M.A.G. Osmani

Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani

Full name: Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani
Birthdate: September 01, 1918
Birthplace: Sunamganj, Sylhet
Died: February 16, 1984
Death Place: London, England
Education: Aligarh Muslim University
Occupation: Army Officer, Politician
Spouse (s): Not Known
Religion: Islam
Zodiac sign: Virgo

Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani was a paramount freedom fighter of Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. During the liberation war, he was the commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Forces. Osmani started his military career with the British Indian Army and then worked in Pakistan Army. The head of the Bengali armed resistance appointed by the Provisional Government Kwon as Bangabir across the country. He joined the politics after retired and became a cabinet minister in the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

M.A.G. Osmani Early Life:

M.A.G. Osmani was born on September 01, 1918 to a landowning family in Sunamganj, Sylhet to Khan Bahadur Mafijur Rahman and Jubeda Khatun. His father was a sub-divisional officer in Sunamganj Sadar. He was youngest of three children of his parents. Osmani rotated in different places of the country due to his father job. He studied at Cotton School in Sylhet.

In 1934, he passed matriculation from Sylhet Government Pilot School. He won the Pritoria Prize for excellence in English. Osmani enrolled at Aligarh Muslim University and graduated from the university in 1938. Following the year, he joined the Indian Military Academy as a cadet.

M.A.G. Osmani Career:

Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani kicked off the career journey by joining in the British Indian Army. During the Second World War, he fought in Burma. In 1947, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Following the separation of India, he joined in the Pakistan Army and was promoted to acting lieutenant colonel on January 7, 1948. He served Pakistanis Army with some leading officer later all of whom led the Pakistan Army against his Bangladesh forces in 1971.

Political Career:

M.A.G. Osmani joined All Pakistan Awami Muslim League in 1970, leading by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He was elected member of national assembly from the Balaganj-Fenchuganj as a candidate of Awami League. Again he came to the military arena elected commander-in-chief of Bangladesh Forces by the Provisional Government during the liberation war. Mukti Bahini won the historical war over Pakistanis under the leadership of him after nine months.

Awami League candidateEdit

After his retirement Osmani entered East Pakistani politics, joining Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's All Pakistan Awami Muslim League in 1970. As an Awami League candidate, he was elected to the national assembly from the Balaganj-Fenchuganj Upazila area of Sylhet. Osmani did not serve as a Pakistani MNA, because after the beginning of the Bangladesh War of Independence he joined its provisional government.

Military career

When he joined the British Indian Army, Osmani was a member of the 4th Urban Infantry from 1939 to 1940.[2] On 5 October 1940, he received an emergency commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Indian Army Service Corps (RIASC).[3] Osmani was initially attached to the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Wellington Regiment, which was tasked with a New Delhi depot.[4] After he completed the Short Mechanical Transport Course (November 1940 - February 1941) and Junior Tactical Course (February - April 1941), he was attached to a mechanical transport battalion of the XV Corps and posted to Burma during World War II.[5]

British Indian Army (1941–1947)

When he joined the British Indian Army, Osmani was a member of the 4th Urban Infantry from 1939 to 1940.^[2] On 5 October 1940, he received an emergency commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Indian Army Service Corps (RIASC).^[3] Osmani was initially attached to the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Wellington Regiment, which was tasked with a New Delhi depot.^[4] After he completed the Short Mechanical Transport Course (November 1940 - February 1941) and Junior Tactical Course (February - April 1941), he was attached to a mechanical transport battalion of the XV Corps and posted to Burma during World War II.^[5]

British Indian Army (1941–1947)Edit

Osmani was promoted to the ranks of war-substantive lieutenant and temporary captain on 17 February 1941.^[6] He received a battlefield promotion to acting major on 23 February 1942, with further promotions to war-substantive captain (temporary major) on 23 May.^[6] Between 1941 and 1945, he held the posts of platoon commander, battalion adjutant, company 2IC and battalion commander. From November 1944 to February 1945, Osmani was a grade-two general staff officer at his formation headquarters, completing the Senior Officers Course after the war.^[7]

