24th Infantry Division | |
---|---|
Active | 1976-present |
Country | Bangladesh |
Branch | Bangladesh Army |
Type | Infantry |
Size | Division (military) |
Garrison/HQ | Chittagong Cantonment |
Commanders | |
Current commander | Major General Mir Mushfiqur Rahman |
Notable commanders | Major General Atiqur Rahman Major General Abul Manzoor Major General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan Major General Saiful Abedin |
24th Infantry Division is a formation of the Bangladesh Army, headquartered in Chittagong Cantonment, Chittagong District. It is the largest division of the Bangladesh Army. [1]
In 1972, five brigades of Bangladesh Army were formed. Among them, 65th Infantry Brigade was headquartered in Chittagong. Later in 1976, the brigade was upgraded as the 24th Infantry Division and Maj. Gen. Atiqur Rahman was its first commander.[ citation needed ]
On 3 April 2016, Major General Shafiqur Rahman was replaced as general officer commanding (GOC) by Major general Jahangir Kabir Talukder. [2]
The division covers the Chittagong Hill Tracts. 24th Infantry Division is the largest infantry division that comprises 33% of the personnel of the Bangladesh Army. [3]
Post-independence, Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party emerged as one of the main opponents of the new Awami League-government. In April 1973, the Purba Banglar Jatiya Mukti Front, a coalition of 11 groups, was formed. After the formation of the front, the party initiated a campaign of armed struggle against the Bangladeshi state. The party was active in the Dhaka, Barisal, Faridpur, Mymensingh, Tangail, Chittagong, Sylhet and Comilla districts. It carried out assassinations of Awami League cadres and attacks on police stations throughout the country. [4] [5]
At the request of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, then 65th Infantry Brigade commander Brig. (later Maj. Gen.) Dastgir took over counter-insurgency operations in his command area and led Bangladesh's first successful combined army, navy, air force military operation called Operation Dragon Drive in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region against Shorbohara separatist insurgents in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.[ citation needed ]
On 29 May 1981, Zia went on tour to Chittagong to help resolve an intra-party political dispute in the regional BNP. Zia and his entourage stayed overnight at the Chittagong Circuit House in Chittagong Cantonment. In the early hours of the morning of 30 May, he was assassinated by a group of army officers led by GOC of 24th Infantry Division Major General Abul Manzoor. Also killed were six of his bodyguards and two aides. [6]
Manzoor was killed shortly after while being captured. [7] 18 officers were brought before a military tribunal, 13 were sentenced to death whilst 5 were given varying prison sentences a hasty trial in a military court. [8]
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Conflict was the political conflict and armed struggle between the Government of Bangladesh by the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (United People's Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts) and its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini over the issue of autonomy and the rights of the tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The Shanti Bahini launched an insurgency against government forces in 1977. 24th Infantry Division of Bangladesh Army took part in this counter-insurgency operation. The conflict continued for twenty years until the government and the PCJSS signed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord in 1997. [9] [10] In February 1998, Shantu Larma formally disbanded the Shanti Bahini. Almost 1,500 fighters surrendered their weapons. [11] According to official figure more than 8,500 rebels, soldiers and civilians have been killed during two decades of insurgency. The number of civilians killed is estimated at 2,500. [12]
The Bangladesh Armed Forces are the military forces of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. They consist of the three uniformed military services: the Bangladesh Army, the Bangladesh Navy, and the Bangladesh Air Force. The Armed Forces are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of Bangladesh, and are directly administered by the Armed Forces Division of the Prime Minister's Office. The President of Bangladesh serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. Bangladesh has the third-largest defence budget in South Asia. The Bangladeshi military is the 37th strongest in the world and the third most powerful military force in South Asia. Border Guard Bangladesh and Bangladesh Coast Guard are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs during peacetime, but during wartime, they fall under the command of the Bangladesh Army and the Bangladesh Navy, respectively.
The Shanti Bahini was the armed wing of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti in Bangladesh. It is considered an insurgent group in Bangladesh. The Shanti Bahini was made out of mostly members from the Chakma tribe.
The Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti is a left wing political party formed to represent the people and indigenous tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. Since its inception in 1972, the PCJSS has fought for autonomy and the recognition of the ethnic identity and rights of the indigenous tribes of the Hill Tracts. Its military arm, the Shanti Bahini was used to fight government forces and Bengali settlers in the Hill Tracts. A peace accord was signed in 1997 led to the disarmament of the Shanti Bahini and enabled the PCJSS to return to mainstream politics.
