Mustafizur Rahman

Mustafizur Rahman (20 January 1941 – 3 August 2008) was a Bangladeshi four star general who served as the chief of army staff from December 1997 until 23 December 2000.

Early life and education Rahman was born on 20 January 1941 in Rangpur of Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Rangpur Division, Bangladesh), to Muhammad Abdus Sattar, a clerk at Rangpur Town Hall, and Zarina Khatun.

Rahman obtained three bachelor's degrees: in science and applied science in 1958 and 1960 from Carmichael College and a Bachelor of Engineering at the East Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology in 1965. Rahman enlisted voluntarily in the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul on the eve of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 through the Pakistan emergency war cadre in the Inter Services Selection Board and was commissioned into the army in 1966 with the Corps of Engineers. He was one of the trailblazing graduates of the Bangladesh Defence Services Command and Staff College in 1979.

Military career Rahman commanded a riverine engineers company at East Pakistan in the rank of lieutenant and was promoted to captain in December 1970. Rahman was an instrumental figure in orchestrating the Military Institute of Science and Technology and the Armed Forces Medical College. Rahman also took the initiative to launch Trust Bank, a financial protection project initiated for the defence personnel of Bangladesh. Rahman was promoted to brevet general on 23 December 2000 and went on leave per retirement the next day. He was succeeded by Lieutenant General M. Harun-Ar-Rashid as chief of army staff. The promotion was later cancelled in 2004, but the High Court declared the action illegal and restored his rank. Mustafizur Rahman was one of the accused in a corruption case regarding the procurement of MiG-29s for the Bangladesh Air Force along with other government officials of the first Hasina ministry.

Death Rahman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 and passed away on 3 August 2008. He was given an Islamic funeral and buried at the Banani military graveyard with full military honours.