A.N.M Nuruzzaman (2 December 1938 – 16 March 1993) was a Bangladeshi army officer, who was also a sector commander in the Bangladeshi War of Liberation. After the war he served as the first and only director general of the

paramilitary force A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini The Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini () was a Bangladeshi paramilitary force formed in 1972 by the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government. Initially formed to curb 1972-1975 Bangladesh insurgency, an insurgency and maintain law and order, the force became involve ...

Biography

Nuruzzaman was born in December 1938 in Saidabad, Raipura,

Narsingdi Narsingdi () is a city and headquarters of Narsingdi District and the Narsingdi Sadar Upazila in Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. The Dhaka–Sylhet highway connects Narsingdi with the capital and other major cities. Narsingdi is one of the most impor ...

. Abu Ahmad, his father, was a government officer. He graduated from Sunamganj High School and Sylhet Murari Chand College. He graduated from the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

in 1959 and afterward joined the Pakistan Military Academy. In 1960 he was commissioned in the Pakistan army as second lieutenant.

Career

In 1968 he was promoted to the rank of captain and posted in

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

, West Pakistan.

Agartala Conspiracy case

He was one of the accused in the

Agartala Conspiracy Case The Agartala Conspiracy Case was a sedition case in Pakistan during the rule of Ayub Khan (general), Ayub Khan against Awami League, brought by the government of Pakistan in 1968 against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then leader of the Awami Lea ...

. After the case was withdrawn he was reinstated in service.

Bangladesh Liberation war

Nuruzzaman joined the War of liberation in 1971 in the ''S-Force'' under

K M Shafiullah Kazi Mohammed Safiullah, BU, psc (; 2 September 1934 – 26 January 2025) was a retired two star army officer and diplomat. He served as the 2nd Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, and a Jatiya Sangsad member for Awami League. He ga ...

, commander of Sector-3. In September he was made the commander of sector-3 by the

Mujibnagar Government The Provisional Government of Bangladesh (), popularly known as the Mujibnagar Government (); also known as the Bangladeshi government-in-exile, was the first and founding government of Bangladesh that was established following the proclamatio ...

. He served in that position till the end of Bangladesh Liberation War.

Post Independence

He joined the Bangladesh army after the independence of Bangladesh, he was promoted to brigadier general. On 28 January 1972, he and Anwar Ul Alam meet to discuss the formation of Rakhi Bahini at the ''President House'' on Minto Road, which

Sheikh Mujib Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangl ...

called the "People's House". In March 1972 Rakhi Bahini came into existence. He was the director of Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini. He was in London when Mujib was assassinated in 1975. After the assassination, he was placed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and performed diplomatic responsibilities in Australia, Philippines, Senegal, Canada and Sweden.

Death

A. N. M. Nuruzzaman died on 16 March 1993, aged 54, in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

while working as ambassador of Bangladesh to Sweden.

Legacy

The government of Bangladesh awarded him the highest living gallantry award ''

Bir Uttam Bir Uttom () is the second highest award for individual gallantry in Bangladesh after the Bir Sreshtho and the highest gallantry award for living individual. Since the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, 69 people have been awarded the Bir Utto ...

'' for his role in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Dhaka City Corporation renamed a road Bir Uttam ANM Nuruzzaman Sarak after him.

Footnotes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nuruzzaman, A. N. M. 1938 births 1993 deaths Ambassadors of Bangladesh to Sweden Bangladesh Army generals Bangladesh Army brigadiers Recipients of the Bir Uttom Mukti Bahini personnel Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League central committee members Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini personnel 20th-century Bangladeshi military personnel