Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan

United Nations peacekeeping missions

Bhuiyan served in United Nations peacekeeping during the Gulf War in 1991, where he was part of the First Bangladesh Battalion, Bravo Company, that countered against the Iraqi Armed Forces in Kuwait City. Bhuiyan was awarded the Kuwait Liberation Medal for his distinguished actions. Bhuiyan also served as commander of the 2nd Bangladesh Battalion (BANBAT-2) with UNAMSIL in Sierra Leone from 1998 to 1999.^[12]

Chief of army staff

Bhuiyan was promoted to general on 25 June 2012 and was appointed chief of army staff, succeeding General Abdul Mubeen.^[13][14]

He invited Indian army chief General Bikram Singh in October 2012 to visit Bangladesh.^[15] In November 2012, he held a reception for veterans of the Bangladesh Liberation War.^[16] In 2013, he raised the flags of two infantry battalions, the 32nd and 33rd Bangladesh Infantry Regiments in Jalalabad Cantonment.^[17] Bhuiyan furthermore hosted the commander of the United States Army Pacific Command, General Vincent Brooks, in 2014 during the Pacific Armies Management Seminar and inaugurated the Bangladesh Golf Academy in 2015 at the Army Golf Club.^[18][19]

Bhuiyan also took active measures to prevent extrajudicial killings and the culture of enforced disappearances. He resisted pressure from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to send more young army officers to the Rapid Action Battalion and other paramilitary forces used by the Awami League to suppress opposition.^[20] His actions put him in direct dissension with Major General Tarique Siddique, then military advisor to the prime minister. Bhuiyan went on leave per retirement on 25 June 2015 and was succeeded by General Belal Shafiul Haque.^[20][21]

Support for students

Bhuiyan was among several retired military personnel who expressed support for the student movement leading the 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement and the Non-cooperation movement and called on the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to "withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately".^[23][24][25] On August 4, 2024, he organized a press conference where he and other retired army officers condemned the attacks on innocent protestors and subsequently called on the troops to return to the barracks.^[26] In his speech, he said:

When the attackers were forced to retreat in the face of the uprising, the Bangladeshi Armed Forces were deployed in the next phase. By using them as shields, sometimes at the forefront, sometimes behind, other forces are continuing to inflict violence, oppression, and torture on this mass movement. The patriotic armed forces should not bear the responsibility for such a situation. The Bangladeshi Armed Forces have never faced off against the people in the past, nor have they pointed guns at them.

He also uploaded the color red on his Facebook profile in support of the movement on 31 July 2024.^[27] This prompted many other retired army officers to also upload red profile pictures. He stated later on, in his official social media page, that this act infuriated Hasina, and she tried to force him to take it down.^[28]

After the fall of Hasina, in response to a potential military conflict with India, Bhuiyan suggested that the French concept of levée en masse could be introduced.^[29]

Support for reforms

After the uprising against Hasina, he released a number of writings regarding his tenure in the army. He highlighted how he tried to stop extrajudicial killings and, moreover, called on Waker-Uz-Zaman to remove army officers from RAB.^[20] He stated in a social media post:

We have reached a point where urgent decisions regarding RAB are necessary. I would request the army chief to recommend to the government that this institution be disbanded. If that is not possible, then military officers should be permanently withdrawn from RAB. The current army chief has the independence to do this, which previous army chiefs did not have. For this reason, I urge him to complete what we were unable to do.

Bhuiyan also called for a formal inquiry to clarify unanswered questions about Sheikh Hasina's escape and the army's internal divisions during the crisis.^[28] Furthermore, he warned against a "1/11-style" military intervention against the interim government of Professor Yunus.

During the trial of Major General Ziaul Ahsan, Bhuiyan's testimony was used. In his statement, Bhuiyan stated that he had asked Colonel (later Lt. Gen.) Mujibur Rahman and Brigadier Jaglul to stop Zia's actions.^[30]