Bangladeshi military personnel
Sadik Hasan Rumi is a former Major General of Bangladesh Army who served as Director General of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) from May 2006 to May 2007.[1][2]
Career
During the 1977 Bangladesh Air Force mutiny, Captain Rumi led an operation to rescue Abdul Gafoor Mahmud, Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force.[3]
Rumi was in charge of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence during the 21 August 2004 bombing in Dhaka that tried to assassinate then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina.[4] His help was sought by Abdul Aziz Sarkar, the Director General of Rapid Action Battalion, to capture Tajuddin, a terrorist and brother of Bangladesh Nationalist Party Minister Abdus Salam Pintu, who was the prime suspect in the 21 August bombing.[5] He directed Directorate General of Forces Intelligence officer Lieutenant Colonel Saiful Islam Joarder to find Tajuddin.[5] Saiful instead provided shelter to Tajuddin and Maulana Abdus Salam, the founder of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami in a DGFI safehouse in Gulshan.[5] After confirming the involvement of Tajuddin and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami in the attacks, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence officers including Rumi and Saiful helped Tajuddin and Abdus Salam go to Pakistan on the orders of Home Minister Lutfozzaman Babar.[5][6] Prime Minister Khaleda Zia tried to bury the case.[4]
Rumi was appointed President of Bangladesh Archery Association on 17 November 2005.[7]
Rumi left Bangladesh for London before the 2007 military takeover by General Moeen U Ahmed and formation of his caretaker government.[8] He was against Major General Rezzakul Haidar Chowdhury, Director General of National Security Intelligence.[8]
Rumi was known as Kala Rumi among his colleagues to differentiate him from his fellow officer, Major General Syed Fatemi Ahmed Rumi, who was known as Shada Rumi.[9] In 2008, Rumi was appointed Director General of Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party.[9] He left military service soon after.[9]
In 2011, Rumi, in a statement to a court in Chittagong implicated Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, former Director General of National Security Intelligence, in the 2004 arms and ammunition haul in Chittagong.[10] He had reached the site with Minister of Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and Director General of Rapid Action Battalion Anwarul Ikbal by helicopter.[10][11] He reported the weapons were bought from China for the United Liberation Front of Asom.[10] He had denied that he met the leader of United Liberation Front of Asom, Paresh Barua, denying the report of Assistant Superintendent of Police Moniruzzaman of the Criminal Investigation Department.[12]
In 2012, Rumi told the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 in the hearing of the 21 August 2004 bombing in Dhaka case that he was refused permission by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to investigate the case.[13][14]
References