K Force was a military brigade 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 ...

in 1971 headed by Major

Khaled Mosharraf Khaled Mosharraf, Bir Uttom ( bn, খালেদ মোশাররফ; 9 November 1937 – 7 November 1975) was a Bangladeshi military officer known for his role in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Khaled was the Sector Commander of Bangladesh ...

as per the direction of the

Provisional Government of Bangladesh The Provisional Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, popularly known as the Mujibnagar Government, was established following the declaration of independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh on 10 April 1971. Headed by prime mini ...

in exile. The brigade was a part of regular army under the

Bangladesh Armed Forces The Bangladesh Armed Forces ( bn, বাংলাদেশ সশস্ত্র বাহিনী, Bangladesh Sashastra Bahinī) are the combined military forces of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It consists of the three uniformed m ...

formed with the 4th, 9th and 10th Battalion of East Bengal Regiment.

Background

The

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

military officers of

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the Partition of British India, which occurred as a result ...

hailed from the then

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the 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 and Myanmar, wit ...

joined hands with the liberation movement of Bangladesh and revolted against the Pakistan Army after the

Operation Searchlight Operation Searchlight was the codename for a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the opera ...

took place on the night of 25 March 1971. Major

, an officer of the 4th East Bengal Regiment who was sent off by the military officials of Pakistan Army from Comilla Cantonment to Sylhet on 24 March, revolted against Pakistan Army on 26 March with his unit. Mosharraf was later selected as the Sector Commander of Sector-2 during

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 armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali ...

as a showed tremendous courage. He was later asked to form a brigade as a regular force in order to establish effective control over the liberated zones that were liberated by the freedom fighters of Sector-02 and to operate large scale operations in Sector-2 against the Pakistan Army establishments.

Inception

Considering the possibilities of a prolonged liberation movement, the

decided to a regular military force to continue the arms struggle for a longer period of time. As a part of this planning process the government directed the senior military officials of

Major

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 ...

, Mosharraf and Major

K M Shafiullah Kazi Mohammed Shafiullah Bir Uttam (born 2 September 1934), also known as K. M. Shafiullah, is a retired Bangladeshi general, former Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, and former Member of Parliament. As the Second in Command of Second ...

to form brigades. Being directed by the government Major Khaled Mosharraf formed the K Force in the last week of September while Major Ziaur Rahman formed Z Force and Major K M Shafiullah formed the S Force. The brigade headquarters for K Force was in Agartala.

Formation

The formation of K force was a reorganisation of the independence fighters of 4th East Bengal Regiment and the others who were trained for Bangladesh Liberation War under Sector-2. The C Company of 4th East Bengal Regiment along with the freedom fighters under the Sector-2 headquarters were gathered at Konabon under the 4th East Bengal Regiment and were reorganized under the captaincy of Captain M.A. Gaffar Haldar. The 9th East Bengal Regiment was formed under the leadership of Captain Ainuddin, composed of all the independence fighters of the D Company and a number of soldiers from B Company of 4th East Bengal Regiment. The newly formed regiment was gathered at Kosba for further reorganisation. All the independence fighters from A Company and the rest of B Company soldiers were reorganised under the 10th East Bengal Regiment led by Major Abdus Saleq Chowdhury at Belunia. In addition, an artillery battery called ''Mujib battery'' was added led by Captain Abdul Aziz Pasha.

Structure of the Brigade

* Brigade Commander - Major Khaled Mosharraf (14 October - 23 October) and Major Abdus Saleq Chowdhury (24 October - 16 December) * Staff Officer – Captain MA Matin * Staff officer – Lieutenant Anwarul Alam

4th East Bengal Regiment

* Commanding Officer – Captain M.A. Gaffar Haldar

9th East Bengal Regiment

* Commanding Officer – Captain Muhammad Ainuddin

10th East Bengal Regiment

* Commanding Officer – Major Abdus Saleq Chowdhury (14 October - 23 October) and Captain Zafar Imam (24 October - 16 December)

1st Field Artillery Battery

* Commanding Officer – Captain

Abdul Aziz Pasha Abdul Aziz Pasha (died 2 June 2001) was a Bangladesh army officer who was convicted for involvement in the 1975 assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Career Bangladesh Liberation war Pasha had fought for the Independence of Bangladesh during Ba ...

References

{{Liberation of Bangladesh Bangladesh Liberation War