DEFENCE SERVICES COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE MIRPUR DHAKA BANGLADESH

YEARLY NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 4 OCTOBER 1996ASHWIN 1403

At the very outset, all Mirpurians should knowthat the yearly newsmagazine 'The Mirpurians'willhenceforth appear as 'Mirpur Newsletter' withthe hope that its frequency of publication willincreaseto at least twice yearly. The idea is tokeepall Mirpurians abreast of all activities anddevelopmentsin their favourite Alma Mater or atbest to provide them with nostalgic touches. Theyearly College magazine 'The Torch' for thecoursesof 1995/96 has just tome out where mostdetails of those courses are reflected. Thisnewsletter will briefly touch upon last year'sactivitiesand will give a brief update of mostactivitiesof current courses till issuance of thisnewsletter. It will also include details of some ofour alumni.

The sudden departure of ex-Comdt Maj GenMashhudhad seen the College through an interimperiodof over 3 months under Dy Comdt CdreZulfiquer as its A/Comdt. Since then there hasbeena big change in the College hierarchy withthe take over of ,Maj Gen Mansur as the new

Comdt, Air Cdre Siddique as Dy Comdt,departure of CI Brig (now Maj Gen) Sahool andthe arrival of new Col Admin, Col Farid onpromotion (congrats!). We also eagerly awaitarrival of our new CI Brig Moeen Uddin Ahmed.Heartiest congratulations to Maj Gen Mansur onhis generalship and also on taking over as the leadTorch bearer of the College. We welcome himback to the College after his tenure as ourdiplomat in uniform in Washington. Prior to this,he was the first Bangladeshi CI to take over fromBMAT. Our thanks are also due to the ex-Cl MajGen Sahool on taking over as GOC in his newassignment. Whatever the changes in College set-up, the College will continue to strive to upholdthe rich traditions set by its illustriouspredecessors and keep the Torch ever alight.

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The College is in its 18th year and currently thecourses are past the mid way course and well intotue Third Term. We proudly recollectcontributions of all students and facuIty membersin making the College what it is today. In fact theCollege has progressed tremendously in the shortspan of time since its inception not onlystructurally but also in the quality and content ofits course curriculum to keep pace with the rapidlychanging contemporary world. __ " ,...

Dear Mirpurians, let this newsletter be themedium of our communication with you. Youshould know that we are very much eager to learneverything possible about you since you left thisCollege - your current occupation, permanentmailing address so the newsletter can reach you intime, your achievements and future plans etc. Forour overseas friends, we have requested throughthe embassies to furnish us those details - weimpatiently await with all alacrity. We plan topublish those in our next issue. By the way, abrief run down of achievements of some of ourproud Mirpurians will not be out of place here. LtGen Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman, a veteranMirpurian from the maiden course, ie 1st StaffCourse has made it to the top of Bangladesh Armyas its CAS. We also proudly recall the days wherethe College saw him as its 7th Comdt under whomit made great strides. R Adm M Nurul Islam, analumni from 5th Staff Course is now CNS of BNand AVM Jamal Uddin Ahmed, from 2nd StaffCourse is the COAS of BAF. We have no doubtsthat the College will continue to receive unlimitedand extended patronage in view of their toppositions in respective Services. Two Mirpurianshave joined the realm of politics, quite afashionable change of profession after retirementand are currently MPs: Maj Gen Salam (retd) andLt Col Faruk (retd), an ex Col GS and founder-author of this newsletter .:Our best wishes are dueto them and all other Mirpurians in their futurestrides.