He was attached to British Indian Army HQ Bihar and Orissa Area from May to July 1946. On 13 July 1946, Osmani was granted a regular commission in the British Indian Army, with a promotion to substantive captain on 5 October 1946.^[8] He subsequently completed the Senior Officers Course in February 1947, and was promoted to local lieutenant colonel.^[9] He was posted to British Indian Army GHQ in Simla in the Quartermaster General and Ordnance Branches until August 1947. From August to 6 October 1947 he served as GSO-2 at the HQ of Claude Auchinleck in New Delhi. Although Osmani had passed the Indian Civil Service examination, he declined a foreign-service position in 1947 to remain with the Pakistan Army.^[9] He witnessed the end of the British Indian Army, representing Pakistan during the division of army assets between India and Pakistan.^[10]

Pakistan ArmyEdit

After the 1947 birth of India and Pakistan in 1947, Osmani joined the Pakistan Army on 7 October 1947. He was promoted to acting lieutenant colonel on 7 January 1948. He was assigned to general-staff headquarters as GSO-1, Coordination, Planning and Personnel.^[7]

Osmani attended the Long Term Staff Course at the Quetta Staff College and served with Yahya Khan, Tikka Khan and A. A. K. Niazi, all of whom led the Pakistan Army against his Bangladesh forces in 1971. After completing the course, Osmani joined the staff of army chief of staff Reginald Hutton in January 1949 and (as chair of a committee tasked by Douglas Gracey to evaluate army enlistment standards) recommended the establishment of cadet colleges in East Pakistan.^[9] He later became an assistant adjutant general.

InfantryEdit

After serving as a staff officer for eight years, Osmani joined the Pakistan Army infantry. With a rank of major and after induction training, he joined the 5/14 Punjab. He was posted as 2IC and company commander of the 5th Punjab Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment, part of a brigade commanded by Ayub Khan, in 1950. Osmani became commander of the 105th Brigade Training Team in January 1951 and commander of the 5/14 Punjab in May, followed by a four-month tour of duty in Kashmir and Waziristan.^[7][11]

Osmani disagreed with Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army Gen. Ayub Khan^[12] over the treatment of Ishfakul Majid, the senior Bengali army officer in who was falsely accused in the Rawalpindi conspiracy and forced to resign.^[13] In August 1951 Osmany left 5/14 Punjab and was posted as third CO of the 1st East Bengal Regiment, the first Bengali to hold the post, in October.^[14]

East Pakistan (1950–1956)Edit

Osmani became the CO of the 1st East Bengal Regiment, stationed in Jessore as part of the 107th Brigade, on 8 November 1951. He chose Bengali songs for regimental marching and its band ("Chol Chol Chol", "Gram Chara oi ranga matir poth" by Rabindranath Tagore and Dhono Dhanne Pushpe Bhora by D.L. Roy), and the Brotochari (introduced by Shodoy Dutt) became the regimental dance.^[15] Osmani ordered his NCOs to submit daily situation reports in Bangla.^[16] This display of Bengali culture was frowned on by his Punjabi superiors,^[17] who disliked the adoption of what they saw as Hindu culture.^[18] Osmani was commandant of the East Bengal Regimental Center in Chittagong from February 1953 to January 1955.

He commanded the 107th Brigade in Jessore from April to October 1953 (when he was promoted to major), rejoining 1 EBR as CO until February 1954. After Osmani completed the GHQ law course and left the EBRC, he became an additional commandant (later deputy director) of the East Pakistan Rifles under the provincial government of East Bengal in March 1955.^[16] In the EPR, he expanded the recruitment of non-Bengali minority groups and ended recruiting from West Pakistan.^[19]

