Khwaja Wasiuddin

Lieutenant General
Khwaja Wasiuddin
Born (1920-03-20)20 March 1920
Ahsan Manzil, Dhaka, British Raj
Died 22 September 1992(1992-09-22) (aged 72)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Allegiance British Empire (1940–1947)
Pakistan (1947–1971)
Bangladesh (1971–1977)
Service/branch British Indian Army
Pakistan Army
Bangladesh Army
Years of service 1940–1971 (Pakistan); 1972-1977 (Bangladesh)
Rank Lieutenant General
Battles/wars

Khwaja Wasiuddin (1920–1992) was a Bangladeshi army officer and diplomat. He started his career in the British Indian army. He retired as a lieutenant general. He was the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations.

Early life

Khwaja Wasiuddin was born on 20 March 1920 in Ahsan Manzil, Dhaka, Bengal Presidency (Present Bangladesh).[1] His father Khwaja Shahabuddin was the governor of North-west Frontier Province of Pakistan and member of the Dhaka Nawab family. His mother was Farhat Banu the niece of sir salimullah and member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly. He studied at Dhaka Muslim High School and later in St Gregory's High School.[1] In 1938 he graduated from Prince of Wales Royal Military College.[1][2]

Career

After graduation, he joined the Indian Military Academy and was commissioned on April 1940 in the artillery corps of the British Indian army. He served in the Burma Campaign of World War II.[1] He reached the rank of major by 1943, and commanded an artillery battalion. In 1945 he was promoted to rank of lieutenant colonel and appointed as the additional deputy president of Inter Services Selection Board of British Indian Armed Forces.[1]

After the partition of India he opted for Pakistan army. In Pakistan, he continued to work in Pakistani Inter Services Selection Board, eventually becoming its president. In 1951 he went for further studies in Camberley Staff College in United Kingdom and subsequently was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. In 1960 he was made the general officer commanding (GOC) of the 14th Division located in East Pakistan and in 1963 he was the commander of 10th Division located in Lahore, West Pakistan.[1] In 1962 he was a provincial martial law administrator.[3] In 1964 he was promoted to major general and got his higher educations from Imperial Defense College in United Kingdom.[1] In 1971 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and was appointed as the commander of the II Corps of the Pakistan Army which was newly created.[1]

During the Bangladesh Liberation War he was the Master General of Ordnance (MGO) in General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, West Pakistan.[4] In October 1973, he was repatriated to Bangladesh from Pakistan.[5] After returning to Bangladesh he would serve as the ambassador of Bangladesh to Kuwait and France.[1][6] He retired from Bangladesh Army in 1977 and was made the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations,[7] position he held till 1986.[1] As the representative he supported Indonesia's annexation of East Timor in the United Nation.[8]

Death

He died on 22 September 1992 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Alamgir, Muhammad. "Wasiuddin, Lt General Khwaja". en.banglapedia.org. Banglapedia. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Mishra, editors, Bikram Singh, Sidharth (1997). Where gallantry is tradition : saga of Rashtriya Indian Military College : plantinum jubilee volume, 1997. New Delhi: Allied Publishers. p. 46. ISBN 9788170236498.
  3. ↑ Von Vorys, Karl (2015). Political Development in Pakistan. Princeton University Press. p. 55. ISBN 9781400876389. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  4. ↑ Niazi, A.A.K. (2000). The Betrayal of East Pakistan. Lahore: Oxford University Press. p. 168. ISBN 9780195792751.
  5. ↑ Roy, Asish Kumar (2002). Praetorian politics in Bangladesh : 1975–1981. Kolkata: Progressive Publishers. p. 50. OCLC 491399557.
  6. ↑ Badrul Ahsan, Syed (2012-03-27). "Old images from a long-ago war". The Daily Star. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Hossain, Golam (1991). Civil-military relations in Bangladesh: a comparative study. Academic Publishers, the University of Michigan. p. 227. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  8. ↑ Krieger, Heike, ed. (1997). East Timor and the International Community: Basic Documents (1st paperback ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-521-58134-9.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.