Rokan's Journal

Maj Gen HRM Rokan Uddin (Retd)

For nearly two decades, a quiet anguish ran through Bangladesh’s armed forces – one that never surfaced in public debate yet upended the lives of hundreds of families. Between 2009 and August 4, 2024, many officers in the army, navy, and air force were pushed into premature or compulsory retirement without any clear reason being given. Some were removed from service, some dismissed, others quietly sent out of service through administrative orders. Many of these officers were talented, capable, and patriotic – their only “offense” being that they stood outside the favor of the ruling political structure of the time.

The scale of this injustice can be gauged from a gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Defence on July 1, in which the government announced the rehabilitation, retroactive promotion, and payment of due financial benefits to 150 officers – 115 from the army, 21 from the navy, and 14 from the air force. A high-level committee formed by interim government prepared this recommendation after extensive review, concluding that these officers suffered discrimination, deprivation, and vindictiveness during their careers. In many cases, orders of compulsory or premature retirement were annulled and reclassified as normal retirement upon reaching the age limit. Several officers were given retroactive promotions and special financial grants. But that was not executed, new government, through a separate high-level board reviewed the recommendations and published the final order for execution.

The abrupt dismissal of an officer is never just a personal crisis – it is a disaster that descends on an entire family. Many officers were arrested; some are alleged to have been abducted; some lost their lives. Others fled the country altogether, fearing state persecution. For these individuals, the deeper question was never simply about retirement benefits, but about dignity – would the state ever acknowledge that a wrong had been done to them?

After the political changeover of August 5, 2024, deprived officers in the civil administration, police, and other departments began recovering their rightful dues within about a month. But for the armed forces, the process was long, complicated, and delayed. Nearly two years passed before the government reached a final decision. Several factors have been cited for this prolonged delay – differences between the interim government and armed forces headquarters, a lack of adequate priority given to the matter at the policy level, and general administrative complexity. It is fairer to avoid attributing blame to any individual and simply note that institutional discoordination allowed a just claim to languish for years – something that should not have happened.

This entire episode brings to the fore a fundamental question: how far has the armed forces managed to stay free of political influence? The foundation of any professional military rests on the principle that an officer’s promotion, transfer, or retirement is determined solely by merit, competence, and professional conduct – never by loyalty to any political party, individual, or faction. Whenever that principle is violated, whenever political power interferes in a force’s internal decisions to reward some and punish others, it is not merely the individual officer who suffers but the professional culture of the entire institution. Officers then become more preoccupied with political connections and displays of loyalty than with their own competence, which in the long run damages both the force’s combat readiness and the quality of its leadership. Professionalism is not just about training or discipline – it is an institutional culture in which every officer can be confident that his future will be decided by fair, pre-established standards, not by the goodwill of whichever group happens to hold power.

Keeping the armed forces outside of politics is not the responsibility of the military alone – it belongs equally to every government that holds state power. When any government attempts to use the armed forces as an instrument for its own political survival, it runs counter to the very spirit of the constitution. In a country like Bangladesh, where the military’s history includes bitter experiences of political interference on more than one occasion, this separation matters even more. A professional armed force means remaining equally effective and impartial under any government, while also respecting democratic civilian authority. Balancing these two is the essence of a healthy civil-military relationship.

Given this backdrop, the question of structural reform cannot be avoided. If decisions on promotion boards, compulsory retirement, and disciplinary action are made since transparent, written criteria – with a mandatory requirement that the officer concerned be informed of the reasoning behind each decision – it would become far harder for any future government to quietly pursue retaliatory action. Alongside this, an independent appeals or review mechanism is needed, allowing an officer to challenge a retirement or dismissal decision outside the force’s own internal chain of command. Maintaining a proper balance between military tribunals and civilian judicial oversight and giving parliament’s standing committee on defence a more meaningful oversight role, could also form part of this reform process.

Alongside personnel reform, modernizing the armed forces is now a matter of urgency. Bangladesh’s geopolitical position – its maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal, the Arakan Army’s growing control and instability across the border in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, and the competing spheres of influence among regional powers – makes the strengthening of military capability a strategic priority, not merely a matter of expanding the defence budget. The navy needs modern surveillance technology and vessels to protect the coastline and the maritime economic zone. The air force needs updated radar networks and a modernized fleet to secure airspace. The army must invest in training and technology to address non-traditional threats such as border management, counterterrorism, and cybersecurity.

Modernization, however, is not only about acquiring weapons and equipment – but human resource development is also an equally essential part of it. Expanding opportunities for international training and higher education for officers, building a strong think-tank structure for research-based defence policymaking, and fostering a healthy culture of civil-military coordination should all be part of a long-term security strategy. Bangladesh’s long-standing participation in UN peacekeeping missions has earned it considerable international standing, which could be leveraged to open new avenues for technology transfer and training cooperation. But the foundation for all of this must be a stable, politically insulated institutional structure – because even the most advanced weapons and technology amount to little if officers’ morale collapses and a culture of fairness is absent.

The retroactive promotions, financial compensation, and housing arrangements now being provided cannot give back the years these officers lost. No sum of money can compensate a child who grew up without a father present, or an officer who spent the most active years of his career uncertainty. And yet this acknowledgment carries a profound value of its own. When the state openly says “ a wrong was done to you” it brings a form of mental peace that outlasts material compensation. After years of humiliation, suspicion, and silence, this recognition is, for these officers and their families, the greatest solace of all.

What Bangladesh’s armed forces need going forward is a renewed relationship built on respect, care, and genuine regard – one in which an officer’s future is determined solely by professional competence and conduct, never by political calculation. Professionalism, freedom from political influence, institutional reform, and technological modernization – only the convergence of these four elements can prepare the armed forces for the challenges ahead, while ensuring that no officer’s life is ever again upended by a change of government. Only then will the long suffering of these deprived officers find its true meaning.