POSTED IN/UNDER POSTING

* Maj Gen A M Mansur Ahmed - Comdt

* Air Cdre M Siddique Alam - Dy Comdt

* Brig Moeen Uddin Ahmed - CI (under posting)

* Col Q M Muhibbur Rahman Azad - Col GS

* Capt K M Ahmed - SI (Navy)I

* Col Zahir - SI (Army) (under posting)

* Col Farid - Col Admin

* Lt Col Sheikh Monirul Islam - Army DS 1

* Lt Col Muhammad Abdur Rashid - Army DS 8

* Lt Col Mohammad Firdaus Mian - Army DS 9

* Lt Col Tushar Kanti Chakma - Army DS 11

* Cdr F M Habib - Naval DS 1

* Wg Cdr Enamul Bari - Air DS 1

* Wg Cdr Alamgir - Air DS 2

POSTED OUT/UNDER POSTING

* Maj Gen Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury - Comdtto GOC 11 Inf Div

* Cdre Zulfiquer Ali - Dy Comdt to CSD

* Brig (now Maj Gen) Muhammad Sahool Afzal -CI to GOC 33 Inf Div

* Col Majibur Rahman - Col Admin underposting to DW&CE (Navy)

* Col Saiful Ali - SI (Army) Div B to Comd 88Inf Bde (under posting)

* Col Solaiman Ahmed - Col cs as DCMO toGeorgia

* Capt M Anwarul Haque - SI (Navy) to MP BNDockyard

* Gp Capt T A Zearat Ali - SI (Air) to Air HQ asDFS (Dir Fit Safety)

* Lt Col (now Col) Manzurul Alam - Army DS toDGFI

* Lt Col ASM Mustafa Kamal Khan - Army DSto CO Med Regt

* Lt Col Md Aminul Karim - Army DS to CO FdRegt

* Lt Col Rafiqul Islam Army DS to CO ASU

* Lt Col Mahmudur Rahman Chowdhury -ArmyDS to CO Fd Regt

* Lt Col Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan - Army DS to COInf Bn (under posting)

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* Lt Col Belal - Army DS 16 to CO Armr Regt(under posting)

* Cdr ASMA Awal - Naval DS to XO BNSUMAR FAROOQ

* Wg Cdr Syed Anwar Shamim - Air DS to PS toCOAS

* Wg Cdr SM Shahjehan - Air DS to Turkey oncourse

CONGRATULATIONSON PROMOTION

Our heartiest congratulations to the following ontheir promotion/approval for promotion:

* Maj Gen A M Mansur Ahmed

* Maj Gen Md Sahool Afzal (posted out)

* Col Saiful A1i(approved as Brig)

* Col Shafiquzzaman

95/96STAFF COURSES

20thArmy, 14th Naval and 16th Air Staff Coursescomprising 78, 10 and 20 student officersrespectively commenced on 01 Apr 95 andsuccessfullygraduated on 01 Feb 96. Of these 108students, 23 were from 11 friendly overseascountries.Out of the successful Mirpur graduates,64Bangladeshi and 12 overseas officers have beenawarded Masters in Defence Studies (MDS) by theNational University (NU). Seven members of thefacultyhave also been awarded the much covetedMDS on successful completion of the Mastersproject.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTSCOURSES

95/96

Besidessuccessful graduation of all students andsuccessful completion of MDS degree, therecipientsof best Comdt's Paper award were:

* ArmyWing - Maj Abdur Razzak, E Bengal

* NavalWing - Lt Cdr Md Khaled Iqbal, (ND),B

* AirWing - Wg Cdr Mamunur Rashid Quadery,M Eqpt, BAF

* Overseas Officer - Maj Avinash LaxmanChavan (Indian Army)

SPORTING EVENTS 95/96 COURSES

Various games and sports were traditionallyorganized by the College over the whole academicyear and prizes were distributed by Comdt MajGen Mashhud as chief guest in the Annual SportsRound-up. The detailed results appear in 'TheTorch' of 95/96 issue. Lt Cdr Ang Cheng Hwafrom Malaysia was adjudged as the 'Player of theYear' for displaying his outstanding overallsporting skills.

GRADUATION 95/96 COURSES

The Graduation Ceremony was held on 02 Feb 96at 0900 hours in the College auditorium nownamed Mirpur Hall. The former Prime Minister,Begum Khaleda Zia was the chief guest and gaveaway the certificates to the graduates. Theceremony was attended by ministers, ServicesChiefs, diplomats, defence advisers, high militaryand civil officials. The Chief of Air Staff AVMJamal Uddin Ahmed attended the GraduationDinner as the chief guest on 20 Jan 96. It was alsoattended by high ranking military officials,defence advisers of countries represented and theirwives.

