The 86th birth anniversary of Rear Admiral Mahbub Ali Khan will be observed on November 3.
He is known for his heroic actions done for his country. Under the leadership of Mahbub Ali Khan the South Talpatti sandbar and other emerging islands in the Bay of Bengal, over which both India and Bangladesh claimed sovereignty, remained under the authority of Bangladesh.
He is also known for bringing down the pirates in the Bay of Bengal and was responsible for maintaining the security of the Bay and the Sundarbans.
To mark his birth anniversary, Rear Admiral MA Khan Memorial Committee units of Dhaka, Sylhet and his family members chalked out various programmes in home and abroad.
“Floral wreaths will be placed in MA Khan’s mazar in Banani followed by Quran khatam and Quran Khawani on Tuesday. Special munajat will be offered across the country, including Dhaka, Sylhet and Bogura,” said a press release on Monday.
In Saudi Arabia, special prayers will be offered in Makkah and Madinah while Brick Lane Mosque in London and Putra Mosque in Malaysia, it added.
Rear Admiral Mahbub Ali Khan was a symbol of honesty, integrity, hard work and dedication. He was the architect of the modern Bangladesh Navy.
Mahbub Ali Khan at a glance
In 1952 Khan joined the executive branch of the Pakistan Navy as a cadet. He received his training as a cadet in a military school in Quetta of West Pakistan. For higher training he went to finish his graduation at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England. After his graduation he married Sayeeda Iqbal Manda Banu in 1955.
In 1960 he became the Gunnery officer of P.N.S (Pakistani Naval Ship) Tughril. In 1964 he became the torpedo and anti-submarine officer of P.N.S Tippu Sultan. From 1967-68 he served the Pakistan Navy as the Joint Chiefs’ Secretariat Staff officer in the Defence Ministry in Rawalpindi of West Pakistan. In 1970 he became the officer in charge of the torpedo and anti-submarine school in the P.N.S Himalaya and in the West Pakistani city of Karachi he served as the Seaward defence officer.
During the 1971 war, when East Pakistan became Bangladesh and then went to war with West Pakistan for independence, Khan, at that time, was still staying in West Pakistan. Because of his patriotism towards Bangladesh, Khan and his family was placed under house arrest by the Pakistan government. Even after the war was over, Khan was still placed under house arrest for two more years till 1973, when he was able to escape from West Pakistan to Afghanistan. From Afghanistan he went to India and then finally to his motherland, Bangladesh.
In October 1973, Khan became the first Bengali to be appointed as the commandant of the Mercantile Academy of Chittagong. In February 1976 he became the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Operations and Personnel) of the Bangladesh Navy. In December 1976 the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom sold a Salisbury class frigate to Bangladesh which came to be known as BNS (Bangladeshi Naval Ship) Umar Farooq. Khan became the captain of the BNS Umar Farooq and with this ship he travelled to the ports of Algeria, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka. On 4 November 1979, Khan became the Chief of Naval Staff of the Bangladesh Navy and on 1 January 1980 he grew to the rank of rear admiral.
Khan worked hard to modernise the Bangladesh Navy. In the aftermath of the Bhola cyclone in 1970, a small uninhabited offshore sandbar landform called the South Talpatti sandbar emerged in the Bay of Bengal. Although South Talpatti was uninhabited and there were no permanent settlements or stations located on it, both India and Bangladesh claimed sovereignty over it because of speculation over the existence of oil and natural gas in the region. Under Khan, the sandbar remained under Bangladeshi authority.
During his time the Bangladesh Navy was also able to bring down the pirates in the Bay of Bengal. Khan also took possible measures to maintain the security of the Sundarbans.
During the time of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman's rule, besides being the head of the navy, Khan also served as the minister of telecommunications. In 1982, Khan was appointed as the deputy chief martial law administrator of the country. At that time he also became an adviser of the Ministry of Communications. From 10 July 1982 to 1 June 1984, he served as a minister of the Ministry of Communications.[ Till his death, he served as the Minister of Agriculture in the country.
On 5 August in 1984, Khan went to the then Dhaka International Airport in Dhaka to investigate an air crash in that area. There, while investigating the air crash, Khan had a heart attack and he was taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), where he died at the age of 49 on August 6.
Condolences poured in from all over the world after his death. Queen Elizabeth, Fahad Bin Abdulaziz, the King of Saudi Arabia, General M Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan and General Prem Tinsulanonda, Prime Minister of Thailand expressed their shock at the death.
