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Mohabbat Jan Chowdhury

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mohabbat Jan Chowdhury
Member of Parliament for Faridpur-3
In office
1986–1988
Preceded bySirajul Islam Mridha
Succeeded byKamran Hossain Chowdhury
Personal details
PartyBangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League
Alma materPakistan Military Academy
Military service
Allegiance Bangladesh
 Pakistan (Before 1972)
Branch/service Pakistan Army
 Bangladesh Army
Bangladesh Rifles
Years of service
1955–1982
RankMajor General
UnitCorps of Signals
Commands

Mohabbat Jan Chowdhury (Bengali: মোহাব্বত জান চৌধুরী) is a former Bangladeshi Army major general, politician, and former home minister. He served as the director general of DGFI.[1][2]

Early life and family

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Mohabbat Jan Chowdhury was born into a Bengali Muslim family who were erstwhile Zamindars of Khanpur in Gopalganj. His father, Said Jan Chowdhury (d. 1984), was a civil servant and the son of Zamindar Rahmat Jan Chowdhury of Khanpur. His great-grandfather, Ahmad Jan Chowdhury, was one of the two sons of Azim Chowdhury, the Zamindar of Dulai in Sujanagar, Pabna District.[3] Through him, he was a descendant of Sharfuddin Sarkar, a nobleman who migrated to Dulai from Samarkand in Turkestan.[4] Mohabbat's mother belonged to the aristocratic zamindar family of Ulania, who traced their ancestry to Persia.[5]

Career

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Chowdhury trained at the Pakistan Military Academy and joined the Pakistan Army in September 1955 as a second lieutenant.[6] He was a coursemate of Ziaur Rahman.[7] He served in a number of positions, including in staff headquarters, military training schools, and Inter-Services Intelligence.[6] During the Bangladesh Liberation War, he was based in Pakistan and was repatriated to Bangladesh after the end of the war.[7]

After the independence of Bangladesh, he joined the Bangladesh Army. He was deputed to the Bangladesh Rifles, where he served as the deputy director general.[6] He was the director of the Army Signal Corps and then the director general of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence in 1977.[6][8] He said the results of the referendum of President Ziaur Rahman, in which he won 98.88 percent of the votes, were inflated by the administration, which he described as unnecessary.[9] He was the director general in 1981 during the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman.[10] After the assassination, Chowdhury and National Security Intelligence (NSI) Director General ASM Hakim played a double game, both supporting senior minister Shah Aziz, but also helping Hossain Mohammad Ershad's efforts to seize power.[11] He kept Major General Moinul Hossain Chowdhury, head of the investigation into the assassination, under surveillance.[2]

Chowdhury served as the chairman of the Bangladesh Krishi Bank and the Public Administration Training Centre.[6]

Chowdhury, after retirement, joined politics.[6] He was elected to parliament from Faridpur-3 from the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League in 1986.[12] He was the minister for home affairs, minister of relief and rehabilitation, minister of establishment, and minister of food in the cabinet of President Hussain Mohmmad Ershad.[6][13] He is the chairman of two businesses, Dynamic Communications and Taurus Knitwear.[6] He is the director of Micro Industries Development Assistance and Services (MIDAS).[6]

References

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  1. ↑ "Drama over enquiry". The Daily Star. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Trial targeted freedom fighter officers". The Daily Star. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  3. ↑ Husayn, Altab (13 August 2021). জমিদার আজিম চৌধুরী (২য় পর্ব). Amader Sujanagar (in Bengali).
  4. ↑ Pintu, Dr. Ashraf (22 January 2021). "জমিদার আজিম চৌধুরী জেগে থাকে স্মৃতিরা" [Zamindar Azim Chowdhury's memories stay awake]. Daily Naya Diganta (in Bengali).
  5. ↑ উলানিয়া জমিদার বাড়ি - বরিশাল জেলা তথ্য বাতায়ন. Barisal District (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Mahabbat Jan Chowdhury". MIDAS. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Clandestine killings in the Bangladesh Army Anwar Kabir - 1348.php-12-01". The Daily Observer. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  8. ↑ Khan, Q. M. Jalal (25 June 2021). President Ziaur Rahman: Legendary Leader of Bangladesh (in Arabic). Writers Republic LLC. ISBN 978-1-63728-574-9.
  9. ↑ Hashmi, Taj (22 April 2022). Fifty Years of Bangladesh, 1971-2021: Crises of Culture, Development, Governance, and Identity. Springer Nature. p. 169. ISBN 978-3-030-97158-8.
  10. ↑ Chowdhury, R. (19 January 2020). "Unforgettable Zia, As I Knew Him". South Asia Journal. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  11. ↑ Liton, Shakhawat (30 May 2014). "BNP couldn't care less". The Daily Star. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  12. ↑ "List of 3rd Parliament Members" (PDF). Bangladesh Parliament (in Bengali). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  13. ↑ Kennedy; Louscher (8 November 2021). Civil Military Interaction in Asia and Africa. BRILL. p. 54. ISBN 978-90-04-47435-2.
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