Muhammad Ghulam Tawab

Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Ghulam Tawab (1 July 1930 – 23 February 1999) was the second chief of the air staff of the Bangladesh Air Force who also served as deputy chief martial law administrator of Bangladesh with General Ziaur Rahman and Admiral M. H. Khan from 1975 to 1976.

Early life Tawab was born in a village near Sylhet, of Bengal Province, British Indian (present day Sylhet, Bangladesh) on 1 July 1930. He was married to Henrietta, a German national, and has two sons and a daughter.

Career After graduating college, Tawab joined the Pakistan Air Force in 1951 and was commissioned with the 9th GD(P) course as a pilot officer in the Pakistan Air Force. He graduated from PAF College Risalpur on September 15, 1951. During the 1965 War, he had led the Pathankot airstrike and was awarded Sitara-e-Jurat.

After Sheikh Mujib's assassination in August 1975, Tawab was immediately recalled from West Germany to active duty by then military chief, Major general Ziaur Rahman upon then Wing Commander M. Hamidullah Khan's advice. In October 1975, Tawab was promoted to air vice marshal and appointed chief of air staff, replacing Air Vice Marshal A. K. Khandker. They were posted to Bogra Cantonment, and their officers were sent to diplomatic postings outside of Bangladesh. Major General Ziaur Rahman, chief of the Bangladesh Army, had difficulty moving the Bengal Lancers to Bogra but eventually succeeded after Air Vice Marshal Tawab, chief of the Bangladesh Air Force, threatened to use the Air Force against the Bengal Lancers. Tawab also brought back four army officers involved in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and reinstated them in the Bengal Lancers at Bogra Cantonment. This led to the 1976 Bogra mutiny under Syed Faruque Rahman, one of the officers Tawab helped return to Bangladesh. Wing Commander Muhammad Ghulam Tawab (second from left) standing with Sajad Haider (third from right) and other pilots of No. 19 Squadron, Pakistan Air Force, with one of their F-86F Sabres following the airstrikes on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot. After the failed mutiny, Major General Ziaur Rahman retired Tawab, sent the four officers back, and disbanded the Bengal Lancers.

M. G. Tawab retired from the Bangladesh Air Force in 1977 and returned to West Germany. He died in Munich on 23 February 1999, from prostate cancer after several years of illness.

Awards and decorations

Sitara-e-Jurat (Star of Courage)

1965 WarSitara-e-Basalat (Star of Good Conduct)

1967Tamgha-e-Diffa (General Service Medal)

Kashmir 1964/65 ClaspSitara-e-Harb 1965 War (War Star 1965)Tamgha-e-Jang 1965 War (War Medal 1965)Tamgha-e-Jamhuria (Republic Commemoration Medal)

1956