GHQ PakistanEdit

Osmani was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became a senior advisor at CENTO headquarters in Baghdad as part of the Pakistan military delegation from December 1955 to May 1956. He was promoted to acting colonel in May 1956, joining the Pakistan Army GHQ at Rawalpindi as deputy director for military operations (DDMO).^[7] In August and September 1957 he served as an acting brigadier, serving as DDMO until May 1966. Osmani received the permanent rank of colonel in 1961, and received advanced weapons training in the United States three years later. He served under Gul Hassan Khan in 1964, who felt that Osmani had been passed over for promotion. Khan allowed him to focus on the Bengal regiments.^[20]

By 1958 Osmani was deputy director of the general staff and then deputy director of military operations under Yahya Khan, a position he held until his retirement eight years later. Although he reached the rank of colonel in the first decade of his career, during the next decade he did not receive a promotion. During Osmani's tenure as DDMO in the General Staff Branch, he was a Pakistan Army advisor at CENTO, SEATO and Pakistan Air Defense Committee meetings.^[21]

Bengali recruitment bottleneckEdit

Pakistan mustered six infantry divisions and one armored brigade after the division of the British Indian army in 1947. These formations were neither fully equipped nor staffed. The number of Bengali officers and soldiers in the Pakistan armed forces was small, due to the British preference for recruiting from the martial races and the departure of many non-Muslim Bengali personnel for the Indian Army. The Pakistan Army raised two battalions of the East Bengal Regiment from 1947 to 1950, and Punjab regiments were inherited from the British Indian Army. The Azad Kashmir Regiment was created soon after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.

When Osmani joined GHQ in 1956, three East Bengal regiments and the East Bengal Regimental Centre (EBRC) were part of the Pakistan Army. Over the next nine years the number of Punjab regiments grew (reorganized in 1956) reached almost 50, the Frontier Force and Baluch Regiments grew. Many senior army officers believed in the martial-race theory, and considered Bengalis poor military material.^[22][23] Bengali recruits, generally smaller in stature than West Pakistanis, often failed to meet minimum physical requirements (which were based on average West Pakistani physical characteristics).^[22] Many Pakistani officers favored mixed regiments over Bengali ones and some officers felt that increasing the number of Bengali formations threatened Army unity.^[24]

Role in 1965 warEdit

Osmani was sidelined by the Pakistani generals, despite his service as DDMO during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Instead he devoted himself to the East Bengal regiments. He complained that the Pakistani press suppressed the contributions of his 1st Bengal unit, which was posted in Kasur during the war.^[25] Successive Bengali and non-Bengali COs of the 1 EBR built on Osmani's foundation, and under the command of A. T. K. Haque its battalion received 17 awards for gallantry (including two Sitara-e-Jurats and nine Tamgha-i-Jurats)—the largest number of awards of any Pakistan unit in the war. When Osmani visited the unit and recommended a Nishan-e-Haider for a member, he was reportedly furious when the battalion CO disregarded his recommendation.^[26] He organized Bengal regimental reunions, seizing every opportunity to enhance the reputation of Bengali units.

After the war, Osmani chaired the committee tasked with determining future army-reserve and logistical requirements and was president of the Army Sports Control Board from July 1965 to April 1966. On 16 May 1966, he went on leave prior to retirement (LPR). Osmani's successor as DDMO was Rao Farman Ali, who played a controversial role in the 1971 Bangladesh War. Ali was reportedly horrified at Osmani's treatment by the army; his office was run-down, Osmani was kept out of the loop and office employees treated him with disdain. According to Ali, Osmani was not promoted because he was Bengali and deemed untrustworthy by the high command.^[27]

Retirement and continued influenceEdit

Osmani retired from the Pakistan Armed Forces on 16 February 1967. Although he had failed to increase the number of Bengal regiments, the Pakistani high command (at the recommendation of Maj. Gen. Khwaja Wasiuddin) put the existing regiments through a battery of exercises in West Pakistan to test their adaptability and combat readiness. The evaluator of the exercises said the Bengali units performed well, their pride in representing East Pakistan a component of their success, and opposed their replacement with mixed regiments.

