Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan SBP, KLM | |
|---|---|
| Bhuiyan in 2013 | |
| 14th Chief of Army Staff | |
| In office 25 June 2012 –25 June 2015 | |
| President | Zillur Rahman Abdul Hamid |
| Prime Minister | Sheikh Hasina |
| Preceded by | Abdul Mubeen |
| Succeeded by | Belal Shafiul Haque |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 June 1957 Comilla,East Pakistan,Pakistan |
| Spouse | Tahmina Yasmin [1] |
| Awards | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch/service | |
| Years of service | 1976 –2015 |
| Rank | |
| Unit | East Bengal Regiment |
| Commands |
|
| Battles/wars | |
Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan [a] [b] (born 2 June 1957) is a retired Bangladeshi four star general who served as the 14th chief of army staff of the Bangladesh Army from 25 June 2012 to 25 June 2015. Bhuiyan was the chief of general staff and quartermaster general prior his staff appointments and has participated in Operation Desert Storm where he received the Liberation of Kuwait Medal. [2] [3] [4]
Bhuiyan was born in a Bengali Muslim family in Comilla on 2 June 1957. He finished elementary school from Comilla Zilla School and high school from Faujdarhat Cadet College. Bhuiyan enlisted to Bangladesh Military Academy then at Cumilla Cantonment on 1975. He was commissioned with 3rd short course along with his colleague and predecessor general Abdul Mubeen in East Bengal Regiment on 19 March 1976. He is a graduate of Defence Services Command and Staff College and United States Army Command and General Staff College. Bhuiyan attended at the Defence Institute of International Legal Studies for peacekeeping at Naval War College, Newport, United States. [1] [5]
Bhuiyan served during the Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict where he was adjutant of 2nd East Bengal Regiment and also company commander Delta for 15th East Bengal Regiment. [6] As major he served as second in command of 11th East Bengal Regiment, platoon commander at Bangladesh Military Academy and deputy adjutant and quartermaster for 72nd Infantry Brigade at Rangpur Cantonment. Bhuiyan was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 1992 and served as commanding officer of 11th East Bengal Regiment. He returned to Bangladesh Military academy and served as battalion commander.
In 1995, Bhuiyan was upgraded to colonel and was designated as one of the instructors for the Defence Services Command and Staff College. Bhuiyan later served as colonel staff of 11th Infantry Division under major general Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury and proxy deputy military secretary at army headquarters. He was promoted to brigadier general on 2000 and posted as commander of 105th Infantry Brigade at Jessore Cantonment. Bhuiyan later served as commandant of School of Infantry and Tactics till 2003.
In 2003, Bhuiyan was promoted to major general and was appointed as general officer commanding of 19th Infantry Division and then the 24th Infantry Division. [7] He was then designated as Chief of the General Staff which he served till 2007 during 2006–2008 Bangladesh political crisis. Due to differences with General Mooen U Ahmed, he was removed as CGS and transferred to the Defence Services Command and Staff College as its Commandant. [8] [7] In 2009, he was appointed general officer commanding of 9th Infantry Division. He was also the chairman of Bangladesh Diesel Plant Limited. Bhuiyan was ameliorated to lieutenant general on May 2010 and returned to army headquarters as quartermaster general. [9] [10] [11]
Bhuiyan served United Nations peacekeeping during the Gulf War in 1991 where he was part of first Bangladesh battalion Bravo company that countered against the Iraqi Armed Forces on Kuwait City. Bhuiyan was awarded the Kuwait Liberation Medal for his distinguished actions. Bhuiyan also served as commander of 2nd Bangladesh Battalion (BANBAT-2) with UNAMSIL in Sierra Leone on 1998 to 1999. [12]
Bhuiyan was promoted to general on 25 June 2012 and was appointed of chief of army staff succeeding general Abdul Mubeen [13] [14]
He invited Indian army chief general Bikram Singh in 2012's October to visit Bangladesh. [15] In November 2012, he held a reception for veterans of Bangladesh Liberation War. [16] In 2013, he raised the flags of two infantry battalions, the 32nd and 33rd Bangladesh Infantry Regiment in Jalalabad Cantonment. [17] Bhuiyan furthermore hosted commander of the United States Army Pacific command general Vincent Brooks in 2014 during the Pacific Armies Management Seminar and inaugurated Bangladesh Golf Academy in 2015 at the Army Golf Club. [18] [19]
Bhuiyan also took active measures to prevent extrajudicial killings and the culture of enforced disappearances. He resisted pressure from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to send more young army officers to the Rapid Action Battalion and other paramilitary forces used by the Awami League to suppress opposition. [20] His actions put him in direct dissension with major general Tarique Siddique, then military advisor to Prime Minister. Bhuiyan went to leave per retirement on 25 June 2015 and was succeeded by general Belal Shafiul Haque. [20] [21]
Bhuiyan established a power-supplying firm called Winnievision Power Ltd, which primarily invests in LNG-based power plants. [22]
Bhuiyan was among several retired military personnel, who expressed support for the student movement leading the 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement and the Non-cooperation movement and called on the Government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to "withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately". [23] [24] [25] On August 4, 2024, he organized a press conference where he and other retired army officers condemned the attacks on innocent protestors and subsequently called on the troops to return to the barracks. [26] In his speech, he said:
“When the attackers were forced to retreat in the face of the uprising, the Bangladeshi Armed Forces were deployed in the next phase. By using them as shields, sometimes at the forefront, sometimes behind, other forces are continuing to inflict violence, oppression, and torture on this mass movement. The patriotic armed forces should not bear the responsibility for such a situation. The Bangladeshi Armed Forces have never faced off against the people in the past, nor have they pointed guns at them.”
He also uploaded the color red on his Facebook profile in support of the movement on 31 July, 2025. [27] This prompted many other retired army officers to also upload red profile pictures. He stated later on, in his official social media page, that this act infuriated Hasina and she tried to force him to take it down. [28]
After the fall of Hasina, in response to a potential military conflict with India, Bhuiyan suggested that the French concept of levee en masse could be introduced. [29]
After the uprising against Hasina, he released a number of writings regarding his tenure in the Army. He highlighted how he tried to stop extrajudicial killings and moreover, called on Waker-uz-Zaman to remove army officers from RAB. [20] He stated in a social media post:
We have reached a point where urgent decisions regarding RAB are necessary. I would request the army chief to recommend to the government that this institution be disbanded. If that is not possible, then military officers should be permanently withdrawn from RAB. The current army chief has the independence to do this, which previous army chiefs did not have. For this reason, I urge him to complete what we were unable to do.
Bhuiyan also called for a formal inquiry to clarify unanswered questions about Sheikh Hasina’s escape and the army’s internal divisions during the crisis. [28] Furthermore, he warned against a "1/11-style" military intervention against the interim government of Professor Yunus.
| Nirapotta Padak Medal | Dabanal Padak Medal | Uttoron Padak Medal | Independence Day Award Medal |
| Flood Relief of 1988 Medal | Great Flood Relief of 1998 Medal | 1991 National Election Medal | 1996 National Election Medal |
| Silver Jubilee Medal (25 years of liberation) | Golden Jubilee Medal (50th anniversary of East Bengal Regiment) | 30 years service | 20 years service |
| 10 years service | Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait) | Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia) | UNIKOM Medal |
Bhuiyan is married to Tahmina Yasmin and the couple has two daughters and one son. [30]
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