Muhammad Hamidullah Khan

Who was Muhammad Hamidullah Khan?

Wing Commander M. Hamidullah Khan was the Sector Commander of BDF Sector 11 Bangladesh Forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971.

An Air Force officer by career, he successfully led 22,800 troops under his command of Sector 11. While Bangladesh Chief Representative at Chakulia Guerilla Training Camp, Bihar, he attended the Bangladesh Sector Commanders Conference of 1971 as one of the principal participants during the creation of the Bangladesh Forces. He commanded Sector 11 and its largest Sub-Sector 1, at Mankachar under the leadership of C-in-C General M.A.G. Osmani and received a Bangladesh government award for gallantry. As subsector commander, Squadron Leader Hamidullah planned, commanded and fought the Chilmari Expedition/Raid at Chilmari Upazila, crossing the mighty Ganges river by Kurigram. Popularly known as Hamidullah, he served in the Bangladesh Air Force until his early retirement from service in early 1979. The Bangladesh Government named Road 23 in the town of Banani in Dhaka after him. Along with 55 other fighters, his biography was included in a CD released by the Bangladesh government. Until Dec 30th 2011 he was the Executive Secretary of the Central Committee of the BNP National Executive Committee on Liberation War and Veterans Affairs. Hamidullah Khan reorganised and gave life anew to a party unit of BNP for the post-independence generation of Bangladesh called Jatiotabadi Muktijuddher Projonmo. Khan was nominated four times and elected thrice as Member of Parliament in the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad. He was the 36th Bangladesh Representative in 1979-80 to the United Nations General Assembly and plenary session on UN Resolutions 242 and 439 on the question of Palestine and Namibia respectively. The government of Bangladesh appointed him as Special Envoy to the UN in granting recognition to the State of Palestine. He wrote books on the history of the creation of the Bangladesh Forces and the events leading to it, BDF Sector 11 and its war operations including surrounding complexities, related events and consequences. His second book is a two-volume set about the Bangladesh Liberation War along with two documentaries. Upon his death, Muhammad Hamidullah Khan was given a state funeral with a military guard of honor.