Mahbub Ali Khan ( bn, মাহবুব আলী খান; 3 November 1934 – 6 August 1984) was a
Bangladesh Navy
The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...
rear admiral and the
Chief of Naval Staff from 1979 till his death in 1984. He is known for his heroic actions done for his country. Under him the
South Talpatti
New Moore, also known as South Talpatti ( bn, দক্ষিণ তালপট্টি, Dokkhin Talpotti) and Purbasha Island ( bn, পূর্বাশা দ্বীপ), was a small uninhabited offshore sandbar island in the Bay of Bengal, ...
sandbar
In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. ...
and other emerging islands in the
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...
, over which both India and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
claimed sovereignty, remained under the authority of Bangladesh. He is also known for bringing down the pirates in the Bay of Bengal and was responsible for maintaining the security of the Bay and the
Sundarbans
Sundarbans (pronounced ) is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bangladesh's division of Khulna to the Hooghly R ...
.
Early life and family
Khan was born into a wealthy
Bengali Muslim
Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...
zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...
family on 3 November 1934 in
Jalalpur
Jalalpur is a town, tehsil and a municipal board in Ambedkar Nagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India.
Geography
Jalalpur is located at . It has an average elevation of .
The city is directly connected to Azamgarh, Akbarp ...
,
Sylhet District (present-day
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
) located in the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
's
Assam Province
Assam Province was a province of British India, created in 1912 by the partition of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Province.
Its capital was in Shillong.
The Assam territory was first separated from Bengal in 1874 as the 'North-East Frontier' n ...
. He was the youngest child among the three children of Ahmed Ali Khan and Jubaida Khatun. Khatun was the daughter of Khan Bahadur Wasiuddin Ahmad. In 1901, Ahmad Ali Khan became the first Muslim barrister in Sylhet. Ahmad Ali Khan was also the President of the Assam Congress and represented the
All-India Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcont ...
party as a member of the Legislative Assembly.
Mahbub Ali Khan's grandfather,
Khan Bahadur Dr. Asaddar Ali Khan (1850-1937), Sylhet's first Muslim civil surgeon and the son-in-law of
Syed Ameer Ali. A graduate of the
Aliah University, Asaddar Ali Khan was also the personal physician to the Bihari Shia lawyer-politician
Syed Hasan Imam
Syed Hasan Imam (31 August 1871 – 19 April 1933) was an Indian politician who served as the President of the Indian National Congress and was elected in September 1918.Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
. M.A. Khan's grand-uncle Ghazanfar Ali Khan OBE ICS was the first Muslim Cambridge graduate from Assam and Bengal. Mahbub was also the cousin of General
M. A. G. Osmani, the Supreme Commander of
Bangladesh Forces
The Mukti Bahini ( bn, মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as 'freedom fighters', or liberation army), also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary ...
during the
Bangladesh Liberation War, and
Ajmal Ali Choudhury, a Member of the
National Assembly of Pakistan.
Khan spent his childhood in the Sylhet District and
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
. After the
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
, his family moved to
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
in East Pakistan. He received his primary education in Kolkata and Dhaka and has spent his college time in
Dhaka College
Dhaka College ( bn, ঢাকা কলেজ also known as DC) is the oldest secular educational institution of Bangladesh located in Dhaka. It offers higher secondary education ( HSC). It has Honours and Masters programs as well which are aff ...
. Later he took a law degree. Khan's niece is the
Harvard-educated
Irene Khan
Irene Zubaida Khan ( bn, আইরিন জোবায়দা খান; born 24 December 1956) is a Bangladeshi lawyer appointed as of August 2020 to be the United Nations Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion, the fir ...
, former head of Amnesty International.
Career
In 1952 Khan joined the executive branch of the Pakistan Navy as a cadet. Khan received his training as a cadet in a military school in
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...
of West Pakistan. For higher training he went to finish his graduation at
Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...
in
Dartmouth, England. After his graduation he married Sayeeda Iqbal Manda Banu in 1955. They had two daughters – Shahina Khan and Zubaida Khan. On 1 May 1956, Khan received his standing commission. In 1960 he became the Gunnery officer of P.N.S (Pakistani Naval Ship) Tughril. In 1963,
Queen Elizabeth II awarded him for being a disciplined officer. In 1964 he became the torpedo and anti-submarine officer of P.N.S Tippu Sultan. From 1967 to 1968 he served the
Pakistan Navy as the Joint Chiefs’ Secretariat Staff officer in the Defence Ministry in
Rawalpindi of West Pakistan. In 1970 he became the officer in charge of the torpedo and anti-submarine school in the P.N.S Himalaya and in the West Pakistani city of
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
he served as the Seaward defence officer.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, when East Pakistan became Bangladesh and then went to war with West Pakistan for independence, Khan, at that time, was still staying in West Pakistan. Because of his patriotism towards Bangladesh, Khan and his family was placed under house arrest by the Pakistan government. Even after the war was over, Khan was still placed under house arrest for two more years till 1973, when he was able to escape from West Pakistan to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. From Afghanistan he went to India and then finally to his motherland, Bangladesh.
