Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury

Lieutenant General Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury (হাসান মশহুদ চৌধূরী) (born 1948) was Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh from 16 June 2002 to 15 June 2005. He was the last officer in this position to have been first commissioned by the Pakistani Army, before the Liberation War of 1971.

After Chowdhury retired from the Army, in October 2006 he was appointed as an adviser of the interim caretaker government. After a series of disagreements with the Chief adviser and President Iajuddin Ahmed, Chowdhury and three other advisers, Akbar Ali Khan, C M Shafi Sami and Sultana Kamal, resigned in protest. Chiefly they opposed Ahmed's deployment of the army to establish curfews and other measures during social unrest.

In 2007, General Mashhud Chowdhury was appointed by the caretaker government (CTG) as chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission. He served nearly two years until April 2009.

Early life and education
Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury spent his childhood in Sylhet. His student life started in a patshala in Kanishail village of Sylhet. As his father had work that reassigned him to different locations, Chowdhury moved with his father and family to Barisal. He studied at Barisal Zilla School for five years.

After passing SSC in 1964, he was admitted to Notre Dame College and moved to Dhaka. In 1966 he transferred to the Economics Department of the University of Dhaka. One year later he decided to join the army.

Military career
The Army sent Chowdhury to the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul in West Pakistan. Two years later he was commissioned into the Frontier Force Regiment, which was mainly formed with Pathan soldiers. He worked in Karachi, Lahore, Azad Kashmir and Sindh. He went to Quetta a few times for training.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, Chowdhury was interned by the Pakistanis as an enemy officer because of his birth and rearing in Eastern Pakistan. He recalled later, "I was interned in a remote place surrounded by mountains. We were treated as prisoners of war. It was clear to me that we would be used to exchange for Pakistani prisoners of war in India." He was held in Pakistan from 1972 to 1974 and described the period as "miserable and wastage of time and working ability."

Marriage and family
After several years of serving with the Bangladesh Army, he married in 1977.

Military career
In January 1974, Chowdhury was finally released and returned to Independent Bangladesh, where he joined the Bangladesh Army. Later he joined the 17th East Bengal Regiment. In 1975 he became a brigade major of the 46 Infantry Brigade Headquarters at Dhaka. Later he returned to 17th East Bengal Regiment as a captain. In 1977 he was assigned to Ruma of Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Later that year, he was assigned to Dhaka to join the 9th Infantry Division. He received advanced training at the Defence Services Command and Staff College, Mirpur. For two years, he served as an instructor there, before being assigned to Alikadam of Chittagong Hill Tracts. From there he went to Bangladesh Military Academy at Bhatiari and later returned to Dhaka.

After some time he was promoted into brigade commander at Savar. At the time of the Gulf War in 1990, he commanded a Bangladesh Military contingent that took part in the war. He and his forces were stationed for nine months in different places across Saudi Arabia. He described his experience as "tough but professionally pleasing."

After returning from the war, Chowdhury was sponsored for training at the Army War College in the United States. He also was given the change to complete his master's in public administration at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. As part of the training, he toured other military forces in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico.

Upon his return, he was commissioned as a Brigade Commander at Khagrachhari, Chittagong Hill Tracts. After that he was posted at Defence Services Command and Staff College at Mirpur. One year later he was sent to Bogra as General Officer Commanding of the 11 Infantry Division after a turmoil inside the army in 1996.

After one year, he was appointed as Chief of General Staff and then as Commandant of the National Defence College. He was appointed as a High Commissioner of Bangladesh in the United Arab Emirates, where he helped Bangladeshi immigrants.

In June 2002, he was appointed Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, the highest position for an army officer. After serving three years, Chowdhury was asked to extend his term, but he refused. He said, "... three years was sufficient to prove the credibility of an army chief. Secondly those who are new were ready and interested for this responsibility.". He recommended Moeen to succeed him, passing over nine other senior army officers.

General Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury is the last man to serve as Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh Army who had been first commissioned in the Pakistan Army before the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Adviser of the caretaker government
At the start of October 2006, as the confusion about chief justice K.M. Hasan started, he expressed his inability. Though he finally agreed to take the duty after the situation had changed. At the middle of 2006, he was invited to become an adviser to the interim Caretaker Government. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami proposed his name. The Awami League (AL) nominated Sultana Kamal and Sheikh Hasina was consulted on C. M. Shafi Sami, as part of the AL quota.

Working with the other advisers, Chowdhury was concerned by what he perceived as lack of leadership and unwillingness to take the right decision at the right time. When the package proposal of the advisers was accepted by the opposite political parties, he was surprised to see the ignorance of the chief adviser and the President Iajuddin Ahmed about it. There was conspiracy where DGFI was involved what he realised later that Moeen was doing everything staying behind to capture country's presidency. Even before the package proposal started, Chowdhury met directly with the opposing political parties. He thought negotiation to overcome the problem may not be possible. So he proposed reassigning the advisers to make the politicians responsible for jeopardizing the condition.

The chief adviser, Iajuddin Ahmed, single-handedly deployed the army. Chowdhury had told him, "People of Bangladesh can not be controlled by the army. It was not possible in 1971, not in 1990 and there is no legitimate way to succeed in 2006". After that meeting, he decided to resign if the army was to be used.

When Chowdhury learned of its deployment, he and three other advisers immediately resigned, including Akbar Ali Khan, CM Shafi Sami and Sultana Kamal. Responding to a question about his position, Chowdhury said that he believed the regular agencies of the government were sufficient to maintain law and order. He felt the Army could be used for special needs, but not too early in an election cycle. Chowdhury did not assume all responsibility for the political crisis, saying other parties also contributed to it.

As chairman of Anti-Corruption Commission
On February 22, 2007 Hasan Masshud was appointed by the CTG as chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission. He said he would undertake a sustained battle against corruption, and numerous people were prosecuted for graft.

Hasan Masshud had to resign on 2 April 2009 after the Awami League ascended to rule. Without his knowledge, the Moeen group had filed cases at night; they arrested former prime ministers and leaders of the two major parties, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, of the BNP and Awami League, respectively. Awami League MP's, led by Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, strongly criticized Masshud in the parliament, and he resigned. BNP MPs, led by Moudud Ahmed, supported the Awami position.