96/97 STAFF COURSES

21st Army, 15th Naval and 17th Air Staff Coursescomprising 86, 13 and 20 student officersrespectively started on 06 Apr 96 and are due toconclude on 06 Feb 97: Of these 119 students, anincrease of 11 students over last year, 26 are from12 friendly overseas countries. Next year, thestudent body will expand further with theintroduction of another Naval Syndicate. In theMDS programme, 75 Bangladeshi and 14 overseasofficers including 12 faculty members hope to viefor the MDS degree.

ANNUAL SPORTS 96/97 COURSES

Current year's sports are being organized andconducted for the first time by the student officersthemselves though GSO 2 (P&C) is the SportsSeey and the College provides all theadministrative support. All sporting events ha vebeen spread out evenly throughout the year. Prizes

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of team events are being distributed immediatelyon completion of the final matches in order toreduce the rush on the Annual Sports Round-upday during Water-sports competition. Followingcompetitions have already been held with resultsshown:

VOLLEYBALL. Held in Term 1;

* Champion: Army Syn 3

* Runners-up: Army Syn 1

Maj Masud of Army Syn 3 displayed greatest skillin the event. CI distributed prizes to the winners.

BASKETBALL. Held in Term 2;

* Champion: Air Syn 2

* Runners-up : Army Syn 2

Wg Cdr Sakeb of Air Syn demonstratedsuperlative skills in the championship reminiscentof his prime days as a national player. CIdistributed prizes among the winners.

SQUASH. Held in Term 2;

* Champion: Maj Adeyemi (Nigeria)

* Runner-up: Maj Ali (Div A).

OTHER EVENTS. Tennis and Football areplanned for Term 3 and Cricket, Badminton andWater-sports including Sports Round-up in Term4. The fourth Tennis Court is already functionalfrom last year. Maj Gen Samad (retd), an exComdt and a Tennis enthusiast should know thatthe College sports arena including the Tenniscomplex is still agog with sporting activities. TheCollege is planning to construct a Fitness Centreor a PI Hall with an indoor swimming pool and amultigym.

VISIT OF SERVICES CIDEFS

CAS Lt Gen Mahbubur Rahman visited theCollege on 21 Jul 96 and addressed all studentsand faculty members on 'Military Leadership'.The eNS R Adm M Nurul Islam paid his visit on25 Sep 96 and spoke on 'Maritime Strategy' . Aftertheir addresses, the Chiefs met all students andCollege staff over lunch. The Air-Chief is due tovisit the College in the Final Term.

VISIT OF PROFESSOR TILL

Professor Geoffrey Till, an eminent British navalstrategist from RN College Greenwich visited theCollege from 05-08 Oct 96 for the first time on ourinvitation, Besides lecturing at the Staff College onMaritime Strategy, he also deliberated oncontemporary maritime issues at NHQ, BlISS andBNA at Chittagong. This visit has been aconsummate success and will hopefully continue infuture courses as well as part of Naval Strategypackage. The visit owes much to the initiative anddrive of ex-SI (Navy) Capt Anwar.

BIRTHS (Greetings)

* Lt Col Belal Army DS 16 ~ blessed with a son.

* Lt Col Monir Army DS 1 - blessed with a son.

* Maj Narande (Indonesia) - blessed with adaughter.

* Maj Adeyemi (Nigeria) - blessed with adaughter.

DEATHS (Condolences)

We condole the sudden demise of two of ourbeloved Mirpurians:

* Lt Col Muhammad Hussain, Sigs who died in aland mine blast while performing duty as UNobserver in Georgia on 09 Mar 96.

* Lt Col Md Mosaddeque, E Bengal who died ina motor cycle accident on 30 Apr 96.

LADIES CLUB ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME

From Term 3 of current courses, an enrichmentprogramme for all ladies of Mirpur has beenplanned as follows:

* Fundamentals ofInterpersonal Relationship - 01Oct 96 (held)

* Personal Values - 15 Oct 96 (held)

* Importance of Effective Communication - 19Nov 96

* Better Ways of Community Living - 03 Dee 96

* Financial Management - 17 Dee 96

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SATELLITE TV

The College is going to sign a new contract soonfor installing an ll-channel satellite TV on VHFwith better reception and quality pictures. Thisincludesone educational or training chamiel and3 pay - TV channels namely Star Movies, ESPNand Zee Cinema. There will, however, remain ascope to increase the channels for the moreaddictedviewers.

