The president of Bangladesh Monday fired his army chief for seditious activity and for disobeying an order to dismiss two military commanders.
The two commanders also were sacked after President Abdur Rahman Biswas fired Lt. Gen. Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim.Soon after the announcement of the dismissals, six army tanks took up positions in front of the presidential palace. Two columns of armed soldiers were also in the area, witnesses and military sources said.
Some troops also took up positions in front of the state-run television center, but it was not known if they were loyal to the president or to the two sacked commanders.
Biswas, who is in charge of the Defense Ministry, named Maj. Gen. Mahbubur Rahman as the new army chief.
In a radio address, Biswas said Nasim, the top military commander since 1994, refused to carry out an order Saturday to fire two commanders accused of inciting soldiers.
Maj. Gen. G.H. Morshed Khan and Brig. Miron Hamidur Rahman were ordered dismissed on charges of "their involvement with some political parties, indiscipline and inciting trouble among the troops," the president said.
Khan was the commander of a garrison in northern Bogra district and Rahman was deputy commander of Bangladesh Rifles, the border guards.
The proposed action against the two officers had sparked discontent among troops, military sources said. They said Nasim was not consulted when the president ordered the sacking of the two commanders, who participated in Bangladesh's war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
The changes in the military leadership come as Bangladesh prepares for nationwide general elections June 12.