Shakil Ahmed | |
---|---|
শাকিল আহমেদ | |
16th Director General of Bangladesh Rifles | |
In office 19 February 2006 – 25 February 2009 | |
President | |
Prime Minister |
|
Preceded by | Jahangir Alam Chowdhury |
Succeeded by | Mainul Islam |
Personal details | |
Born | Brahmanbaria, East Pakistan, Pakistan | 13 November 1957
Died | 25 February 2009 51) Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh | (aged
Manner of death | Assassination |
Nationality | Bangladeshi |
Spouse | Nazneen Shakil Shipu |
Children | 2 |
Alma mater | Military Training Bangladesh Military Academy, Chittagong Fort Sill, US Army |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Bangladesh |
Branch/service | Bangladesh Army Bangladesh Rifles |
Years of service | 1976–2009 |
Rank | Major General |
Unit | Regiment of Artillery |
Commands |
|
Battles/wars | Bangladesh Rifles revolt † |
Shakil Ahmed was a two star general of the Bangladesh Army and the head of Bangladesh Rifles (now Border Guard Bangladesh). He was commissioned in the Regiment of Artillery in 1976. He was a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College, Malaysia. A former Distinguished Allied Graduate from Field Artillery Officers Advanced Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma of the US Army, he had been a Directing Staff at Defence Services Command and Staff College in Mirpur, Dhaka. He was also an instructor at Artillery School and commanded a Artillery Brigade. He also served as a sector commander of the Bangladesh Rifles.
He has twice commanded field artillery regiments of which one was active service in counter insurgency role. He was an assistant defence attaché at Bangladesh High Commission in London; a staff officer at Prime Minister's Office, the Armed Forces Division; and a chief operations staff officer of the Field Artillery Brigade. Brigadier General Ahmed graduated from the National Defence College of Bangladesh in 2002 and was promoted to the rank of major general.
He was the chief (director general) of the national paramilitary force Bangladesh Rifles from 19 February 2006 to 25 February 2009. [1] General Ahmed started Operation Daal bhat, an operation to sell grocery items at low cost. For the first time in 19 years, the salaries of the soldiers were proposed to be increased by the chief. He was killed along with his wife in the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles revolt. [2]
The soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles had grievances over their salaries, living conditions and greater opportunities for deployment in UN Peacekeeping Missions. A day before the event on 25 February 2009, the disgruntled soldiers met General Ahmed and some of his commanders and urged them to raise their grievances with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at or after the function. Despite repeated attempts by General Ahmed to the civilian government to improve the living standard of the soldiers. General Ahmed has also raised the grievances on an interview in Channel I on 22 February. [3]
On 25 February, during the daily morning parade when Ahmed was taking the salutes, a soldier with a gun (stolen from the secured official stock) attempted to shoot the general. The soldier then hesitated, and due to nervousness fainted on the spot. General Ahmed asked his officers to get some water so that the soldier would wake up, without knowing what the soldiers were about to attempt. Meanwhile, some of the mutineers shouted out loud to wake up, and every soldier inside responded to the code which initiated the mutiny and left the Darbar hall ignoring commands from their senior officers to stay put. After a few minutes the soldiers started shooting at Darbar hall from outside the premises. General Ahmed asked for his private cellphone to call for help. [4] When the army officers inside Darbar hall sensed that reinforcements would not be arriving anytime soon despite repeated calls for help, the general's officers arranged a planned for an escape which was aimed at evacuating the general and other senior officers. However, Ahmed's response differed from the plan put forward by the subordinate officers. According to a number of surviving witnesses General Ahmed said I will not abandon my officers here, we must know why the soldiers are going for a mutiny despite everything we have done for them and as army officers stationed here it's our duty to prevent such a mutiny and those of you who fear death, remember it will come eventually and if we die today, remember that we die serving the nation. Finally the mutineers stopped shooting from outside and asked the officers inside to stand in a straight line and exit the Darbar hall, claiming that they would not be shot at. Ahmed ordered his men to walk behind him. He walked down the stage as asked by the soldiers and then suddenly four soldiers jumped out and fired four bullets at the officers, hitting the general in the process. Autopsy results showed that he was shot 6 times from close range. [5] According to some surviving officers, the general died on the spot. At the same time, some army officers tried to stop and resist the mutineers from shooting. The other officers escaped from the Darbar hall. Since the Darbar hall laws allowed no weapons to be carried inside, all the officers were unarmed, contributing to 57 army officer deaths. [6] The general's official bungalow in Pilkhana was ransacked, and his wife was also killed in the mutiny. [7]
Major General Khaled Mosharraf BU was a Bangladeshi army officer who is known for his role in the Bangladesh Liberation War and the subsequent coups in post-independence Bangladesh. After deposing Khondakar Mustaq Ahmad in the 3 November 1975 coup, Mosharraf was assassinated on 7 November 1975.
