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Armed Forces Division dwarfs ministry power

SHAKHAWAT LITON
The Ministry of Defence looks dead and buried as another parallel body, Armed Forces Division (AFD), controls all major activities of the armed forces.
The AFD, a division under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), is exercising the executive power of a ministry and doing policymaking tasks including formulation of budget and procurement for the army, navy and air force.
The AFD, dominated by military officials, is even working as the state authority to ensure execution of the international convention on chemical weapons in Bangladesh.
On the other hand, the defence ministry is merely doing some administrative works such as record keeping. It plays minor role in the allocation of yearly budget though
the budget for the armed forces is allocated in the name of the ministry.
The AFD has more manpower and higher budgetary allocation, compared to the ministry, though the prime minister holds the defence portfolio.
Defence experts say everything should be done under the umbrella of the defence ministry but the government thinks otherwise. It has planned to upgrade the AFD through forming a high-powered Defence Committee bypassing the ministry.
The prime minister will head the committee and the chiefs of three services and the defence minister, if there is any, will be the members. Once the committee is formed, the AFD will work as the secretariat of the committee.
The defence ministry officials however said the exiting manpower
in the ministry is sufficient to discharge its limited functions.
"We just preserve some records and discharge minor tasks as the Armed Forces Division performs all the major tasks to coordinate the activities of the armed forces," a senior official of the ministry told The Daily Star, wishing anonymity.
The process of ignoring the defence ministry had started back in 1975 with the formation of the Chief of Defence Staff and it completed through formation of the AFD in 1991.
BACKGROUND OF AFD
The Chief of Defence Staff was formed on October 2, 1975, which was the first attempt to coordinate the armed forces bypassing the defence ministry.
The body was dissolved two
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months after its formation but another body, the Joint Chief of Secretariat, was formed on July 19, 1976, which worked until November 1978.
After the abolishment of the Joint Chief of Secretariat, the Supreme Command Headquarters Division was formed on July 12, 1989 with some more jurisdictions.
Finally, the BNP government in 1991 formed the AFD, dissolving the division. In the same year the government put the AFD under the Prime Minister's Office. In 1998, the Awami League government approved the organogram of the AFD.
WHAT AFD DOES?
The AFD having four departments and an administration wing works like a ministry and gives work order. A major general acts as the principal staff officer (PSO) in the division who is equivalent to a secretary, according to a government circular.
The AFD is manned by 272 officials and employees, only 41 of them have been drawn from the civil services, sources said quoting a report submitted to the parliamentary standing committee on defence ministry in 2003.
The rules of business formulated in 1996 empower the AFD to perform major activities that include formulation of defence policy, planning and monitoring of different treaties, planning, preparation and coordination of war or national emergency.
It has been entrusted with the tasks of coordination and control in the deployment of the defence forces to assist the civil administration, formulation of procurement policy, planning for training, operation, administration and management of armed forces.
The AFD controls all kinds of factories that manufacture arms and ammunition, coordinate the defence educational institutions, and process the appointment and promotion of the officials equivalent to colonel or upper ranks.
It also has jurisdiction to ensure execution of the convention related to chemical weapons in the country, working as the "Bangladesh National Authorities." It maintains correspondence with the Organisation for Prevention of Chemical Weapons.
THE ROLE OF DEFENCE MINISTRY
The defence ministry had started operation in December 1971 aiming to coordinate the activities of the armed forces and all other defence affairs.
During the restructuring of ministries and divisions in 1982, the government kept 21 wings in the organogram of the defence ministry, two of them were transferred to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs after its formation.
Official documents show the defence ministry performs all activities to coordinate the armed forces but in reality the AFD does all these, sources said.
The defence ministry has only 144 officials and employees, with a number of key posts dominated by the military officials, sources said.
The ministry allocates budget for the forces in line with the demands of the forces but the AFD determines the requirements. It appoints chiefs of three services and leads the country in signing any military treaty with other country.
The ministry also looks into the legal matters and public relations.
WHAT DEFENCE EXPERTS SAY
Defence experts oppose the existing structure, power and jurisdiction of the AFD. They termed it a duplication
of the defence ministry.
Talking to The Daily Star, the experts said there is no need to maintain such a division under the PMO, as the prime minister holds the defence portfolio. Some of them suggested putting the division under the defence ministry.
Former army chief and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on defence ministry Mahbubur Rahman expressed his views against the AFD.
"I personally think a joint services headquarters can be formed under the defence ministry for better coordination of the activities of the armed forces," he suggested.
"The Armed Forces Division was established in a shortcut way to work under the Prime Minister's Office," noted Mahbub, also defence advisor to the prime minister.
He said every democratic country has the defence ministry to supervise and coordinate all the activities of the armed forces. But Bangladesh is an exception where the AFD is performing the tasks of the ministry.
Perhaps the ministry lacked required logistic supports to discharge its duties properly, but the ministry could have been equipped with adequate manpower and logistics without forming such a division, Mahbub said.
Former cabinet secretary Mujibul Haque said earlier the defence ministry used to perform all tasks to coordinate the activities of the defence forces. Later some of the tasks were put under the jurisdiction of the AFD.
Former defence secretary ASHK Sadeque told The Daily Star, "I personally believe there is no logic to run the Armed Forces Division when the defence ministry is there."
He said a ministry may have several divisions with separate secretary in charge, but the ministry is the top authority to coordinate their activities. "I don't understand why and how the armed forces division is being run as a parallel body."
"It looks like a queer camel," commented the former defence secretary, also a member of the parliamentary standing committee on defence ministry.
Major General (retd) Syed Mohammad Ibrahim said, "The higher defence organisation in Bangladesh needs to be reorganised in keeping with requirement of higher professionalism of the military and transparent control by an elected government. Present practice has room for duplication and isolation."