In October 1973, in Bangladesh Khan became the first Bengali to be appointed as the commandant of the Mercantile Academy of Chittagong. In February 1976 he became the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (
Operations and Personnel) of the
Bangladesh Navy
The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...
. In December 1976 the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
of the United Kingdom sold a Salisbury class frigate to Bangladesh which came to be known as
BNS (Bangladeshi Naval Ship) ''Umar Farooq''. The ship arrived in Bangladesh on 27 March 1977. Khan became the captain of the BNS ''Umar Farooq'' and with this ship he travelled to the ports of
Algeria
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, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
,
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and
Sri Lanka. On 4 November 1979, Khan became the
Chief of Naval Staff of the Bangladesh Navy and on 1 January 1980 he grew to the rank of
rear admiral.
Khan worked hard to modernise the Bangladesh Navy. In the aftermath of the
Bhola cyclone
The 1970 Bhola cyclone (Also known as the Great Cyclone of 1970) was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on November 11, 1970. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever re ...
in 1970, a small uninhabited offshore sandbar landform called the
South Talpatti
New Moore, also known as South Talpatti ( bn, দক্ষিণ তালপট্টি, Dokkhin Talpotti) and Purbasha Island ( bn, পূর্বাশা দ্বীপ), was a small uninhabited offshore sandbar island in the Bay of Bengal, ...
sandbar
In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. ...
emerged in the Bay of Bengal. Although
South Talpatti
New Moore, also known as South Talpatti ( bn, দক্ষিণ তালপট্টি, Dokkhin Talpotti) and Purbasha Island ( bn, পূর্বাশা দ্বীপ), was a small uninhabited offshore sandbar island in the Bay of Bengal, ...
was uninhabited and there were no permanent settlements or stations located on it, both India and Bangladesh claimed sovereignty over it because of speculation over the existence of oil and natural gas in the region. Under Khan, the sandbar remained under Bangladeshi authority. During his time the Bangladesh Navy was also able to bring down the pirates in the Bay of Bengal. Khan also took possible measures to maintain the security of the Sundarbans.
During the time of
Ziaur Rahman's rule, besides being the head of the navy, Khan also served as the minister of telecommunications. Khan was also a member of President Zia's temporarily formed party called
JAGODAL. On 24 March 1982, when
martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
was imposed in Bangladesh and general
Hussain Mohammad 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 ...
took over the government, Khan was appointed as the deputy chief martial law administrator. At that time he also became an adviser of the Ministry of Communications. From 10 July 1982 to 1 June 1984, he served as a minister of the Ministry of Communications. Till his death, he served as the Minister of Agriculture in the country.
Personal life
Khan is married to
Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu.
Their youngest daughter, Zubaida Rahman, married
Tarique Rahman
Tarique Rahman is a Bangladeshi politician who is the current acting chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since February 2018. He has been residing in London with his family since he left Bangladesh in September 2008.
Early life and ...
, the elder son 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 ...
and Prime Minister
Khaleda Zia
Khaleda Zia (; born Khaleda Khanam Putul in 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Ba ...
, in 1993.
Death
On 6 August 1984, Khan went to the then
Dhaka International Airport
Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport ( bn, হযরত শাহ্জালাল আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দর, Romanized: ''Hôzrôt Shahjalal Antôrjatik Bimanbôndôr'') ( formerly VGZR) is t ...
in Dhaka to investigate an air crash in that area. There, while investigating the air crash, Khan had a heart attack and he was taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), where he died at the age of 49. His burial place is at the Banani defence graveyard in Dhaka.
References
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Mahbub Ali
Bangladeshi Navy admirals
1934 births
1984 deaths
Burials at Banani Graveyard
Chiefs of Naval Staff (Bangladesh)
Pakistan Navy officers
People from Dakshin Surma Upazila
Road Transport and Bridges ministers of Bangladesh
Bangladeshi people of Afghan descent