Zia Ahmed psc was a major general of the

Bangladesh Army The Bangladesh Army () is the land warfare branch, and the largest component of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The primary mission of the Army is to defend the land of Bangladesh from any external attack. Control of personnel and operations is ad ...

and former chairman of

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) () is an independent commission founded under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulation Act, 2001 (Act no. 18 of 2001). The commission is responsible for regulating all matters related ...

Early life

Ahmed was born on 26 July 1954 in

Sujanagar Upazila Sujanagar () is an upazila of the Pabna District of northern Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division. It is the home of agriculture across the district, and the Onion Capital of the country. History Sujanagar (lit. ''City of Shuja'') takes its name from th ...

Pabna District Pabna District () is a district in west central Bangladesh. It is a geographically and economically important district. Its administrative capital is the eponymous Pabna town. The main five rivers of this district are: Padma, Jamuna, Baral, Atra ...

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

, Pakistan. His father was Sarder Jayenuddin, a notable poet. He graduated from Tejgaon Polytechnic High School and

Notre Dame College, Dhaka Notre Dame College, Dhaka (), also known as NDC, is a catholic higher secondary and degree level educational institution founded and managed by the priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross located in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Upon th ...

Career

Ahmed was commissioned in the Signals Corps of Bangladesh Army in 1975. Ahmed had served in the

United Nations Operation in Mozambique The United Nations Operations in Mozambique (ONUMOZ, ) was a UN peace mission to Mozambique established in December 1992 under Security Council Resolution 797 with the assignment to monitor the implementation of the Rome General Peace Accords ...

. Ahmed was sent into forced retirement from Bangladesh Army during the 2001 to 2006

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...

government with the rank of brigadier general. After

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

came to power in 2009, Ahmed was promoted to major general and appointment chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission in February 2009. He replaced Major General

Manzurul Alam Manzurul Alam ndc, psc is a retired major general of the Bangladesh Army and former chairperson of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. Career Alam was general officer commanding the 11th Infantry Division, Bogra of Bangla ...

. He was appointed on a three-year contract. He signed the agreement for the launch of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission's Bangabandhu Satellite. He had demanded 30 billion taka in taxes from

Grameenphone Grameenphone LTD, widely abbreviated as ( d/b/a) GP, is a telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh. As of December 2023, its subscribers span over 82.20 million. It is a joint venture between Telenor and Grameen Telecom. Where Telen ...

, the largest telecom company in Bangladesh. After Alam, Ahmed was the second Army officer to head the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. In November 2010, Ahmed spoke at an event organized by Lieutenant General Harun-Ar-Rashid which criticised the political statements issued by former Army officers in favor of former Prime Minister

Khaleda Zia Begum Khaleda Zia (born August–September 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and the second fema ...

. He also briefly blocked Facebook that year in Bangladesh. Ahmed made the pulse rate for cellphone operators at 10 seconds. He struggled with the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology over organizational jurisdiction harming ties between the two entities.

Death

Ahmed died on 11 September 2012 in

United Hospital United Hospital, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, is a 556-bed non-profit hospital that serves St. Paul and the eastern Twin Cities metropolitan area. United Hospital is part of Allina Health and offers specialty services including pregnancy care ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. He was buried in Banani Army Graveyard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Zia 1954 births 2012 deaths Bangladesh Army generals People from Pabna District Notre Dame College, Dhaka alumni