Mohammad Wahidul Haque | |
---|---|
Allegiance | Bangladesh Pakistan (Before 1971) |
Service | Bangladesh Army Pakistan Army |
Years of service | 1966-1977 |
Rank | Colonel |
Unit | Armoured Corps |
Commands |
|
Battles / wars | Bangladesh Liberation War |
Police career | |
Unit | Chittagong Metropolitan Police |
Allegiance | Bangladesh |
Branch | Bangladesh Police |
Service years | 1978–2005 |
Status | Retired |
Rank | Additional Inspector General |
Awards | BPM (bar) |
Mohammad Wahidul Haque is former Army and police officer. He is the former Director General of National Security Intelligence, the main civilian intelligence agency of Bangladesh. [1]
Haque received commission in the Pakistan Army in 1966. [2] In 1971, Haque was an officer, Captain, of Pakistan Army stationed in Rangpur Cantonment, East Pakistan. He was the adjutant of the 29th Cavalry Regiment. After the start of Bangladesh Liberation war in March 1971, his unit launched a crackdown on protests killing many. He was transferred to West Pakistan. After the Independence of Bangladesh in 1971, he returned to Bangladesh and joined Bangladesh Army in 1973. He was sent to forced retirement from the Army. [3]
In October 1978, Haque joined Bangladesh Police with the rank of Assistant Superintendent. In 1988, he was appointed the Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police. In 1991, he was appointed Director of National Security Intelligence. In 1996 he became the acting Director General of National Security Intelligence. He served in that capacity till 1997 when he was made the Director General of Department of Immigration and Passports. He appointment was re-confirmed and extended in 2002. In October 2005, he retired from active duty with the rank of additional inspector general of police. [3]
On 24 April 2018, Haque was arrested from his residence in Baridhara DOHS over in the role in the Bangladesh Genocide during the Bangladesh Liberation war. [2] Investigation in the massacre of Bengali and Santal civilians by soldiers based in Rangpur cantonment began in 2016. On 16 October 2019, the International Crimes Tribunal ordered the beginning of his criminal trial for war crimes. [2] He pleaded not guilty to the charges. [4]
Haque was freed on bail in October 2024 after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government. [5]
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Operation Searchlight was a military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the operation on the basis of anti-Bihari violence carried out en masse by the Bengalis earlier that month. Ordered by the central government in West Pakistan, the original plans envisioned taking control of all of East Pakistan's major cities on 26 March, and then eliminating all Bengali opposition, whether political or military, within the following month.
Ghulam Azam was a Bangladeshi politician. He served as the Ameer of the political party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
Lt. Col. Abu Taher BU was a Bangladeshi military officer and war hero. He first served in the Pakistan Army, and later defected to the Bangladesh Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. He crossed into India around early August and reported to the Indian authorities. After a week screening at Dehradun, India, Taher reported to Kolkata, Bangladesh Provincial government at 8 Theatre Rd. He was ordered to report to Sector 11 of Mukti Bahini under command of Major Ziaur Rahman, he became the sector commander after him. He served in BDF from end of August to 2 November 1971. He was awarded the medal Bir Uttom for his gallantry in the liberation war. He was released from military service by Indian military medical board in Pune, India after his leg was amputated. After independence, he was inducted into the Bangladesh Army for administrative retirement with legacy rank of lieutenant colonel. After settling in with family, the government of Bangladesh appointed him with employment at Kumilla. Later Taher turned into a political activist and leader of the left-wing Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal.
Delwar Hossain Sayeedi was a Bangladeshi Islamist leader, politician, public speaker, and convicted war criminal, who served as a Member of Parliament representing the Pirojpur-1 constituency from 1996 to 2006.
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The Razakar was an East Pakistani paramilitary force organised by General Tikka Khan in then East Pakistan.
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Shafaat Jamil, Bir Bikrom was a Bangladesh Army colonel. He was the commanding officer of the 3rd East Bengal Regiment of Z Force Brigade in Sector 11 of Bangladesh Forces during the War of Bangladesh Independence in 1971. He was among the first Bengali officers who rebelled against the Pakistani Army in the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh and later fought in 11 sector and in Sylhet sector.
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The National Security Intelligence, commonly known as the NSI, is the principal civilian intelligence agency of Bangladesh. The NSI's headquarters is in Segunbagicha, Dhaka. The NSI is the leading body of the Government of Bangladesh in the field of internal security, counter terrorism, counter intelligence and foreign intelligence. NSI is the largest among the intelligence agencies in Bangladesh, the others being the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), SB, CID, PBI and intelligence directorates of armed and paramilitary forces. The agency stands under the direct authority of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
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The International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh) (ICT of Bangladesh) is a domestic war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh set up in 2009 to investigate and prosecute suspects for the genocide committed in 1971 by the Pakistan Army and their local collaborators Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams during the Bangladesh Liberation War. During the 2008 general election, the Awami League (AL) pledged to try war criminals. The government set up the tribunal after the Awami League won the general election in December 2008 with a more than two-thirds majority in parliament.
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