Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury (born 9 September 1948) was a Bangladesh Army general who was 11th Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army from 16 June 2002 to 15 June 2005. He was the last officer to serve in this position who had first been commissioned by and served with the Pakistani Army, before the Liberation War of 1971. He served for two years before the war.
After Chowdhury retired from his career with the Bangladesh Army, in October 2006 he was appointed as an adviser of the interim caretaker government. Chowdhury and three other advisers, Akbar Ali Khan, C M Shafi Sami and Sultana Kamal, resigned in December .
In 2007, Chowdhury was appointed as chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission. He served nearly two years until April 2009 and resigned during Sheikh Hasina's government period.
Early life and education
Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury spent his childhood in Sylhet. His student life started in a patshala in Kanishail Village of Sylhet. As his father had work that reassigned him to different locations, Chowdhury moved with his father and family to Barisal. He studied at Barisal Zilla School for five years.
After passing SSC from Sylhet Government Pilot High School in 1964, he was admitted to Notre Dame College, Dhaka and moved to Dhaka. In 1966 he transferred to the Economics Department of the University of Dhaka. One year later Chowdhury decided to join the army.
Military life in the Pakistan Army
The Pakistani Army sent Chowdhury to the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul in West Pakistan. On 20 April 1969, he was commissioned into the Frontier Force Regiment. He worked in Karachi, Lahore, Azad Kashmir and Sindh. He went to Quetta a few times for training.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, Chowdhury was interned by the West Pakistanis as an enemy officer because of his birth and rearing in Eastern Pakistan. He recalled later, "I was interned in a remote place surrounded by mountains. We were treated as prisoners of war. It was clear to me that we would be used to exchange for West Pakistani prisoners of war in India." He was held in West Pakistan from 1972 to 1974 and described the period as "miserable and wastage of time and working ability."
Bangladesh Army career
In January 1974, Chowdhury was finally released and returned to Independent Bangladesh, where he joined the Bangladesh Army. He joined the 17th East Bengal Regiment as its 'D' company commander. In 1975 he became the brigade major (BM) of the 46th Brigade headquartered at Dhaka. Later he returned to 17th East Bengal Regiment as the acting commanding officer. After this, he was appointed as the GSO-1 in the 9th Division. In 1979, he went to the Mirpur Staff College for staff course and after this he was appointed as the directing staff there. After that in 1981, he was assigned to Alikadam of Chittagong Hill Tracts as the C.O. of 17th East Bengal. From there in '82's July, he went to Bangladesh Military Academy as the GSO -1 (Training) at Bhatiari and after this he was appointed as the C.O. of 35 E. Bengal in 1984's August.
In 1986's January, he was appointed as the acting brigade commander at Savar (81 Infantry Brigade). After this, he was appointed as the director of Special Security Force which was then known as President's Security Force, after that he was appointed as the 44th Brigade commander and later in '89's May the commandant of School of Infantry and Tactics. At the time of the Gulf War in 1990, he commanded a Bangladesh Military contingent that took part in the war. He and his forces were stationed for nine months in different places across Saudi Arabia. He described his experience as "tough but professionally pleasing."
In June 1991, after returning from the Gulf war, Chowdhury was elected for training at the United States Army War College (USAWC). At the same time he earned a Master of Public Administration degree at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from USAWC in 1992. As part of the training, he toured other military forces in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico.
Upon his return, he was appointed as a Brigade Commander at Khagrachhari (203 Brigade), Chittagong Hill Tracts. After that he was posted at Defence Services Command and Staff College at Mirpur as its commandant. On 23 June 1996, he became Area Commander, Bogra Area and General Officer Commanding of the 11th Infantry Division after a turmoil inside the army in 1996.