Muhammad Ghulam Tawab

{{Short description|2nd Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = Air Vice Marshal

| name = Ghulam Tawab

| honorific_suffix = SJ SBt

| birth_date = 1 July 1930

| death_date = {{death date and age|1999|2|23|1930|7|1|df=y}}

| birth_place = Sylhet, Assam, British India

| death_place = Munich, Bavaria, Germany

| office = 2nd Chief of Air Staff

| term_start = 15 October 1975

| term_end = 30 April 1976

| president = Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad
Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem

| primeminister = None

| predecessor = A. K. Khandker

| successor = Khademul Bashar

| image =

| width =

| caption =

| nickname =

| birth_name = Muhammad Ghulam Tawab

| allegiance = {{PAK}} (1947–1971)
{{BAN}} (1971–1999)

| branch = {{air force|PAK}}
{{air force|BAN}}

| serviceyears = 1951-1976

| rank = 20px Air Vice-Marshal
20px

| unit = No. 9 Squadron

| commands = *ACAS (Administration) of Air Headquarters

AOC of BAF Tejgaon

| battles = Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Six-Days War
Bangladesh Liberation War

| awards =

| laterwork =

| mawards = 30px Sitara-e-Jurat
30px Sitara-e-Basalat

}}

Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Ghulam Tawab {{post-nominals|country=Pakistan|list=SJ SBt}} (1 July 1930 – 23 February 1999) was the second chief of the air staff of Bangladesh Air Force who also served as deputy chief martial law administrator of Bangladesh with General Ziaur Rahman and Admiral M. H. Khan from 1975 to 1976.

Early life

Tawab was born in a village near Sylhet, of Bengal Province, British Indian Empire, on 1 July 1930. He was married to Henrietta, a German national, and has two sons and a daughter.{{Cite book |last=Bhattacharya |first=Brigadier Samir |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4mZAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA219 |title=Nothing But! |publisher=Partridge Publishing |pages=219– |isbn=978-1-4828-1720-1 |language=en}}

Career

After graduating college, Tawab joined the Pakistan Air Force in 1951 and was commissioned with the 9th GD(P) course as a pilot officer in the Pakistan Air Force. He graduated from PAF College Risalpur on September 15, 1951. During 1965 War, he had led the Pathankot airstrike and was awarded Sitara-e-Jurat.

After Sheikh Mujib's assassination in August 1975, Tawab was immediately recalled from West Germany to active duty by then military chief, Major General Ziaur Rahman upon then Wing Commander M. Hamidullah Khan's advice. In October 1975, Tawab was promoted to Air Vice Marshal and appointed Chief of Air Staff replacing Air Vice Marshal A. K. Khandker.

The Bengal Lancers were directly involved in the coup and killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.{{Cite journal |last=Maniruzzaman |first=Talukder |date=1977 |title=Bangladesh in 1976: Struggle for Survival as an Independent State |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2643476 |journal=Asian Survey |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=191–200 |doi=10.2307/2643476 |issn=0004-4687|url-access=subscription }} They were posted to Bogra Cantonment and their officers were sent into diplomatic posting outside of Bangladesh.{{Cite news |date=2010-01-27 |title=Factbox: Key facts about Bangladesh's Mujib case |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-mujib-factbox-idUSTRE60Q67A20100127 |access-date=2023-02-03}} Major General Ziaur Rahman, chief of Bangladesh Army, had difficulty moving the Bengal Lancers to Bogra but eventually succeeded after Air Vice Marshall Muhammad Ghulam Tawab, Chief of Bangladesh Air Force, threatened to use Air Force aircraft against the Bengal Lancers.

Air Vice Marshall Muhammad Ghulam Tawab addressed a rally of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami calling for Bangladesh to be changed from a secular state to an Islamic one.{{Cite web |title=Assassination of Ziaur Rahman (1981) - Sheikh Mujib's killers return for another mutiny, government vs leftist parties - History of Bangladesh |url=http://www.londoni.co/index.php/27-history-of-bangladesh/1981-assassination-of-ziaur-rahman/292-assassination-of-ziaur-rahman-1981-sheikh-mujib-s-killers-return-for-another-mutiny-government-vs-leftist-parties-history-of-bangladesh |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=www.londoni.co |language=en-gb}}{{Cite news |date=2013-07-15 |title=Tales of critical times |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news/tales-of-critical-times |access-date=2023-02-03 |work=The Daily Star |language=en}} Tawab also brought back four army officers involved in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and reinstated them in the Bengal Lancers at Bogra Cantonment. This led to the 1976 Bogra mutiny under Syed Faruque Rahman, one of the officers Tawab helped return to Bangladesh.

After the failed mutiny, Major General Ziaur Rahman retired Tawab, sent the four officers back, and disbanded the Bengal Lancers.

M. G. Tawab retired from Bangladesh Air Force in 1977 and returned to West Germany. He died in Munich on February 23, 1999, from prostate cancer after several years of illness.