Muhammad Hamidullah Khan

Wing Commander (Retd.) M. Hamidullah Khan (এম হামিদুল্লাহ খান) (September 11, 1938 – December 30, 2011) was the Sector Commander of BDF Sector 11 Bangladesh Forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971.

An Air Force officer by career, he successfully led 22,800 troops under his command of Sector 11 (Nov. 2nd 1971 to Feb. 14 1972). While Bangladesh Chief Representative at Chakulia Guerilla Training Camp, Bihar, he attended the Bangladesh Sector Commanders Conference of 1971 as one of the principal participants during the creation of the Bangladesh Forces. He commanded Sector 11 and its largest Sub-Sector 1, at Mankachar under the leadership of C-in-C General M.A.G. Osmani and received a Bangladesh government award for gallantry. As subsector commander, Squadron Leader Hamidullah planned, commanded and fought the Chilmari ( চিলমারী ) Expedition/Raid at Chilmari Upazila, crossing the mighty Ganges river by Kurigram. Popularly known as Hamidullah, he served in the Bangladesh Air Force until his early retirement from service in early 1979. The Bangladesh Government named Road 23 in the town of Banani in Dhaka after him. Along with 55 other fighters, his biography was included in a CD released by the Bangladesh government. Until Dec 30th 2011 he was the Executive Secretary of the Central Committee of the BNP National Executive Committee on Liberation War and Veterans Affairs. Hamidullah Khan reorganised and gave life anew to a party unit of BNP for the post-independence generation of Bangladesh called Jatiotabadi Muktijuddher Projonmo. Khan was nominated four times and elected thrice as Member of Parliament in the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad. He was the 36th Bangladesh Representative in 1979-80 to the United Nations General Assembly and plenary session on UN Resolutions 242 and 439 on the question of Palestine and Namibia respectively. The government of Bangladesh appointed him as Special Envoy to the UN in granting recognition to the State of Palestine. He wrote books on the history of the creation of the Bangladesh Forces and the events leading to it, BDF Sector 11 and its war operations including surrounding complexities, related events and consequences. His second book is a two-volume set about the Bangladesh Liberation War along with two documentaries. Upon his death, Muhammad Hamidullah Khan was given a state funeral with a military guard of honor.

Early life
M. Hamidullah Khan was born to a political family in Medini Mondal village, Louhajong Ward, in the town of Bikrampur, (known to be the oldest capital of Bengal before Bhawal and Sonargaon) southern Dhaka, in then Bengal Province of the colonial British Empire in South Asia. He is the second of the nine children (one deceased 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 Forest Department and later Assam Forest Department in South Asia. Hamidullah Khan's childhood was divided between living in the rural town of Bikrampur, Dhaka, and the city proper. After primary school at Silver Jubilee Anglo-Bengali Government English School, Guwahati, Assam, and secondary school at Louhajong A.T Institute, he moved out with his parents and settled in Mughaltully Ward of Dhaka located by the Buriganga River in 1954. With the departure of the British and official creation of Pakistan and India in 1947, Hamidullah Khan's father opted for service with the government of India rather than Pakistan. Though the family remained in Dhaka (East Pakistan), Dabiruddin Khan later joined them after retirement in 1957. Hamidullah spent his adolescent years in southern Dhaka until he joined the Pakistan Air Force. He married Rabeya Sultana Khan on August 1, 1965, at Dhaka, the third daughter of Mokbul Hossain Siddiqi, then Commissioner (East Pakistan) of Taxes and Excise. After Bangladesh became independent in 1971, Hamidullah continued service with the Bangladesh Air Force, and remaining family members permanently resettled in "Bikrampur House", Dhaka Cantonment. Their second son Ziad Hamid Khan (Ronny) drowned while boating when a small boat capsized. Hamidullah Khan is survived by two sons, Murad Hamid Khan (Sonny) and Tariq Hamid Khan (Konny).

Education
Hamidullah spent his adolescence in Dhaka and enrolled in the Jagannath College there in 1954. After completion of senior secondary school in 1956, he studied at the same college for the Bachelor of Arts in Commerce (General). In the year 1959, while preparations were finalised to study law, he accepted an appointment instead as a candidate in the Pakistan Air Force Academy, and reported to Risalpur in the 34th GD(P)as a flight cadet.

