Ziauddin Ahmed (officer)

Ziauddin was born at Parerhat village in Pirojpur District in 1950. His father, Aftabuddin Ahmed, was a chairman of Pirojpur municipality and founder of the then Pirojpur Awami League division. Ziauddin Ahmed completed his higher secondary certificate from Pirojpur Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College. He was the Pirojpur Sub-Division Chhatra Union president in 1968. == Career ==

Ahmed was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 27th Punjabis of the Pakistan Army in 1970. He was serving in the army in the then West Pakistan when the Liberation War broke out in 1971. Later, he stood for the Biplobi Sainik Sangshta (Revolutionary Sepoy's Organisation) in opposing the military rule and took shelter in the Sundarbans with his followers as part of the resistance. Ziaduddin was arrested in an army operation in the Sundarbans in 1976. Along with many other dissenting military officials and political leaders, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court. In 1980, he was freed on presidential clemency. Ziauddin served as municipality chairman of Pirojpur municipality between 1989 and 1991. In 1996, he joined the Awami League and was an advisor to the Awami League's Pirojpur unit. Ziauddin also forged a non-political organization named ‘Banchao Sundarban’, as part of protecting the wildlife sanctuary of Sundarban. == Personal life ==

Ziauddin Ahmed was a writer and a journalist. He married Kaniz Mahmuda and fathered four children. His nephew Mainur Rahman is serving in the Bangladesh army as a Lieutenant general. He was nicknamed the 'Mukuthin Somrat' (crownless king) of the Sundarbans. == Death ==

He had been suffering from liver ailments since 2015. He died at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital on 28 July 2017. He was given a state honour by the Bangladesh Army. He was buried at his family graveyard at Parerhat Road in Pirojpur. == Authored book ==

• Muktijuddhe Sundarban. == References ==