A. N. M. Nuruzzaman

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 Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini.

Biography Nuruzzaman was born in December 1938 in Saidabad, Raipura, Narsingdi. Abu Ahmad, his father, was a government officer. He graduated from Sunamganj High School and Sylhet Murari Chand College in 1956. He graduated from the University of Dhaka with a B.A.(Hons) degree in history in 1959 and afterward joined the Pakistan Military Academy. In 1960 he was commissioned in the Pakistan army as a second lieutenant.

Career In 1968 he was promoted to the rank of captain and posted in Quetta, West Pakistan. commander of Sector-3. In September he was made the commander of sector-3 by the Mujibnagar Government. He served in that position till the end of the 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 met to discuss the formation of Rakhi Bahini at the President House on Minto Road, which Sheikh Mujib called the "People's House". In March 1972, the 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, the Philippines, Senegal, Canada, and Sweden.

Death A. N. M. Nuruzzaman died on 16 March 1993, aged 54, in Stockholm while working as ambassador of Bangladesh to Sweden.

Legacy The government of Bangladesh awarded him the highest living gallantry award, Bir Uttam, for his role in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Dhaka City Corporation renamed a road Bir Uttam ANM Nuruzzaman Sarak after him.

Footnotes