S. R. Mirza is a retired wing commander of the Pakistan Air Force and an official of the Mujibnagar government during the Bangladesh Liberation War. [1] He commanded the youth camp, which trained recruits for the Mukti Bahini.
Mirza was born into a well-known political family in Thakurgaon District. [1]
Mirza was commissioned in the Pakistan Air Force in 1950. He retired as a wing commander of the Pakistan Air Force in 1969. [2] During the Bangladesh Liberation War, he was the director general of the youth camp (Juba Shibir) where Mukti Bahini officers were trained in India. [2] [3] [4] He was unaware of the training for Mujib Bahini recruits, which India's Research and Analysis Wing handled. [2] On India's role, he said, "Indian war strategy was carefully thought out and planned. Many military experts consider that the 1971 war was one of the biggest and best-planned in the history of warfare." [3]
After the independence of Bangladesh, Mirza served as the first chief of the Department of Civil Aviation (later renamed the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh). [5] He reconstructed seven airports in Bangladesh that were damaged during the war. [5]
Mirza's brothers, Mirza Golam Hafiz and Mirza Ruhul Amin, were members of parliament. [6] [1] His nephew, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, is the general secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. [1] [6]