Abdul Halim Chowdhury (1 February 1928 – 7 October 1987) was a Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician, Member of Parliament, and government minister. He is a retired captain of Pakistan Army and fought in the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Early life

Chowdhury was born on 1 February 1928 in Elachipur, Shivalaya,

Manikganj Manikganj is a district situated in Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. Manikganj is one of the green and pollution free towns in Bangladesh. The recent urbanization and highway built joining Dhaka and Shingair Upazilla has given it an outstanding road ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He graduated from Faridpur Zilla School. He went on to

Rajshahi College Rajshahi College ( bn, রাজশাহী কলেজ ''Rajshahi Kôlej'') is the third oldest institution of higher education in Bangladesh. Established in 1873 in Rajshahi city, it is the third oldest college in Bangladesh after Dhaka Col ...

, finished his BA in economics from

Rajshahi University The University of Rajshahi, also known as Rajshahi University or RU ( bn, রাজশাহী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়), is a public co-educational research university in Bangladesh situated near the northern Bangladeshi cit ...

. He started his master's degree at Dhaka University.

Career

Chowdhury joined the Pakistan army in 1950 while still a student. In the army he served as the Adjutant and Quarter Master in the

1st Punjab Regiment The 1st Punjab Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. Upon the Partition of India, it was transferred to the newly-raised Pakistan Army. It ceased to exist in this form in 1956, when it was amalgamate ...

. He served as the aide-de-camp to the GOC of the 14th division. He was the commanding officer of University Officers' Training Corps Battalion in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

. In 1962 he retired from the Army over health reasons. He joined the East Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation. He was placed in charged of setting up a sugar mill in

Kushtia Kushtia ( bn, কুষ্টিয়া) is a city in the Khulna Division of southwestern Bangladesh. Kushtia is the second largest municipality in Bangladesh and the eleventh largest city in the country. The second largest city in Khulna div ...

. In 1966, he joined the

National Awami Party The National Awami Party (NAP), translated from Urdu to English as National People's Party, was the major left-wing political party in East and West Pakistan. It was founded in 1957 in Dhaka, erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), by A ...

. In the

1970 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 7 December 1970 to elect members of the National Assembly. They were the first general elections since the independence of Pakistan and ultimately the only ones held prior to the independence of Bang ...

he stood as a nominee of the

faction led by Muzaffar Ahmed (NAP (M)). During the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

in 1971 he helped set up the revolutionary committee of

. He was placed in charge of military operations in Dhaka Sadar and

Gazipur Gazipur ( bn, গাজীপুর) is a city in central Bangladesh. It is located in the Gazipur District. It is a major industrial city north of Dhaka. It is a hub for the textile industry in Bangladesh. Its other name is Joydebpur. Demogra ...

. He established the Halim Bahini, a paramilitary force under his command, to fight in the Bangladesh Liberation war. After the

Independence of Bangladesh Independence of Bangladesh was declared on 26 March 1971, celebrated as Independence Day, from Pakistan. The Independence Day of Bangladesh is celebrated on 26 March when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the Independence of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh ...

, he stood again as a NAP (M) candidate in the

1973 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in newly independent Bangladesh on 7 March 1973. The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Awami League, who won 293 of the 300 seats, including eleven constituencies where they were elected unopposed without a vote. ...

. He became the president of United People's Party. In 1979 he was elected to Parliament from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. He served in the cabinet of President

Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d' ...

as the minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperative. He later was in the cabinet of President

Abdus Sattar ʻAbd al-Sattār (ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الستّار) is an Arabic Muslim male given name, built on the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Sattār''. The name means "servant of the Veiler (of sins)". Because the letter s is a sun lett ...

as the minister of Food and Relief. He was a member of BNP's National executive committee. He joined General

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad ( bn, হুসেইন মুহাম্মদ এরশাদ; 1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi Army Chief politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990, a time ma ...

's Jatiya party after it came to power. He was the minister of Agriculture and Food. Chowdhury died on 7 October 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdhury, Abdul Halim 1928 births 1987 deaths University of Rajshahi alumni Bangladesh Nationalist Party politicians Bangladeshi military personnel Mukti Bahini personnel 2nd Jatiya Sangsad members Place of death missing