KM Shafiullah, a sector commander in the 1971 Liberation War and a retired major general, passed away at the age of 91 after struggling with health issues for several years.
His personal assistant, Ziaur Rahman Moni, confirmed that Shafiullah died at 8:45 am on Sunday at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka.
Moni informed bdnews24.com that the first funeral prayer would take place after Zuhr at Kazi Abdul Hamid High School in Narayanganj’s Rupganj, followed by a second prayer after Asr at the central mosque in Dhaka Cantonment.
Shafiullah had been dealing with several health complications, including diabetes, hypertension, thyroid disorders, fatty liver, and dementia, and spent his final years confined to a stretcher.
During the 1971 Liberation War, Shafiullah served as the second-in-command of the Second East Bengal Regiment in Joydebpur. He led the Bengali soldiers of the regiment in a revolt against the Pakistani military. At the onset of the war, he was appointed commander of Sector 3, and later led the “S” Force when three regular army brigades were formed.
For his pivotal role in the war, Shafiullah was awarded the title “Bir Uttom.”
Born on September 2, 1934, in Rupganj, Shafiullah served as the army chief of Bangladesh from 1972 to 1975. Afterward, he represented Bangladesh as an ambassador to Malaysia, Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Shafiullah returned to Bangladesh in 1991 and was briefly made an officer on special duty (OSD) before retiring the following year.
In 1995, he joined the Awami League and won a seat as a Member of Parliament from the Narayanganj-1 constituency in the 1996 general election. He became a member of the presidium of the Sector Commanders Forum in 2007, which advocated for the trial of war criminals from 1971, and later served as the forum’s chairman.
Shafiullah was the army chief during the 1975 assassination of then-president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family. Following the assassination, he expressed loyalty to the government formed by Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, but was removed from his post within days.
Many Awami League leaders criticized Shafiullah for not preventing the assassination, but he later stated, “What can an army chief do in such a situation?”
