Khwaja Wasiuddin

Khwaja Wasiuddin (20 March 1920 – 22 September 1992) was a three-star general of the Pakistan Army and the Bangladesh Army and a diplomat of Pakistan and Bangladesh from the Dhaka Nawab family. In 1973, he was repatriated to Bangladesh, where he was received at the airport by General M. A. G. Osmani. He later served as a senior general in the Bangladesh Army. He was the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations.

Early life and education Khwaja Wasiuddin was born on 20 March 1920 in Ahsan Manzil, Dacca, Bengal Presidency (present-day Bangladesh). His father, Khwaja Shahabuddin, was the governor of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan and a member of the Dhaka Nawab family; his father's elder brother was Sir Khwaja Nazimuddin, the second governor-general of Pakistan and subsequently its second prime minister. His mother was Farhat Banu, the niece of Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah and a member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly. He studied at Dhaka Muslim High School and later at St Gregory's High School.

Military career After graduation, he joined the Indian Military Academy and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in April 1940 in the 8th Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army. He served in the Burma Campaign of World War II. In 1964, he got his higher education from Imperial Defense College in the United Kingdom. He also successfully advocated for the raising of new purely Bengali EBR battalions, which were the 8, 9 and 10 East Bengal battalions.

He stood out from other officers by giving speeches in Bangla.

In October 1973, he was repatriated to Bangladesh from Pakistan. General Osmani and a number of officers came out to receive him at the Tejgaon Airport. Despite Sheikh Mujibur Rahman planning on placing Wasiuddin as the army chief, freedom fighters within the army opposed it, as they wanted a freedom fighter to lead the army. According to Bangladeshi academic Rehman Sobhan, the three Mukti Bahini brigade commanders, Colonel K. M. Shafiullah, Colonel Khaled Mosharraf, and Colonel Ziaur Rahman, opposed his appointment because they wanted to become army chief themselves. He was offered a diplomatic posting instead. He retired from the Bangladesh Army in 1977 and was made the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, a position he held until 1986.

Death He died on 22 September 1992 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.