Quazi Golam Dastgir

Who is Quazi Golam Dastgir?

Major General Quazi Golam Dastgir was a Bangladesh army general and diplomat who belonged to a coterie of immigrant elites from the Indian state of West Bengal. Following a distinguished career in the Pakistan Army, he opted to join the defence services of Bangladesh after the country’s independence in 1971. Quickly rising to the then top rank of Major General in the Bangladesh Army, ahead of all his military academy course mates, from 1975 to 1977, he served as the Zonal Martial Law Administrator for Dhaka Division. This included the nation’s capital and was unequivocally the most important of the four provinces in Bangladesh. He commanded two of the five independent brigades that comprised the Bangladesh Army up to the mid-1970s, and served as chief of the border forces, holding the office of Director General of Bangladesh Rifles. He was one of the three Major Generals in the Bangladesh Army following the promulgation of martial law in 1975. In 1977, the service of Dastgir was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and he went on to serve four terms as Ambassador of Bangladesh until his retirement in 1991.