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Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party

department · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Major General Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud
Role
Director General
Annual budget
—
Staff
6000000
Established
1948
Legal basis
Ansar Bahini Act, 1995 (repealing the East Bengal Ansars Act, 1948); Battalion Ansars Act, 1995; Village Defence Party Act, 1995. All three Acts were approved by the President on 15 February 1995 and came into force on 16 February 1995. Under these Acts, Ansar Bahini and Battalion Ansar are declared a 'Disciplined Force' in accordance with Article 152 of the Constitution of Bangladesh.

Ansar-VDP has completed its largest-ever election security deployment (560,000 members, 42,766 polling stations, February 12, 2026) and is now supporting the nationwide anti-drug joint operation under PSD coordination while advancing institutional reform through training modernisation (age band tightened to 18-25 for VDP recruitment) and digital management via the Ansar-VDP Management Information System (AVMIS) and Short-Term Team Development Management System (STDMS); the reform agenda launched by the interim Home Affairs Adviser in September 2024 to professionalise the force remains active under the BNP government.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

Establishment: The Ansar force was created as 'East Bengal Ansars' under the East Bengal Ansars Act, 1948, formally launched February 12, 1948. After Bangladesh independence (1971), it was reconstituted under the Bangladesh Ansar Act, 1973, and reorganised again under three Acts in 1995 (Ansar Bahini Act, Battalion Ansars Act, Village Defence Party Act), all effective February 16, 1995. The 1994 Ansar mutiny (August-September 1994), which resulted in 10 deaths and a major reorganisation of the force, preceded these Acts. Current DG: Major General Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud; appointment confirmed active as of February 2026 across BSS and Dhaka Tribune reporting; precise appointment date of August 2024 is approximate based on interim government reshuffle pattern -- verified as DG in pre-election 2026 records, head_since set to 2024-08-01 as best estimate pending exact gazette data. Staff count: The 6,000,000 figure represents the combined active + reserve Ansar-VDP membership (General Ansar + Battalion Ansar + VDP volunteers) cited by DG in multiple official statements; this is not a sanctioned-post civil service headcount. For election 2026, 560,000 were operationally deployed. Budget: Ansar-VDP's departmental allocation is not publicly disaggregated in the FY2025-26 budget documents found; the force is funded through MoHA's Public Security Division budget (Tk 27,001 crore total); annual_budget_bdt set null pending primary-source disaggregated figure. Parent: The Public Security Division record notes Ansar-VDP as one of its six supervised agencies (alongside Police, BGB, Coast Guard, NTMC, ICTBD Investigation Agency). Reform note: Interim Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury announced the reform agenda in September 2024; the BNP government (from February 17, 2026) has continued the professionalization push through the ongoing joint operation deployment and French capacity-building engagement. Anti-drug support: Specific Ansar-VDP anti-drug operation records within the 90-day window are sourced through PSD-level reporting (the May 1 nationwide operation); a dedicated Ansar-VDP anti-drug operational press release was not independently found and is attributed via PSD coordination mandate.

Sources