Early career
Pakistan Air Force - M. Hamidullah Khan was Commissioned a Pilot Officer in June 1962 in Administration and Special Duties (Br.). He served in the Pakistan Air Force at bases in Lahore, Chaklala, Sargodha, Karachi, Peshawar, and finally Dhaka, then East Pakistan. In late autumn of 1970, his last assignment in the PAF, Flight Lieutenant Hamidullah was transferred to Pakistan Eastern Zone as Assistant Provost Marshal and Commanding Officer No 5. P and S Unit (Independent) with additional responsibility as Director of Security, Tejgaon International Airport, Dhaka. He was selected for examination and board for promotion to Squadron Leader in July 1970. In August, during the Bangladesh war of independence, Hamidullah Khan received a Battlefield Promotion to Squadron Leader by order of the BDF C-in-C General M.A.G. Osmani, while serving as Sub-Sector Commander, Sub-Sector 1 at Mankachar of BDF Sector 11.

Bangladesh Liberation War (1971)

 * Reporting to Bangladesh Interim Government HQ 8 Theatre Rd, Calcutta.
 * Induction Bangladesh Forces
 * Colonel Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani, C-in-C Bangladesh Forces
 * Chakulia Guerilla Training Camp
 * Major Ziaur Rahman
 * Creation and Establishment of Sector 11 and Z - Force at Teldhala
 * No.1 Sub Sector Commander (Mankarchar)
 * Bangladesh Sector Commanders Conference 1971
 * Guerilla Expeditions I -
 * Landings, Assaults, Ambushes and Raids
 * Sub-Sector Commander Captain Abu Taher, later Major, Mahendraganj-Sector HQ
 * Banga Bir General M.A.G. Osmani - Inspection of Mankarchar and Secured Zones
 * Sector Commander
 * Guerilla Expeditions II -
 * Landings, Assaults, Ambushes and Raids
 * - Chilmari Expedition
 * Arrived at Dhaka 14th Dec
 * Bangladesh Sector Commanders Conference 1972 -
 * Gallantry Award Committee
 * Sector Dissolvement
 * Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Bangladesh government
Ministry of Defence - Bangladesh Air Force: In 1973 Squadron Leader M. Hamidullah khan received his final promotion to Wing Commander. In September 1978, while in LPR, he joined the Bangladesh Nationalist Party answering the call to public service from his war colleague Ziaur Rahman. Hamiullah officially retired from Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) on January 10, 1979. While in BAF Directorates served in were BAF, Headquarters, Dhaka Cantonment; Intelligence and Security; Air Education and Training. He also held the position of Chief of Air Force Security(Provost Marshall), Director Air Intelligence and also Director Recruiting, Air HQ. He was Officer Commanding Administration Branch at BAF Base Bashar.
 * Jatiyo Sangsad (National Assembly) - Member of Parliament

After retiring from military service he continued in public service in the legislative branch of Bangladesh government. He was elected Member of Parliament for
 * Dhaka - 5 (Bikrampur) in the Second Parliament: 2 years 11 months (2 April 1979 – 24 March 1982)
 * Munshigonj - 2 (Louhajong-Shiraj di Khan) Fifth Parliament: 4 years 9 months (5 March 1991 – 24 December 1995)
 * Munshigonj - 2 (Louhajong-Shiraj di Khan) Sixth Parliament: 12 days (19 March 1996 – 30 March 1996)
 * Dhaka - 15 (Mirpur-Kafrul) Nominated - Ninth Parliamentary Elections: 29 December 2008 (0 Days)

He represented Bangladesh during the 36th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. He served in different positions in Bangladesh government throughout his active life. Hamidullah served as chairman of Bangladesh Post Graduate Medical Research Centre (1979–1982), Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust (1993–1996), Janata Bank (1995–1996). He re-emerged from long absence from parliamentary politics and received nomination for the electoral seat of Dhaka-15 (Mirpur and Kafrul) for the 9th Parliamentary General Elections held on Dec 29th 2008.

Career service highlights

 * India-Pakistan Conflict 1965
 * Independence War Bangladesh 1971
 * Chakulia Guerilla Training Camp - Chief Bangla Desh Government Representative and Training Coordinator
 * Participant at the Sector Commanders Conference
 * BDF Sector 11 - Mankarchar Sub-Sector Commander
 * BDF Sector 11 - Commander
 * 1974 DGFI Chair - Screening and Interrogation Committee for Civil and Military Returnee Officers
 * 1975 Soldier Uprising Crisis
 * 1977 JAL Flight 472