The Pakistani high command did not increase the number of Bengali units until 1969, when (after a pledge by Yahya Khan) the number of Bengal regiments were increased to 10 and all new units were ordered to ensure a minimum 25-percent annual Bengali representation among their recruits.^[28] Osmani, known as "Papa Tiger", was revered by the Bengali troops because of his efforts on their behalf. Although he was not the senior Bengali officer (Ishfakul Majid, commissioned out of Sandhurst in 1924, was older) and did not reach the highest Bengali rank in the Pakistani army (as did Lt. General Khwaja Wasiuddin), Osmani, Wasiuddin and M. H. Mozumdar were patrons of the Bengali troops.^[29]

Death:

Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani was diagnosed with cancer at the CMH (Combined Military Hospital) in 1983, at age 65. Later, he was flown to London for better treatment at government expense. At the St Bartholomew’s Hospital, he received a number of visitors. Osmani died on February 16, 1984, in the London’s hospital. His dead body was flown to Bangladesh and buried beside his mother graveyard in Darga, Sylhet with full military honors.

Legacy:

Osmani International Airport in his hometown Sylhet has been named after him. MAG Osmani Medical College and Osmani Museum also named his honor

Bangladesh War of Independence

Osmani and Ishfakul Majid formed part of the military advisory team for the Awami League leadership in 1971. As the political crisis deepened in March, many Bengali officers of the Pakistan Armed Forces looked to Bengali politicians for guidance and Osmani coordinated the clandestine meetings. Bengali military officers, alarmed by the buildup of Pakistani forces and concerned about their own safety,[32][33][34] maintained contact with Rahman;[35] some maintained contact with Awami League leaders through Osmani, who reportedly agreed to coordinate the activities of Bengali units.[36] Toeing the party line, he advised the officers (including M. R. Mazunder, Chittagong martial-law administrator and Rezaul Jalil, CO of the 1st EBR) against "rash" actions.[34]

Operation Searchlight Edit

Before the crackdown the student and youth wings of the Awami League set up training camps and trained volunteers with Bengali helpers and student cadets. The league leadership declared independence on 7 March 1971. Bengali ex-servicemen held rallies supporting independence; officers and troops kept abreast of the political situation in East Pakistan, which was becoming uncertain and confrontational. Majid and Osmani reportedly designed a military plan of action:[37] capture the Dhaka airport and Chittagong seaport, sealing off the province. The EPR and police would capture Dhaka, aided by Awami League volunteers, and cantonments would be neutralized by Bengali soldiers. Bengali officers advised sabotaging the fuel dumps at Narayanganj and Chittagong to ground Pakistani air power and cripple armed-force mobility.

The Awami League leadership, attempting a political solution,[37] did not endorse action or preparation for conflict by Bengali soldiers before the crackdown. Warnings by Bengali officers that the Pakistan Army was preparing to strike were ignored, and junior Bengali officers were told by their superiors to be prudent and avoid political issues.

The Pakistan Army caught the Bengali political leadership and soldiers by surprise. Resistance to Operation Searchlight was spontaneous and disorganized, and nearly all the Awami League leadership fled to Calcutta. Bengali soldiers were largely unaware of the larger situation; many units performed routine duties as late as 31 March, rebelling only under Pakistani attack. A general amnesty for Bengali troops suggested by Pakistani generals on 31 March was ignored.[38] Group Captain A.K. Khandkar witnessed the departure of Yahia and warned Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Pakistani troop movements.[39][40][41] His 26 March declaration of independence was largely unnoticed.[42] No countrywide communication reached Bengali soldiers to begin the uprising; they rebelled when they were attacked or heard news of the Pakistani attack.

Osmani was at the home of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman when Bengali officers informed Awami League leaders of Yahia Khan's departure and the army movements.[43] After Rahman refused to go into hiding, Osmani hid in Dhaka until 29 March, shaved off his mustache (he was known as "the man attached to a mustache")[44] and left for the Indian border. He went to Jingira, then by boat to Daudkandi (where suspicious residents detained him before the brother of the local member of parliament helped free him).[45] Osmani walked and crossed the Gomoti by boat (with the help of a Bengali army signal corps officer),[46] reaching India by 2 April 1971.

