The New Nation - Internet Edition

It is with certain sadness we took the news of recent death of former chief of Army Staff General Muhammad Mustafizur Rahman, Bir Bikram, - peace be upon him. General Mustafiz was, among other things, a fine gentleman, a knowledgeable person, an expert in his field, a pleasant personality, a good orator, a good host and a good listener. Ms. Sarwar Sultana - a former acting cabinet minister (internal administration) of United Nations administered East Timor - and I have had the opportunity to meet the General and his family on a number of occasions during his life time.

In the year 2000, General Mustafiz visited East Timor as the head of Bangladesh Army. One of the purposes of his visit was to assess and determine in person - how much effective and efficient his engineers battalion was when it comes to battalion's performance in the UN administered territory, I mean East Timor?

In the course of that visit, he enquired about the welfare of battalion members, dined and spent time with them, got himself familiar with challenges - his forces had been facing in rebuilding East Timor, discussed relevant matters with the UN administration, influential political leaders and concerned others, reiterated Bangladesh's support for East Timor's rebuilding efforts, and motivated battalion members for better performances via forums such as the darbar, to mention a few.

I can still remember how much pleased he was when he heard about (from the UN administration and other sources) and witnessed in real terms the quantity and the quality of contributions Bangladeshi forces had been making towards rebuilding East Timor's physical infra-structure under the effective leadership of Col. Faruque, at present a two-star general of Bangladesh Army. I can also remember - I congratulated the general on his success in, among other things, re-designating, as appropriate, active personnel of Bangladesh Army in an American way - private, Lance Corporal, Brigadier-General, and so on.

I met him last at his official residence in Dhaka when one of his daughters was going to join the Bangladesh Army. At that time, I found both Mr. Mustafiz and Mrs. Mustafiz to be very proud of their children - particularly, the one mentioned above, at least according to my assessment then in that area.

In fine, I pray to Almighty God for the departed soul. May Almighty God give his family and concerned others the strength and courage to bear the irreparable loss through the time to come. May Almighty God bless all His creatures all the time, beyond the time and beyond! Ameen.

Dr. M. S. Haq

Dhaka