Published : 25 Aug 2026, 07:17 AM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:35 AM
Former home minister Mohabbat Jan Chowdhury, who served under former military ruler HM Ershad, has died at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) at the age of 92.
Mohammad Abdul Hoque, chairman of the Retired Armed Forces Officers Welfare Association (RAOWA), confirmed his death on Monday.
He is scheduled to be buried at the military cemetery after funeral prayers following Maghrib in Uttara Sector 4.
Chowdhury joined the Pakistan Army as a second lieutenant in 1955 and retired as a major general. He also served as director general of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI).
As an intelligence officer, he was known to have played a key role in forming Ershad-sponsored political groups, including the Jatiya Front, an alliance of several existing and new parties that backed Ershad’s martial law regime and later evolved into the Jatiya Party.
Several serving military officers, mostly repatriated from Pakistan after the 1971 Liberation War, joined Ershad’s cabinet. Chowdhury was among those who became a cabinet minister while still in uniform.
After Ershad seized power, Chowdhury was appointed home minister in 1982, serving from July that year until July 1983.
He later joined the Jatiya Party and won the Faridpur-3 seat in the 1986 election, becoming a member of parliament from the party.
Born in Gopalganj subdivision of Faridpur district, he also served as a director on the board of Micro Industries Development Assistance and Services.
