Oli Ahmad

Colonel Oli Ahmad (born 30 September 1941)^[1] is a Bangladeshi politician. He is a former minister and a member of the Jatiya Sangsad. He is a former Bangladesh Army officer. He is a former Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician and currently president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Bangladesh.^[2]

He was commissioned in the Pakistani Army in 1967.He was posted to 4th East Bengal Regiment in 1967.On 24 September 1970 he was posted to 8th East Bengal Regiment.

Ahmad was one of the Bengali Military officers to revolt against the Pakistani army on 25 March 1971 before the start of the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was the first officer to be awarded the Bir Bikrom for his bravery during that war. He fought under Major Ziaur Rahman in Sector No. 1.^[2]

After the independence of Bangladesh, he was promoted to the rank of Major in October 1972. Later, he served as the 2nd-in-Command of 19,9,10 and 6 East Bengal Regiment. In September 1975, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was appointed as the commanding officer of 24 East Bengal Regiment in Saidpur. In November 1975, he was posted to Army Headquarters as General Staff Officer-1 (Operations).Later, he served in the office of Army Chief, DCMLA, CMLA and the President of Bangladesh. In January 1980, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel. On 10 January 1980, he resigned from the Army.^[2]

Ahmad is highly regarded as one of the key founding members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). On 26 October 2006, Ahmad and several other senior leaders of the BNP defected to form the Liberal Democratic Party.^[3][4] At present he is serving as the president of Liberal Democratic Party.^[5] While performing as Chief Coordinator for 20 Party Alliance, Ahmad launched a new movement called "Jatiya Mukti Mancha" on 27 June 2019.^[6][7]

In 1996, there was 2 election (6th & 7th Parliament), Dr. Oli Ahmad was elected MP both times.^[8][9] He was first elected from Chandanaish, in March 1980 by-election & was in the 2nd Parliament.^[10]

Ahmad served as the president of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) from 1992 until he resigned in late 1994.^[11][12][13]

Books published by Oli Ahmad include:

• Revolution, Military Personnel and the War of Liberation in Bangladesh. Dhaka: Dizzy Publications, 2004.
• Battles That I Fought and Interviews of Liberation War Heroes. Dhaka: Annesha Prokashon, 2009.

• "Statesmen's Who's Who" – book published in 1992
• "Asia Pacific Who's Who" published in 2009 – Vol. IX from New Delhi, India

• Media related to Oli Ahmad at Wikimedia Commons
• "Accord Will Allow Refugees' Return to Bangladesh"
• "Campaign of violence". The Economist. 2 November 2006.
• "Oli Ahmed agrees on launching united anti-govt movement with Khaleda"
• "Col Oli Supports BNP's anti-government movement"
• "Ugly faces of ruling party, Oli comes under attack"
• "Col Oli gets bail in 2 cases"
• "Off to Jail"
• personal website
• ldp website