Muhammad Hamidullah Khan

Muhammad Hamidullah Khan
File:Wing Commander Hamidullah Khan.jpg Hamidullah Khan
Born	11 September 1938 Bikrampur, Bengal Province, British Empire
Died	30 December 2011 Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka, Bangladesh
Allegiance	People's Republic of Bangladesh
Service/branch	Bangladesh Air Force
Years of service	1971–1979
Rank	Wing Commander
Unit	Administration and Special Duties A&SD
Commands held	Ground Defence Command
Battles/wars	Bangladesh Independence War Chilmari Landing Expedition Kurigram and Gaibandha Guerilla Campaigns Kodalkati and Kamalpur Assaults Tangail Area Ambushes and Raids

Wing Commander M. Hamidullah Khan (BAF-Retd.) (Bengali: এম হামিদুল্লাহ খান) (11 September 1938 – 30 December 2011) was a Commander of Bangladesh Forces Sector 11 during the Bangladesh War of Independence against Pakistan in 1971. M. Hamidullah Khan represented Bangladesh during the 36th Session of the United Nations General Assembly as Special Envoy on the question of granting recognition to the State of Palestine and the plenary session on UN Resolutions 242 and 439 on the question of Palestine and Namibia respectively.

Early life

Hamidullah Khan was born in Medini Mondal village, Louhajong Ward, Bikrampur, Dhaka. He was the second of nine children, one of whom died in infancy, born to Muhammad Dabiruddin Khan and Jasimunnesa Khan. His father was a forest ranger in the British Imperial Forest Service under the Bengal and Assam Forest Department. Hamidullah married Rabeya Sultana Khan, the third daughter of Mokbul Hossain Siddiqi, then East Pakistani Commissioner of Taxes and Excise, on 1 August 1965, in Dhaka.

Hamidullah Khan's childhood was divided between living in Bikrampur and Dhaka city. His family moved to the Mughaltully Ward of Dhaka in 1954, where he would spend his adolescence. Following independence and the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, the family remained in East Pakistan, while his father chose to work for the Indian government until his retirement in 1957. Hamidullah Khan attended primary school at Silver Jubilee Anglo-Bangla Government English School, Guwahati, Assam. He went on to secondary school for a year at Rangamati Missionary School at Chittagong Hill Tracts, before switching to and graduating from Louhajong A.T Institute in Dhaka Bikrampur.

He then enrolled in Jagannath University in 1954. After completion of senior secondary school in 1956, he studied at the same college in pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts in Commerce (General). Hamidullah simultaneously enrolled in the four years Honours program at Dhaka Textile College at Tejgaon. Hamidullah Khan entered the Pakistan Air Force Academy in 1959 and reported to Risalpur in the 34th GD(P) as a flight cadet. He graduated in the GD (Admin) branch, later structured and organised as A&SD Branch in the BAF, and was subsequently assigned the security and intelligence specialisation in the Provost Marshall's office.

Air Force career

Hamidullah Khan joined the Pakistan Air Force in June 1962 and was commissioned as a pilot officer. He served in the Pakistan Air Force at bases in Lahore, Chaklala, Sargodha, Karachi, Peshawar, and finally Dhaka. In 1970, Flight Lieutenant Hamidullah was transferred to the Pakistan Eastern Zone as Assistant Provost Marshal and Director of Security for Tejgaon International Airport in Dhaka. He received a Battlefield Promotion to squadron leader in July 1971.

Bangladesh War of Independence

During the movement that ultimately lead to the Bangladesh War of Independence, Hamidullah was assigned as the Assistant Provost Marshal for the Pakistani Air Force Eastern Zone, Provost Marshal P ans S Unit 5, Dhaka. On 30 March Flight Lieutenant Hamidullah defected from the PAF, and he reported to the Bangladesh Provincial Government in Calcutta on April 14. He was posted as the Chief Bangladesh Representative at the Chakulia Guerilla Training Camp in Bihar.