The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) is a paramilitary force responsible for the border security of Bangladesh. The BGB is entrusted with the responsibility to defend the 4,427 kilometres (2,751 mi) border of Bangladesh with India and Myanmar. It was formerly known as the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).
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.
Sahara Khatun was a Bangladesh Awami League politician and a cabinet minister. She was the incumbent Jatiyo Sangsad member representing the Dhaka-18 constituency, and was the presidium member of the party.
The Bangladesh Rifles revolt was a mutiny staged on 25 and 26 February 2009 in Dhaka by a section of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), a paramilitary force mainly tasked with guarding the borders of Bangladesh. The rebelling BDR soldiers took over the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana, killing BDR director-general Shakil Ahmed along with 56 other army officers and 17 civilians. They also fired on civilians, held many of their officers and their families hostage, vandalised property and looted valuables. By the second day, unrest had spread to 12 other towns and cities. The mutiny ended as the mutineers surrendered their arms and released the hostages after a series of staged discussions and negotiations with the government.
Pilkhana is a para-military cantonment in Dhaka. It is the headquarters of Border Guard Bangladesh, located to the south of Dhanmondi in Dhaka of Bangladesh.
2009 (MMIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2009th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 9th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 10th and last year of the 2000s decade.
Jahangir Alam Chowdhury is a retired Lieutenant General of the Bangladesh Army and former Director General of the Bangladesh Rifles during the conflicts with Border Security Force of India and skirmishes with Banga Sena group in the Bangladesh–India border. He has been serving as an adviser of the Interim Government of Bangladesh since 16 August 2024.
The 2011 Bangladesh coup d'état attempt was a coup planned from 11–12 January 2012, that was stopped by the Bangladesh Army in December 2011. This was announced at a press conference on 19 January 2012. The purpose of the coup was to establish Islamic law in Bangladesh. A number of officers including retired ones were arrested. The coup plotters argued that, they were nationalists trying to prevent Bangladesh from being turned into a puppet of India.
Major General Khaled Mosharraf was assassinated on November 7, 1975. He was a Bangladeshi military officer who was the Sector Commander of Bangladesh Forces Sector 2 and K-Force Brigade Commander during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, also known as Colonel Gulzar Ahmed, was the founding director of the intelligence wing and also served Additional Director General of Rapid Action Battalion. Until his death, he was a Colonel of the Bangladesh Army and also Sector Commander and Deputy Director General of Bangladesh Rifles.
Aziz Ahmed SBP (BAR) is a retired Bangladeshi four star general who was the Chief of Army Staff (CAS) of the Bangladesh Army from 25 June 2018 to 24 June 2021. He was succeeded by General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed on 24 June 2021.
Molla Fazle Akbar was a three-star rank Bangladesh Army officer. A Lieutenant General and the former Director General of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence. After retirement he served as the Chief advisor of Regent Airways, Bangladesh operating in domestic and international routes and the chairman of the board of directors of a financial institute, Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company Limited (BIFC) as well as Vice Chairman of the board of directors of a commercial Bank, Union Bank Limited.
Operation Dal-Bhat was an operation carried out by Bangladesh Rifles to provide grocery items to low income groups in Bangladesh. The operation was carried out during the Caretaker Government of Fakhruddin Ahmed. It was one of the main reasons behind the Bangladesh Rifles Mutiny of 2009. Colonel Mujibul Haque who was killed in the mutiny was in charge of the operation. The mutineers demanded their share of the profits from the operation.
Md Shawkat Imam was a colonel in the Bangladesh Army. He held numerous posts, including commander of UN peacekeeping operations. He was the sector commander of Bangladesh Rifles in Teknaf when he was killed in the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles Mutiny.
Mohammad Mainul Islam is a retired lieutenant general of the Bangladesh Army. He is the former Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces Division and Chief of General Staff (CGS) of the Bangladesh Army. He also served as Director General Bangladesh Rifles. He is currently the president of the Bangladesh Archery Federation.
The military coup in Bangladesh on August 15 of 1975 was launched by mid-ranking army officers in order to assassinate founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose administration post-independence grew corrupt and reportedly authoritarian until he established a one-party state-based government led by the socialist party Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League. Mujib, along with his resident family members, were killed during the coup but was survived by his two then-expat daughters, one of them being future prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The officers were led by Capt. Abdul Majed, Maj. Syed Faruque Rahman, Maj. Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Maj. Shariful Haque Dalim.
Muhammad Rafiqul Islam is a retired Bangladesh Army major general and former Director General of Border Guards Bangladesh.
Mojibul Hoque was a Bangladesh Army officer and commander of Operation Dal-Bhaat. He was killed in the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny in 2009.
Quadrat Elahi Rahman Shafique was a colonel in the Bangladesh Army who died in the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny.