in 1969.
\n\u201cNot only as the Father of Nation Ho Chi Minh is greatly revered, he is passionately respected and loved by us all heart & soul and we fondly call him \u2018Uncle Ho\u2019\u2026.\u201d, former Vietnamese Ambassador Mr. Nguyen Xuan Luu was telling two of his guests the other day, \u201cbut, we lost him too early\u201d, he said with tears in his eyes.
\nApart from several books Ho Chi Minh wrote on revolution\/struggle and politics, his most favourite and widely read was the \u2018Prison Diary\u2019 \u2013 a nonpolitical book of passion, about eighty poems, that he humbly thought was no alternative to his fifteen-month life in the jail:
\nI\u2019ve never been fond of chanting poetry;
\nBut what else can I do in thralldom?
\nThese long days I\u2019ll spend composing poesy,
\nSinging poems may help in the wait for freedom.
\nHo Chin Minh was arrested by the Chinese Nationalist Authority in Guangxi province on 29th August 1942, when he was secretly crossing the frontier for, as he wrote, \u201cmeeting some important Chinese officials\u201d. Since that day, he had had experiences as a prisoner till he was freed on 10th September 1943. That was the time he wrote \u2018Prison Diary\u2019, which later became famous worldwide. Thereafter, motivating his struggle with a difference, he launched his quiet \u2018cultural diplomacy\u2019 towards \u201cwinning\u201c over his supporters and opponents alike with a hand of friendship, and essentially a policy of \u201caccommodation & engagement\u201d, but not ever by submission, till his last day of life in 1969.
\nAmbassador Nguyen Tien Phong is very happy and proud that there is now the first ever Urdu translation of \u2018Prison Diary\u2019 being published shortly by Pakistan Academy of Letters during his tenure \u2013 and he thanked this scribe for initiation and supervision of the project. Mr. Phong also thought \u2013 and agreed with him \u2013 that it would be a great idea and most appropriate if Pakistan\u2019s extraordinary socialist poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz\u2019s work be translated into Vietnamese and published in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).
\nDespite the tremendous progress & prosperity Vietnam made over the last three decades (with an hiatus of \u2018sobering\u2019 period in between), the honest approach to living a simple life (within means) combined with down-to-earth humility in realism remain to this day \u2013 this I would say with all sincerity having seen in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City during my official visits during our accreditation mid-80\u2019s that bicycles & tricycles infested all the streets & roads, except for some taxis and few private cars; a huge surprise for me then (and I was simply flabbergasted) to see the then Foreign Minister (after my official call on him ended) quietly move to the hind side of the main FO gate, come out with a bicycle and ride off ! The conducting Protocol Officer explained, all Govt. officials were required to use their private transport coming to the office and returning home. Bravo !!
\nThe humility and simplicity of the Vietnamese people is so much a national character nurtured with all the value at their command that, very interestingly, during the American election campaign Donald Trump was approached by a Vietnamese asking him innocently where the red cap DT was wearing came from (with the inscription: \u201cMake America Great\u201d); when DT after taking it off announced: Oh, this is \u201cMade in Vietnam\u201d, the man again innocently commented: \u201cMade in Great Vietnam\u201d, Uncle Ho\u2019s Vietnam !!!
\nThis is what Vietnamese nation is, this is what Ho chi Minh\u2019s people are like, this till today what prides them as a people, as a nation any in the world would envy with respect !
\nWith the Uncle-Ho legacy intact and \u2018good-neighbourliness\u2019 being his continuity policy, Vietnam\u2019s mission today \u2013 especially after becoming an active ASEAN member \u2013 is one of consistency, independent pursuit, self-reliance, cooperation & development, and above all peace & friendship. China \u2013 a one-time imperial master \u2013 remains its major trading partner being the largest neighbor and the United States has been wooing Vietnam since 1995 after normalization of relations [[ (President Barack Obama having received Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in July 2015 for a dialogue at the White House preceding lifting of sanctions and arms embargo).]]
\nIn case of Pakistan, \u201cEast Asia Vision Strategy\u201d policy is one that is desirable and could be sustainable with lot of \u201ccommonalities\u201d \u2013 as indeed pointed out by the Ambassador \u2013 and it is time she became more focused with serious discernible interaction so keenly awaited by the member ASEAN leaderships. Pakistan\u2019s the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did very well to meet Vietnam President Tan Dai Quang on the sidelines of the \u2018Belt and Road\u2019 Forum in Beijing on 14th May 2017 stressing the need for exploration of business & investment opportunities and more people-to-people contact through cultural exchanges, beginning at top-most levels down to the grass-roots.
\nTo quote the Ambassadors \u2013 on a heightened note \u2013 Uncle Ho was the most respected leader popularly loved for creation of modern Vietnamese culture\u2026.himself as a bright example, he developed new concepts in art, culture & literature, and promoted existential heritage, traditions, and customs such as typical romantic form of Vietnamese tea making & drinking for love, comradeship and peace to any one, to any groups, to all peoples, and to regions the world over !!!
\nAs a major thriving \u2018developing\u2019 country, Vietnam today radiates a promising future for itself and others\u2026and why, one knows, it\u2019s the \u201cjust be happy enough\u201d Vietnamese attitude !!
\nHere what one could say one learns: hope is like a bird that senses the dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark\u2026\u2026!<\/p>\n
The writer is a former senior career diplomat of Pakistan, and a permanent Ambassador of \u2018Mayors for Peace\u2019 International (Hiroshima)]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Salahuddin Choudhry There have been some extraordinary people of exquisite acumen and leadership qualities coming from revolutionary zeal and purpose. President Ho Chin Minh having been such a man was the most beloved of the Vietnamese people having the metaphorical brilliance of a comet as an activist in national liberation and international communist movements. Ho […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13389],"class_list":{"0":"post-408275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-salahuddin-choudhry"},"yoast_head":"\n