Meetings at Teliapara Edit

Osmani arrived at Teliapara, where the 2nd and 4th East Bengal Regiments (EBR) established a temporary base with a member of the BSF on 2 April 1971. He held a meeting of Bengali officers on 4 April, attended by M. A. Rab, 2 EBR CO K. M. Shafiullah, 4 EBR CO Khaled Musharraf, 8 EBR CO Ziaur Rahman, Salahuddin Reza, Qazi Nurujjaman and Shafat Jamil. Osmani proposed that the 2nd and 4th EBR occupy Comilla, and asked Jaman to formulate a fireplan. After objections by other officers that the battalions would incur crippling losses, the proposal was dropped.[47] Zia proposed that all available forces surround Chittagong, to hold the area as long as possible; this idea was also dropped as impractical.[48] The commanders agreed to send two companies (one each from 2 and 4 EBR) to aid the 8th EBR under Ziaur Rahman.

Five sector commanders were appointed by Osmani: Ziaur Rahman (Chittagong area), Khaled Musharraf (Comilla), K M Shafiullah (Sylhet), Abu Osman Chowdhury (Kushtia-Jessore) and Salahuddin Reza (Mymensingh area).[49] On 7 April, he instructed Q. N. Jaman to oversee operations in Sylhet.[50] The officers agreed that a government in exile should be formed, with the Bengali forces under its authority.

Osmani toured Mukti Bahini positions in Sylhet, and on 9 April he visited Aziz with 2 EBR Charlie Company near Sylhet.[51] That day another conference took place, attended by Director General Rustomji of the BSF and Bengali officers. At the meeting Osmani was elected commander of Bengali forces,[52] and an agreement was reached with Indian officers on logistical assistance. The need to form a Government in exile was agreed, to distinguish the struggle from a mere military revolt.[48] The conference abruptly adjourned when Osmani left after he heard that five PAF jets were inbound.[53][54] The following day, three more sector commanders were appointed: Nazmul Huq (Rajshahi-Pabna) and captains for Rangpur-Dinajpur and Barisal.[55] The Pakistan Army appointed A. A. K. Niazi GOC for East Pakistan the same day. On 12 April, the Bengali government in exile at Agartola appointed Osmani commander of the Mukti Bahini. With the formation of the Bangladesh government on 17 April 1971, he was reinstated to active duty and appointed commander-in-chief.

Early activities as commander-in-chief

Osmani took command of the Mukhti Bahini after 17 April 1971. Since the Bengali forces were geographically isolated and lacked command staffs and a communications network, real-time command was impossible. Osmani allowed the sector commanders to fight as they saw fit, while he toured the sectors and met with Indian officials in New Delhi and Kolkata concerning weapons and communications. Although India did not offer material aid, it helped design Mukhti Bahini structure and expressed the possibility of future Indian intervention.

The Bengalis put up an unexpectedly stiff resistance, derailing the initial Pakistani estimate of pacifying East Pakistan by 10 April. Their initial success was unsustainable. They began experiencing a lack of trained men, officers, coordination, a central command structure and supplies (despite some aid from the BSF) although most of the country was still free of Pakistani control. The Pakistani Army airlifted its 9th and 16th Infantry Divisions to Bangladesh by 10 April, and was poised to seize the initiative. Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, after a briefing by the departing East Pakistan GOC, implemented a strategy[56] to clear all large cities of insurgents and secure Chittagong; to control and open all river, road and rail networks; to drive the insurgents away from the country's interior, and to launch combing operations across Bangladesh to wipe out the insurgency.

Bengali field commanders adopted a strategy of "holding as much area for as long as possible".[57] The Bengali political leadership hoped to keep the Pakistanis confined to the cities, while the government in exile sought diplomatic recognition and the resistance prepared for guerrilla warfare[58] and awaited expected Indian military intervention.[59]