Between 11 and 17 July 1971, he attended the Bangladesh Sector Commanders Conference and he was subsequently posted at the Teldhala, BDF Sector 11 Headquarters. Major Ziaur Rahman, then in command of the entire war effort in that sector, appointed Hamidullah as commander sub-sector 1, stationed in Mankachar, with the additional responsibility as administrator of the Roumari area. Hamidullah would hold these positions between July and end of October 1971 during the war. As sub-sector commander, he commanded over 800 troops and fought 22 major encounters. In recognition of his efforts, Flight Lieutenant Hamidullah received a battlefield promotion to Squadron Leader by Bangladesh Forces Commander in Chief Colonel M.A.G Osmani. His largest and most significant guerrilla operation would be the Chilmari expedition, on 16 and 17 October, during which Hamidullah led a crossing with 50 boats of the Ganges River by Kurigram. Squadron Leader M. Hamidullah Khan officially took command of BDF Sector 11 under authority of Direct Order Transfer of Command from the Emergency Action Message tele-wired from Bangladesh Government interim HQ at 8, Theatre Rd. Calcutta.

Post independence

After the war, Hamidullah was inducted into the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) and was appointed the first Provost Marshal of Bangladesh Air Force in April 1972. In 1973 Hamidullah received his final promotion to Wing Commander. While in the BAF, he served in the BAF headquarters, Intelligence and Security, and Air Education and Training fields. He also held the positions of Chief of Air Force Security (Provost Marshal), Director of Air Intelligence and Director of Recruiting, and Ground Defense Commander. He was also the Administration Branch Commanding Officer at BAF Base Bashar. Hamidullah officially retired from Bangladesh Air Force on 10 January 1979.

Hamidullah received a service award for gallantry on 15th December 1973. M. Hamidullah Khan wrote a three volume book 71' Northern Front (in Bangla: Ekature Uttor Ronangon) of his and other guerrilla fighters' accounts of the War of Independence, squarely concentrating on the Central Sector BDF Sector 11. Hamidullah's second book was a two-volume set about the Independence War. He also authored three more books and made two documentaries on the events surrounding the war and post-independence. The Bangladesh Government named Road 23 in the town of Banani, Dhaka after him. Along with those of 55 other fighters, his biography was included in a CD released by the Bangladesh government.

Political career

In September 1978, Hamidullah joined the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). During the BNP's first council in 1978, Hamidullah Khan was appointed the first Executive Secretary of the Central Executive Committee, later re-designated as Office Secretary. He remained in that post until 1989. In the party's second national council he was made Secretary of the BNP International Affairs Committee. In the fifth national council, Hamidullah was appointed Secretary of the Central Committee of the BNP National Executive Committee on Independence War and Veterans Affairs, which he held until his death.

He was nominated four times and elected thrice in Jatiyo Sangshad elections. These elections included:

• Bangladesh General Election, 1979: Constituency Dhaka-5 ( Louhajong and Sreenagar Upazila's); service duration 2 years 11 months (2 February 1979 – 24 March 1982)
• Bangladesh General Election, 1991: Constituency Munshigonj-2 ( Louhajong and Sirajdikhan Upazila's); service duration 4 years 9 months (27 February 1991 – 24 December 1995)
• Bangladesh General Election, 1996 (February) Constituency Munshigonj-2 ( Louhajong and Sirajdikhan Upazila's); service duration 18 days (12 March 1996 – 30 March 1996)
• Bangladesh General Election 2008: Constituency Dhaka-15 ( Mirpur Model Town and Kafrul Town) – Nominated

He re-emerged in 2007 after an absence from public life and began speaking on Bangladesh social, political, and economic matters. BNP party chief and former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia recalled him to active politics and nominated him for the electoral seat of Dhaka-15 (Mirpur and Kafrul) during the 9th Parliamentary General Elections, held on 29 December 2008. Hamidullah served in different positions in the Bangladesh government throughout his active life. He served as chairman of the Bangladesh Postgraduate Medical Research Centre between 1979 and 1982, chairman of the Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust from 1993 to 1996, and chairman of the Janata Bank between 1995 and 1996.

Death

Upon his death, Muhammad Hamidullah Khan was given a state funeral with a military guard of honour. Hamidullah Khan is survived by his spouse Rabeya Sulatna Khan and two sons, Murad Hamid Khan (Sonny) and Tariq Hamid Khan (Konny).