Hafizuddin Ahmed

Hafizuddin Ahmed
Born	29 October 1939 Bhola
Nationality	Bangladeshi
Citizenship	Bangladesh
Known for	Bir Bikrom
Religion	Muslim

Hafizuddin Ahmed is a retired Bangladesh Army major^[1] and a former member of the Bangladesh parliament.^[2] He actively participated in the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was awarded the third highest gallantry award in Bangladesh, the Bir Bikrom, for his courage.

He is now serving as a Vice Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.^[3]

Early life and education

Hafiz was born on 29 October 1939 in Lalmohan, Bhola.^[1] His father, Dr. Azharuddin, was a member of the National Council of East Pakistan from Bhola.^[4] In 1968, Hafiz received his MA degree in Political Science from Dhaka University.^[1]

Career as a football player

Hafiz was a football player during his university days. He later joined the Mohammedan Sporting Club (Dhaka), in 1964. He was selected for the Pakistan national football team in 1967.^[5]

Military career

Pakistan Army

While playing for the Pakistan and Mohammedan football teams, in 1967, Hafiz was inspired to join the Pakistan Army by the General Secretary of the Pakistan Football Federation, Major Mohammad Hossain Malik. Hafiz applied to join the army's Education Corps, and was commissioned in 1968.^[1] He was trained at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Abbottabad. His classmates included Captain Aftabul Kader, holder of Bir Sreshtho and Bir Uttom, and Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir. Former President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman was among his trainers there.

He was selected as the best cadet and nominated as the Battalion Senior Under Officer (BSOU) of the academy. Later, he was accepted into the Armoured Corps, and was posted to the 1st East Bengal Regiment, known as the senior tigers, at Jessore.

After being commissioned, he continued his career as a football player and participated in many tournaments. After the 1970 Bhola cyclone, he, as a captain, with Bravo Company, engaged in relief work at Galachipa, Patuakhali.^[4]

Role in Bangladesh Liberation War

Hafiz was at Jagdishpur Village in the border area of Jessore as part of a training exercise. He was barred from all type of communication there and had no idea of Operation Searchlight, by Pakistan Army, and the declaration of independence of Bangladesh.

He returned to the Jessore Cantonment on 29 March. He learned from his batman that there was an order for the Baloch Regiment to disarm the East Bengal Regiment, and that 25 Baloch Regiment and 3 Frontier Force had taken up positions in front of the cantonment. The arsenal had been broken into by East Bengal non-commissioned officers and soldiers in retaliation. He joined the Bangladesh Liberation War^[1] and asked his commanding officer, Colonel Jalil, to join the war. But Jalil, who maintained contact with M. A. G. Osmani of the Bangladesh Awami League, refused to join the liberation, as Osmani had asked.^[4]

During the subsequent battle, Hafiz fought with his troops, but realized that the ammunition they had with them would not be enough to last for more than three hours. So, he started thinking about an exit plan. After fighting relentlessly for almost two hours, he finally escaped the cantonment with 200 companions.^[4]

Subsequently, he crossed the Radcliffe Line, the border between India and Pakistan, and reached India where almost all the members of Bangladesh Awami League had taken political asylum after fleeing the Pakistani attack. He asked for ammunition from India and learned that almost every unit of the East Bengal Regiment had defected against from the Pakistan Army. He also learned that all such former Pakistan Army units were under the command of Osmani.

In later campaigning, Hafiz, under continuous attack from the Pakistani army of occupation, maintained a free zone at Jessore, including Benapole BOP, from April to mid-May.^[4] During the second week of May, 1971, Hafiz was ordered to move to Tura, Meghalaya to join the Z Force. He was nominated as a company commander of 1st East Bengal Regiment in Jessore.^[5] He was injured during the Battle of Kamalpur, one of the most significant battles fought by Bangladesh forces in 1971.^[4] Later he attacked Dholoi BOP and liberated Sylhet from the Pakistan army.

Bangladesh Army

Hafiz, as a freedom fighter, received the gallantry award Bir Protik and was promoted to major in the Bangladesh Army, after the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was appointed Personal Secretary to the Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Ziaur Rahman, in Dhaka Cantonment.

In those days, there were at least three factions among the freedom-fighter military officers. After the assassination of Sheikh Rahman, on 15 August 1975, Hafiz joined the faction led by Khaled Mosharraf and was involved in staging a counter-coup against the killers of Sheikh Rahman, on 3 November of the same year. They confined Ziaur Rahman in his house and forced him to resign from the post of Chief of Staff.

Later, on 7 November, another counter-coup was staged to free the former chief of staff, in the name of National Revolution and Solidarity Day. Hafiz was arrested by military personnel after the coup and taken to special jail situated in the Gonobhaban. He was forced to end his army career in for staging a mutiny, but he soon escaped jail and went into hiding.

Political career

Hafiz entered politics as an independent candidate from Bhola. He has been elected as a Member of Parliament from the constituency of Bhola-3 six times since 1986. Later he joined the Bangladesh Nationalist Party^[3] He served as the Minister of Water Resources, during the tenure of the second government of prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. Hafiz held several talks with India about the sharing of water.^[6] After the reshuffling of the cabinet, he was appointed as the commerce minister.^[7] Hafiz has been arrested several times by the Bangladesh Awami League-led government during its tenure. He was detained while protesting the government's decision to repeal the caretaker government system, on 11 June 2011.^[8] Later, after the abduction of the organizing secretary of the party, Ilias Ali, Hafiz was arrested with other central leaders, in 2012. Again, on 28 December 2013, Hafiz was arrested on the National Press Club premises, when he was leaving there after announcing a new program of demonstrations to be led by his party.^[9]

References