-GENERAL

With the completion of the third auditorium.Mirpur has now 3 auditoriums of differentcapacities.A second foot-bridge over eastern lakehas been constructed that links our other ranks'accommodation with the College. The opencorridor from College huilding to the CollegeAuditorium now called Mirpur Hall has beencovered.A picnic spot has been developed west ofthe games complex and a baby care centre hasopenedmainly for these without baby-sitters. Alush green park called Green Spot is under wayadjacent to the Canteen and is going to come upany day now. Officers' families can take abreather here in their leisure hours. A floatingpontoon has been constructed and a pedal boataddedto the fleet of watercrafts in Mirpur lake.Forthe first time, the Dy Comdt has moved insidethe campus to occupy his new accommodation.

TheDSCSCLibrary. now holds 13,000books in itsinventory. Owing to its expansion, it is nowhousedin the entire western part of the first floor.The Library Reference Section has been linkedwith major libraries around the world throughInternet with provision for E-Mail. The E-Mailaddressis 'dscsc citechco.net'. A video section anda slide section have also been added to theLibrary. A photo section is planned for next year.

CCTV

Closed circuit TV network through the trainingleducational channel is being planned which willconnect all syndicates with a 'I'Vmonltor in each.A trial study is already at hand.

STUDENT COORDINATORS

From this year's courses, for better sharing ofresponsibilities and hopefully for more purposefuloutput, student coordinators besides syndicateleaders have been nominated each for sports,socials and The Torch.

ANNUAL SEMINAR

College has been organizing international annualseminars from 1992.This year, there is a proposalto hold a seminar on Civil Military Relations.Topics of past seminars are listed below:

* 1992: UN Peacekeeping Operations

* 1993: Counter Insurgency Operations

* 1994: Disaster Management

* 1995: Future of Conflict Studies

* 1996: Civil Military Relations (planned to beheld on 08/09 Jan 96)

-SECURITY LIGHTS

Officers' Mess is flooded with security lights atnight. So, Mirpurians are being forewarned inorder that they are not caught unawares amidstthe flood lights of the Officers' Mess complex ifthey happen to be around.

TAILOR COUNTER

A tailor counter has been opened near the CollegeCanteen for placing orders or taking delivery oforders by student officers. This is a part of thecontinuous drive to ease student administration.

HONOUR BOARDS

Year-wise Student Honour Boards have beendisplayed in the Academic Block for any visitor orindeed the ex-alumni to browse through duringtheir visits. DS Honour Boards are also beingpasted in the Admin Block walls.

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COURSE PHOTOGRAPHS

Year-wise course photographs of all courses havebeen displayed in the Students' Tea Bar for all ex-alumni reminiscent of their old days at Mirpur.

VIEW CARDS

For the first time the College has printed highquality viewcards including some stunning shots ofthe campus. These are available in the Canteen forsale at nominal prices. This bears testimony to the-artistic sense and creativity of ex-Comdt GenMashhud.

SOCIAL EVENINGS

Currently, students are given a chance each Termto present a mini gala night to give vent to theirpent up feelings reflecting both the social andacademic side of life rather than having totreasure it throughout the year and letting it off inthe final Gala Night before finishing off thecourses. The first 3 Terms saw both the divisionsof Army Wing and Naval Wing display theirartistic talents at their best. The Air Wing isexpected to steal the limelight by learning fromtheir colleagues. The most colourful aspect of thesesocials has been the spontaneous and activeparticipation of the ladies. Besides these, LadiesClub has also organized social evenings duringvisits by foreign training teams to everyone'sdelight. Of course, ladies will not attend officers'dine-out parties from now on so they can attend to'daily chores with less interruption.

