Saiful Alam made DGFI chief as five major generals get new duties in army shake-up

Five senior generals have been given new responsibilities in a major shake-up in the top brass of the Bangladesh Army.

Md Saiful Alam of the 11th Infantry Division has replaced Md Saiful Abedin as director general of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence or DGFI.

Maj Gen Md Saiful Alam

Maj Gen Md Saiful Abedin

Abedin has been appointed general officer commanding or GOC of the 9th Infantry Division in Savar after his three-year stint in the powerful spy agency of the military.

Maj Gen Akbar Hossain

Maj Gen Md Enayet Ullah

Maj Gen Akbar Hossain, who was the GOC in Savar, will now work as commandant of the Defence Services Command and Staff College in Mirpur.

His predecessor at the college, Md Enayet Ullah, has been made adjutant general at the Army Headquarters.

Maj Gen Mohammad Humayun Kabir

He has replaced Mohammad Humayun Kabir, who is going to Jashore as the GOC of the 55th Infantry Division.

Alam, the new head of DGFI, was commissioned from the 14th Long Course of the Bangladesh Military Academy. Before taking charge of the 11th Infantry Division, he had worked as the GOC of the 7th Infantry Division and area commander of Barishal.

A student of Jhenaidah Cadet College’s 15th intake, Alam won the Sword of Honour and Academic Gold Medal in his BMA long course. He passed SSC and HSC from the cadet college in 1982 and 1984 respectively.  

The new GOC in Savar, Abedin, is from the BMA’s 15th Long Course. Commissioned in 1986, he had worked as the commandant of the Bangladesh Infantry Regimental Centre. He had also worked in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Ivory Coast.

Defence Staff College Commandant Akbar is an officer of the Artillery Corps. He was commissioned in 1985 from the BMA’s 13th Long Course.

Enayet, who completed the BMA Long Course a batch before Akbar did, had worked as GOC of the 33rd Infantry Division in Cumilla and served as chairman of the Bangladesh Tea Board.

Humayun had been the commandant of the BMA and the GOC of the 17th Infantry Division in Sylhet. The officer from the 13th Long Course had also worked as the commander of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Cyprus.