Retired lieutenant colonel Abu Osman Chowdhury, who commanded the sector 8 of the war of independence between April 10, 1971 and July 17, 1971, died at Dhaka Combined Military Hospital Saturday morning. He was 84.
The Independence Day Award winning freedom fighter died after suffering from multi-complications following his recovery from COVID-19 at the hospital, Inter-Services Public Relations director Abdullah Ibn Zaid told New Age.
Sector Commanders’ Forum secretary general Harun Habib said that Abu Osman Chowdhury had an open heart surgery and diagnosed with brain tumour at the hospital.
He said that Abu Osman Chowdhury had remarkable contributions in organising the war of independence in Kushtia region and oath taking of the government in exile at Baidyanathtala in Meherpur on April 17, 1971.
Being the commander of the area, Abu Osman led a platoon of soldiers to give a guard of honour to the newly formed government in exile, Harun Habib and Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee president Shahriar Kabir said.
Abu Osman Chowdhury is survived by his two daughters. His wife Nazia Khanom was also a valiant freedom fighter who was killed at Dhaka cantonment on November 7, 1975, Harun said.
President Mohammad Abdul Hamid, prime minister Sheikh Hasina, cabinet members, Bangladesh Awami League, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal, Communist Party of Bangladeshu, Sampritee Bangladesh and several other social and cultural organisations condoled the bereaved family for his death.
Born in Chandpur’s Faridganj on January 1, 1936, Abu Osman Chowdhury was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in 1958.
As the war began on Mar 25 midnight, 1971, Abu Osman, the commander of the East Pakistan Rifle’s fourth wing in Chuadanga, revolted along with a group of soldiers and joined the war.
From April 10, 1971 to July 17, 1971, Osman Chowdhury served as the commander of sector 8 having the operational area of Kushtia, Jessore, Khulna, Barishal, Faridpur and Patuakhali, reads Bangladesh Army website.
‘After July 1971, Osman Chowdhury was posted at Liberation Force headquarter in Kolkata,’ Harun Habib said.
After the independence, Osman was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was made the director of the Army Service Corps.
In 1996, Osman was made chairman of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation.
In 2014, Abu Osman Chowdhury was honoured with the Independence Day Award, the highest civilian award, for his valiant role as a freedom fighter.
A member of Bangladesh Awami League, Osman Chowdhury was made administrator of Chandpur district council in 2015.
Abu Osman Chowdhury, a vice-president of the Sectors Commanders’ Forum, played a remarkable role in the movement centring Peoples’ Court to demand justice for the 1971 war atrocities.
‘He was one of the jurists of the mass trail of the Ghulam Azam,’ Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee president Shahriar Kabir said.
Abu Osman Chowdhury was buried with state honour at the Banani Army Graveyard following his namaz-e-janaza at the central mosque of Dhaka cantonment.
Bangladesh Army gave gun salute in honour of him at the graveyard.