Commodore Mohammed Nurul Absar, NGP, ndc, psc, BN (Retd)

Commodore Mohammed Nurul Absar, NGP, ndc, psc, BN (Retd) is a former military officer who served 38 years in active duty. After completing his training in Yugoslav Center for Higher Naval Studies (Now Croatia, Split) and Royal Naval Engineering College, UK in 1986 and 1989 respectively he returned to Bangladesh. During his tour of duty in the Navy he served in various command and staff appointments both in establishments and the Fleet. He performed the duties of Naval Secretary from 2009 to 2013; and played an instrumental role in the policy formulation and development of Bangladesh Navy. He was also a faculty member in the Defense Services Command and Staff College at Mirpur, Dhaka from 1999 to 2005. During this period he contributed in the training of mid-level offices of the Armed Forces both from home and abroad. In this period he was actively involved in different research projects of military and strategic nature, His written reading materials (Précis) on "Information War-A Challenge for the 21st Century" was prescribed as reading material for the officers for more than a decade. He also took interest in different issues related to national security, Maritime Strategy, Military Doctrine, Cyber Security, Geopolitics etc.

From 2016 onwards he was associated with National Defence College of Dhaka where he was a faculty member looking after MPhil thesis project of the offices of the rank of Brigadier General / Major Generals, Commodores, Joint Secretaries and more. He was also Senior Research Fellow at Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) in Dhaka from 2018. He was the head of Bangladesh delegation which took part in UN's Permanent Forum on Indigenous People in New York in 2015. He has actively contributed in other educational training institutes and Think Tanks as guest speaker on different subjects. Noteworthy institutions are Indian Maritime Foundation where he presented keynote speech on the potentials of Blue Economy. He was also a keynote speaker at Observer Research Foundation(ORF) in Delhi and Raja Ratnam School of International Strategic Studies (RSIS) at Singapore on "Non-Traditional Security of Bangladesh '' and Defence Policy Formulation in Bangladesh " respectively. He was a regular guest speaker at NDC (War Course), Defense Services Command and Staff College, Naval Academy, Police Staff College etc.

Commodore Absar is an experienced peace keeper who served in Liberia and Rwanda in different capacities. He taught the subject in the Staff College. Moreover, he has also conceived the training curriculum for the officers of Staff College on Disaster Relief Operation. While serving in the UN Missions he was Deputy Chief Operation Officer, who was tasked to help the SRSG in planning and conduct of mission's different operations. During this time he had a great exposure in working closely with UNDP, UNHCR, UNFP, MSF, Red Cross, and other renowned INGOs in ensuring smooth relief operations for the refugees of the mentioned countries.

In 2013 Commodore Absar was attached to National Security of Intelligence (NSI) of Bangladesh. During this tenure he served as Director of different wings. There he gathered experience on Terrorism, Radicalization, Human Trafficking, Drug Smuggling, Cyber Security, Rohingya Crisis and other issues of strategic relevance. On two occasions he has also performed the duties of Acting Director General for a brief period.

Commodore Absar was also a member of the National Committee on Cyber Security and Physical Security of Rooppur Nuclear Plant. He played an instrumental role in planning and conceiving the national security plans with regard to Nuclear Power Plants' related issues. After retirement he joined the Bangladesh University of Professionals as PhD Fellow and carried out research on "Climate Change and Conflict- Bangladesh Perspective". For data collection he has extensively visited different localities of Bangladesh which may be the worst affected areas by climatic effects.

In 2020 he established the Central Foundation for International and Strategic Studies (CFISS) in Dhaka. This think-Tank focuses on many current strategic issues ranging from National Security, Maritime Security, Blue Economy, Cyber Security, Rohingya Crisis, QUAD, Issues related to Indo-Pacific, Climate Change, Human Security, Terrorism, Radicalization, etc. Commodore Absar is a frequent speaker on international security and policy issues in international conference and lecture events both home and abroad. Moreover, he is regularly contributing in daily newspapers with articles on different contemporary issues. He is also involved in different TV shows which deal with development and security issues. He has taken part in a TV program of News 24 TV, Bangladesh with the title of "Shopner Bangladesh (Bangladesh of My Dream)". This covered almost 27 districts of Bangladesh where the hopes and aspirations of people and their challenges were depicted through this program.

Commodore Absar was awarded with the Letter of Commendation from the First Sea Lord, UK for distinction in the course. He also received the Commendation of the Chief of Naval Staff for standing 1st Class First in Graduation of Electronic Engineering Course from Belgrade University. He was awarded with the distinguished Peace-Time Medal for contributing in human resource Development of Bangladesh Navy. Furthermore, he has received Letters of Commendation from the Chief of Staff of Bangladesh Navy on five occasions for his creative contribution in the development of Bangladesh Navy.