Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury

Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury (born 9 September 1948)

After passing the Matriculation exam from Sylhet Government Pilot High School in 1964, he was admitted to Notre Dame College, Dhaka, and moved to Dhaka. In 1966, he transferred to the Economics Department of the University of Dhaka. One year later, Chowdhury decided to join the army. After being selected by the Inter Services Selection Board, Chowdhury was sent for training to the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul in West Pakistan in 1967. He was commissioned into the Frontier Force Regiment on 20 April 1969. Chowdhury finished his staff college course at the Bangladesh Defence Services Command and Staff College in 1979 and an advanced strategic course from the United States Army War College in 1991. He also earned his master's degree in public administration from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania the following year.

Military career

Pakistan Army Chowdhury served as company commander of three infantry battalions in Lahore, Karachi, Hyderabad, and Mangla, respectively. He was promoted to captain in 1971 and dispatched for training in Quetta. Chowdhury was detained at Quetta Cantonment during the Bangladesh Liberation War in April 1971. He recalled later, "I was interned in a remote place surrounded by mountains. We were treated as prisoners of war. It was clear to me that we would be used to exchange for West Pakistani prisoners of war in India." He also commanded an infantry brigade in Savar as a proxy in the rank of colonel in 1986. Chowdhury was soon promoted to brigadier general in 1987 and was designated as director general of the Special Security Force.

He returned to the army in 1988 and commanded two infantry brigades on Cumilla and Khagrachhari, respectively and was commandant of the School of Infantry and Tactics. Chowdhury was promoted to major general in May 1995 and was designated as commandant of the Defence Services Command and Staff College. After a year he was transferred to the 11th Infantry Division as general officer commanding and area commanding the Bogra area. He replaced Major General Golam Helal Morshed Khan, one of the plotters of 1996 Bangladeshi coup attempt.

In 1997, Chowdhury was posted at army headquarters as the Chief of the General Staff under Lieutenant General Mustafizur Rahman. Chowdhury later served as commandant of the National Defence College from 1 March 2000 for 9 months. In December of that year, he was dispatched to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. He said he would undertake a sustained battle against corruption, and numerous people were prosecuted for graft. Chowdhury had to resign on 2 April 2009 after the Awami League ascended to rule. Without his knowledge, the Moeen group had filed cases at night; they arrested former prime ministers and leaders of the two major parties, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, of the BNP and Awami League, respectively. Awami League MPs, led by Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, strongly criticised Mashhud in the parliament for appointing majority of the directors of the commission from the armed forces, and he resigned. Bangladesh Nationalist Party MPs, led by Moudud Ahmed, supported the Awami position. Later, in May 2025, a case was filed against Chowdhury and 2 other former ACC chairmen, accusing them of filing false cases against Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman.

Honours