Chowdhury, Abu Osman
Chowdhury, Abu Osman (1936-2020) retired Lt. Colonel, valiant Freedom Fighter and Commander of Sector 8. Abu Osman Chowdhury was born on 1 January 1936 in a respectable family at village Madanergaon in Faridganj upazila under Chandpur district. His father’s name was Abdul Aziz Chowdhury and mother was Majeda Khatun. His early education was in local Free Primary School. He passed Matriculation in First Division from local Chandra Emam Ali High School in 1951, Intermediate in 1954 from Chandpur College in Science group, while obtained his B.A degree from Comilla Victoria College in 1957.
He joined the Pakistan army and was commissioned in 1958 with which began his soldier life. He was promoted to the rank of Major in 1971. After independence, he became Lt. Colonel. In the aftermath of the assassination of Bangabandhu, he was sent into early retirement by the Zia government.
Abu Osman Chowdhury was politically conscious from his student life. The discriminatory treatment meted out to Bengali soldiers and officers by the Pakistanis in the army created a sense of deep resentment in his mind. On the other hand, since 1966, he had been keenly following Bangabandhu’s 6-point movement launched for the national emancipation of the Bengalis. Bangabandhu’s 7th March Address stirred him up to join the war of liberation. The indiscriminate killings of innocent Bengalis by the Pakistani army let loose by the Yahya junta in the dreadful night of 25 March by the name of ‘Operation Searchlight’ and the straightway declaration of independence by Bangabandhu in the early hours of 26 March immediately before his courting arrest at the hands of Pakistani commandos, these two were the moving factors leading Abu Osman Chowdhury to get involved instantaneously in the Liberation War. At that time, he was the Commander of EPR (now BGB) Wing 4 in Chuadanga, then under Kushtia district. The Pakistani invading army was thoroughly defeated including many of them killed in the resistance battle headed by him. Up to mid-April 1971, he and the resistance forces under his Command were able to keep the extended region of Kushtia, Jhenaidah, Chuadanga free from the Pakistani army. Up to a certain length of time, he was the Commander of the entire region stretched in the South-west of the river Padma. At the end of May, the region was divided into two Sectors i.e. 8 and 9, by the Mujibnagar government. Abu Osman Chowdhury was placed in charge of Sector 8 comprising Khustia, Jessore, Khulna and a part of Faridpur. He was withdrawn from this Sector in mid-August by the war-time Bangladesh government, posting him in the Headquarters of the Chief of the army, Colonel (later, General) M.A.G Osmani. Abu Osman Chowdhury was replaced by Major Manzur as Commander of Sector 8.
Abu Osman Chowdhury was not awarded with any gallantry medal despite his brevity and valour in the fight in several battles against the Pakistani occupation army. The main complaints against him were indiscipline and insubordination. Anyway, in 2014, he was awarded with ‘Swadhinata Padak’, the highest civilian State award.
One of the greatest tragedies in his life was the killing of his wife, Begum Nazia Osman by the sepoys during their uprising on 7 November 1975.
On 5 September 2020, the valiant Freedom Fighter Abu Osman Chowdhury died in Dhaka Combined Military Hospital at the age of 84. He was buried in the army graveyard in Banani. The Osman couple left behind 2 daughters. Abu Osman Chowdhury had authored a valuable book on War of Liberation titled Ebarer Sangram Swadhinator Sangram (2010) [Harun-or-Rashid]
Source Abu Osman Chowdhury, Ebarer Sangram Swadhinatar Sangram (in Bengali) [The Struggle this Time is the Struggle for Independence] (Chharulipi 2010); Harun-or-Rashid (ed.), Bangladesh Muktijuddya Gyankosh (in Bengali) [Encyclopedia of Bangladesh War of Liberation], Vol.1, (Asiatic Society of Bangladesh 2020).