The Bangladesh Army is the land warfare branch, and the largest component of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The primary mission of the Army is to defend the land of Bangladesh from any external attack. Control of personnel and operations is administered by the Army Headquarters, Dhaka Cantonment. The Bangladesh Army is also constitutionally obligated to assist the government, during times of domestic national emergency e.g. the army helps people during any natural calamity. This additional role is commonly referred to as "aid to civil administration" or, using the Latin form, "Protectio, Transparentia, Reintegratio", in others words, "Protect and Serve".
Bangladesh has undergone several changes of government since the Proclamation of Independence in 1971. Between the first recorded uprising in August 1975 and the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles revolt, Bangladesh has been through as many as 29 military coups.
Abdur Rahman Biswas was a Bangladeshi politician. He was the President of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996. Biswas represented Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly, prior to the independence of Bangladesh.
The Proletarian Party of East Bengal also known as Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, commonly referred to as Sarbahara, and abbreviated as PBSP, is an outlawed Marxist-Leninist-Maoist communist political party in Bangladesh, which aims to overthrow the Bangladeshi state by starting a new democratic revolution through protracted people's war. It was formed by Siraj Sikder on 3 June 1971, in the Barisal district amidst the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh.
Muhammed Abul ManzurBU was a Bangladeshi military officer who commanded the Bangladesh Forces operations in Sector 8 during the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971. He was allegedly involved in the assassination of the then-president of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman. The erstwhile chief of army staff and alleged mastermind of Rahman's assassination, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, had put a standing shoot-to-kill order on Manzur's life—he was killed shortly after being captured at the border. About a year later, Ershad initiated a bloodless coup d'état and took over the central government, holding power until 1990.
Bangladesh's military history is intertwined with the history of a larger region, including present-day India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. The country was historically part of Bengal – a major power in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Manabendra Narayan Larma was a Bangladeshi politician and member of parliament. A leading proponent of the rights of the people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, he was the founding leader of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti and its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was a peace agreement signed between the Government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, the political organisation that controlled the Shanti Bahini militia on 2 December 1997. The accord allowed for the recognition of the rights of the peoples and tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region and ended the decades-long insurgency between the Shanti Bahini and government forces.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board is a government agency established in 1978 by the then President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman in response to the rise of the Shanti Bahini insurgency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Eastern Bangladesh. As of 2021, Supradip Chakma is the chairman of this development board.
The insurgency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, also known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict, refers to a political and armed conflict that occurred in Bangladesh in two phases:
On 25 March 1971, the Pakistani military, supported by paramilitary units, launched the military operation to pacify the insurgent-held areas of East Pakistan, which led to a prolonged conflict with the Bengali Mukti Bahini. Although conventional in nature during March–May 1971, it soon turned into a guerrilla insurgency from June of that year. Indian Army had not directly supported the Bengali resistance but had launched Operation Jackpot to support the insurgency from May 1971.
The Eastern Command of the Pakistan Army was a corps-sized military formation headed by a lieutenant-general, who was designated the Commander Eastern Command. After the partition of India by United Kingdom, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was divided into two territories separated by 1,000 miles (1,600 km). Most of the assets of the Pakistan armed forces were stationed in West Pakistan; the role of the Pakistan armed forces in East Pakistan was to hold that part of the country until the Pakistani forces defeated India in the west. The Pakistan Army created the Eastern Command, with one commander in the rank of Lieutenant General responsible for the command. The armed forces, had drawn up a plan to defend Dhaka by concentrating all their forces along the Dhaka Bowl.
Mizanur Rahman Shamim is a Lieutenant General in the Bangladesh Army and incumbent Chief of General Staff (CGS) at army headquarters. Prior to join CGS, he was the Principal Staff Officer (PSO) of the, Armed Forces Division. He had served as General Officer commanding (GOC) of the 9th Infantry Division and Area Commander of the Savar Area.
Mohammad Ziauddin, BU is a retired Bangladeshi military officer, who was the Commanding Officer of the 1st East Bengal Regiment during the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was awarded the Bir Uttom, the country's second highest gallantry award for his outstanding bravery in the Liberation War. His certificate number was 22.
A.K.M Nazmul Hasan is a major general in the Bangladesh Army and Commandant of East Bengal Regimental Centre. Prior to that, he served as the Director General of the Special Security Force. Before that, he was the 24th Director General of the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB). He also served as the Director General of the Bangladesh Ansar and the Village Defence Party. He was General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 11th Infantry Division and Area Commander, Bogura Area.
Operation Dabanal, translation Operation Wildfire, was a counterinsurgency operation carried out by Bangladesh Army in the Chittagong Hill Tracts from 1977 to 1997. During the operation an estimated 30 to 80 security personnel were deployed to the region.
President Ziaur Rahman, only 45, lay dead with two aides and six bodyguards in a government rest house in Chittagong. All were reportedly shot by an assassination squad, led by [Major General] Manjur, in the early morning hours Saturday