Sectors of Liberation War
Immediately after formation, the new government of Bangladesh shifted its focus on organising the war against Pakistan Army. A Cabinet meeting of Bangladesh government on 11 July 1971 appointed Col. M. A. Goni Osmani as Commander in Chief, Lt. Col. Abdur Rab as Chief of Army Staff and Group Captain A K Khandker as Deputy Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Air Force.
In this meeting Bangladesh was divided into Eleven Sectors and each Sector was assigned a Sector Commander. The 10th Sector was directly placed under the Commander in Chief (C-in-C) and included the Naval Commandos and C-in-C’s special force.
The Sector Commanders were chosen from defected officers of Pakistan army who joined the Mukti Bahini. These trained officers directed the guerrilla warfare as well as trained the independence militia who lacked formal training on military operations. Most of these training camps were situated near the border area and were operated with direct assistance from India.
For better efficiency in combat operations, each of the sectors were divided into a number of sub-sectors. The table below provides a list of the sectors along with the name of the sector commanders.
| Sectors of Bangladesh Liberation War | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Area | Sector Commander |
| 1 | Chittagong District, Chittagong Hill Tracts, and the entire eastern area of the Noakhali District on the banks of the river Muhuri. | Major Ziaur Rahman, later replaced by Major Rafiqul Islam |
| 2 | Districts of Dhaka, Comilla, Faridpur, and part of Noakhali District. | Major Khaled Mosharraf, later replaced by Major ATM Haider |
| 3 | Area between Churaman Kathi (near Sreemangal) and Sylhet in the north and Singerbil of Brahmanbaria in the south. | Major KM Shafiullah, later replaced by Major ANM Nuruzzaman. |
| 4 | Area from Habiganj District on the north to Kanaighat Police Station on the south along the 100-mile long border with India. | Major Chittarajan Datta, later replaced by Captain A Rab, Fazlul Haque Chowdhury Ex EPR |
| 5 | Area from Durgapur to Danki (Tamabil) of Sylhet District and the entire area up to the eastern borders of the district. | Major Mir Shawkat Ali |
| 6 | Rangpur District and part of Dinajpur District. | Wing Commander M Khademul Bashar |
| 7 | Rajshahi, Pabna, Bogra and part of Dinajpur District. | Major Nazmul Huq, later replaced by Subedar Major A Rab and Kazi Nuruzzaman. |
| 8 | In April 1971, the operational area of the sector comprised the districts of Kushtia, Jessore, Khulna, Barisal, Faridpur and Patuakhali. At the end of May the sector was reconstituted and comprised the districts of Kuhstia, Jessore, Khulna, Satkhira and the northern part of Faridpur district. | Major Abu Osman Chowdhury, later replaced by Major MA Manzur. |
| 9 | Barisal, Patuakhali, and parts of the district of Khulna and Faridpur. | Major M A Jalil later replaced by Major MA Manzur and Major Joynal Abedin. |
| 10 | This sector was constituted with the naval commandos. | Indian commander MN Sumanta. |
| 11 | Mymensingh and Tangail. | Major M Abu Taher, later replaced by Squadron Leader Hamidullah. |
Read more about this topic: Mukti Bahini
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