M Sakhawat Hossain

M Sakhawat Hossain (born 1 February 1948) is a Bangladeshi author and speaker. He is the former Election Commissioner of Bangladesh (2007-2012), Brigadier General (retired) in the Bangladesh Army. He wrote more than 20 books, and serves as a columnist and freelance commentator on national and international television as a security and defense analyst.

Early life

Hossain was born in Barisal, Bangladesh on February 1, 1948 in a well known Muslim family of Barisal. He achieved his Secondary School Certificate (SSC) in 1963 from Karachi, Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) in 1965 from Islamia Science College (Karachi), Pakistan. He passed Command and Staff College Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1979 and obtained symbol PSC. He graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College (USACGSC) 1981-1982. He earned a Masters in Strategic Studies from the Quaid-i-Azam University, Mphil Pt-11 with NDC, Bangladesh. He qualified from National Deference College, Pakistan obtained symbol NDC.

Career

Hossain was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in 1966 from PMA, Kakul. He joined the Bangladesh Army in 1972 upon that country's independence.

Command posts

He led an artillery unit and a sector of the Bangladesh Rifles (now Border Guard Bangladesh). He led an artillery brigade and infantry brigade in plains and commanded an infantry brigade in counterinsurgency operation in Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Staff posts

Hossain served in director roles for Staff Duties, Military Training and Artillery. He served in the Military Operations Directorate as lieutenant colonel.

Other expertise

He served on the Board of Directors of Sonali Bank, the largest commercial bank in Bangladesh for two years. He attended NATO exercise in Germany. He led the first Bangladeshi military delegation to Germany to attend military exercises with the British Army on the Rhine.

Post retirement

He became an individual researcher in national security and defense, a columnist and security analyst.

Seminars and workshops

• Presented a note on "Use of Military in aid of civil power and effect in the society" at a seminar jointly organized by Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad and Hanns Seidal Institute of Munich, Germany in May 2003.
• He was a keynote speaker in a seminar held in Kathmandu August 2003 on "Security and cooperation in South Asia".
• At the Center for Peace and Strategic Studies, Dhaka he presented "Indo-Israeli Nexus and Impact on South Asia".
• He was a keynote speaker in BIISS at 34th year of independence commemorative seminar on the 'Traditional Security of Bangladesh'.
• He presented "Political Violence and Terrorism in South Asia" in a seminar held at Islamabad organized by Heinz Sidel Institute of Germany.
• He was a guest speaker at Defense Services Command and Staff College, National Defense College, Armed Forces War Course Mirpur Foreign Services Academy & Independent University of Bangladesh.

Author

As an author he wrote over 300 articles as columnist on national and international issue for Daily Star, Observer, The Independent, The Bangladesh Today, the Probe, Pakistan Observer, Islamabad and wrote features for Defense Journal, Pakistan. He wrote for Prothom Alo, Sangbad, Ajker Kagaj, Naya Diganta, Amar Desh, Samakal and Jugantar. He wrote for Dawn and The Muslim, Pakistan. article on terrorism in Bangladesh was published in Indian daily "he Statesman". He was a freelance commentator on issues of security and geo-politics. He was a regular military analyst during the Iraq war. He was a leading strategic and defense analyst, a Bangladeshi commentator on security issues for British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for Bengali and English World Service, Tehran Radio and Voice of America (VOA). He wrote more than 20 books in Bangla and English. His first book dealt with politico-military events of Bangladesh between 1975–81.

Social

Hossain was a member and Committee member of Kurmitola Golf Club, Rotary Club, Dhaka West & RAOWA (Retired Army officers Welfare association) club and IANSA (International Association of Non- proliferation of Small Arms) – Bangladesh chapter.