DETAILS OF ALUMNI

Please note these interesting statistics of exMirpurians as available to us so far:

* Total graduated : 1124

* Bangladeshi alumni : 866

* Overseas alumni: 258 (25 countries)

* Retired/discharged: 170

* Deceased/KIA : 11

To all the 170 who retired and have chosendifferent careers, our best wishes. Hopefully theteaching of Mirpur will come of use in theirretired lives and new professions. Our prayers aredue to all the deceased 11 Mirpurians who are nomore with us. As a mark of respect and also topray for the departed souls, we have listed downthe names of all 11 Mirpurian who have desertedus forever:

* Gp Capt F H Sarker - 3rd Army - 1982

* Lt Col Md Hussain, Sigs - 15th Army - 1990/91

* Lt Col Mosaddeque Ali, E Bengal - 16th Army:-1991/92

* Lt Col Abdul Haque, Arty - 4th Army - 1980

* Lt Col H R Stephen - 16th Army - 1991/92 - SriLanka

* Wg Cdr Marghoob Hassan, GD (P) - 2nd Air -1981

* Wg Cdr Zia-ud-din Ahmed, GD (P) - 2nd Air -1981

* Wg Cdr D S Wickremasinghe - 13th Air -1992/93 - Sri Lanka

* Maj K B A Kadir - 7th Army - 1982 - Malaysia

* Lt Cdr M A Malik, (S), BN - 5th Naval - 1986

* -Sqn Ldr R Madan, F (P) - 8th Air - 1989/90 -India

OVERSEAS ALUMNI

We are making an effort to collect details of allour overseas alumni which we wish to publish inour next issue. We will appreciate all ex -Mirpurians to write to us and keep us informed oftheir latest so that we can reflect it here. We are,however, making an effort to list out the senioroverseas Mirpurians who have made it to one star-and above:

* Maj Gen H W Njoroge - Kenya - 6th Army(1981) - Comdt Defence Staff College

* Maj Gen M A B D Al Mohsen AI Thumairi .KSA - 4th Air (1983) - Dir of Edn

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* AVM U Wanasinghe - Sri Lanka - 3rd Army(1982) - Comdt Kotalawela Def Academy

* AVM A Peries - Sri Lanka - 4tJI Air (1983) -Chief of Air Staff Air HQ

* Brig H A Murunga - Kenya - 8th Army (1983) -Chief of Br

* Brig Gen M AI-Saad AI-Othman - KSA - 9thArmy (1984) - Tac Force Dir in Army HQ

* Air Cdre D C V Perera - Sri Lanka - 5th Air(1984) - Dir Civ Engg, AFHQ

* Brig A M C W B Seneviratne - Sri Lanka - 9thArmy (1984) - Comd 11 Bde

* Brig M Kamal - Pakistan - 11th Army(1986)

* Brig A E D Wijendra - Sri Lanka - 11th Army(1986) - Comdt Sri Lankan Mil Academy

* Brig G S Chandralal - Sri Lanka - 12th Army(1987)

* Brig I A Ghumman - Pakistan - 12th Army(1987)

* Brig Masood Salam - Pakistan - 13th Army(1988) - Comd Corps Engr

* Brig Gen A M A AI Jubairy - KSA -. 13thArmy (1988)

* Brig D T Murombi Nyagah - Kenya - 13thArmy (1988)

* Brig Gen K A El Khereiji - KSA - 6th Air(1985)

* Brig S Wanigasekera - Sri Lanka - 15th Army(1990/91) - Bde Comd

* Brig Charles M Mwanzia - Kenya - 12th Air(1991/92)

* Brig W B M Bandara Wijeratna - Sri Lanka -17th Army (1992/93) - Bde Comd Arty

* Brig P Fernando, CDO - Sri Lanka - 17thArmy (1992/93) - Bde Comd

THIS IS A DSCSC TRAINING BRANCH PUBLICATIONPrinted At : DSCSC Printing PressEditor : Col Q M Muhibbur Rahman Azad, Col GSAsst Editor: Maj Rezanur Rahman Khan, GSO 2 (P&C)Mailing Address :

Defence Services Command and Staff CollegeMirpur CantonmentDhaka-1221Bangladesh

E-Mail Address:dscsc@citechco.netTelephone : 880-2-803529FAX: 880-2-805083

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