(,
1936 –
May 30 ,
1981 ) was an
East Pakistani and
Bangladeshi military officer who declared the independence of
Bangladesh on March 26th, 1971, on behalf of
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (he had declared the independence the earlier day) and served as the 6th
President Of Bangladesh from 1977 to his assassination in 1981. For his role in the
Bangladesh Liberation War and as president, he is one of the most popular, controversial and influential leaders in the history of Bangladesh.
Following the
Pakistan Army 's crackdown against Bengali civilians and the arrest of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , the country's founding leader, Ziaur Rahman sided with Bengali rebels and famously declared the independence of Bangladesh in Sheikh Mujib's name and proclaimed himself . After independence in 1971, Rahman became a high-ranking officer in the
Bangladesh Army . Following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, Rahman declared himself as Chief Martial Law Administrator in 1975 and later again in 1976, and assumed the presidency in 1977.
As president, Ziaur Rahman slowly restored democracy to Bangladesh and amended the constitution to make
Islam the state religion and introduced Islamic principles in government law and policy. He provided a period of stable leadership to a country that had witnessed multiple coups and military dictatorship from 1975. He also controversially reinstated the assassins of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and allowed political leaders who assisted the
Pakistan Army in their effort to suppress the people of the region during the civil war from 1969 to 1971, to return to Bangladesh from Pakistan, obtain full citizenship and conduct political activities. Ziaur Rahman was also the founder of the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party - one of the largest right-wing political parties in the country. The BNP espouses the pro-Islamic, nationalist ideals that Ziaur Rahman himself promoted. The present Prime Minister of Bangladesh and BNP chief,
Begum Khaleda Zia , is his widow.
was born on
19 January 1936 at
Bagbari in
Bogra district in the province of
Bengal , and what is now North-West Bangladesh. His father was Mansur Rahman, a chemist in public service in
Kolkata . After the creation of
Pakistan in 1947, his father moved to
Karachi .
Rahman joined the Pakistani Army in 1953 as a cadet and was commissioned in 1955 to second lieutenant's post. Two years later, in 1957, he was transferred to
East Bengal Regiment. Between 1959 and 1964, he worked with the military intelligence. In 1965, during the
Indo-Pakistani War Of 1965 , he fought in the
Khemkaran sector as the commander of the company that was awarded the maximum number of gallantry awards for war performance. He was then appointed as a professional instructor in the
Pakistan Military Academy in 1966. Later, he was sent to the Staff College in
Quetta ,
West Pakistan for attending a command course. In 1969, he joined the 2nd East Bengal Regiment as its second-in-command at
Joydevpur , then in
East Pakistan .After this, he was sent to
West Germany for higher training. After returning in 1970, Ziaur Rahman was promoted to the rank of ''Major'' and was transferred to the 8th
East Bengal Regiment at
Chittagong , as the second in command.
After the military crackdown by the Pakistani army at
25 March in East Pakistan, Major Ziaur Rahman sided with the rebels and joined
Mukti Bahini (freedom force). At that time,
Awami League (AL) Chief,
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , was politically active in this movement and was arrested by the Central Government of Pakistan for various charges of conspiracy and treason against the West.
East Bengal Regiment under Major Zia captured one radio broadcast centre in
Kalurghat ,
Chittagong (Shadin Bangla Betar Kendro) and Major Zia read the independence declaration on behalf of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , which officially started the
Liberation War . There is an on-going political dispute as to whether this was a declaration or an announcement. Followers of Zia claim that he had made this declaration on
26 March 1971 . This is highly refuted by Belal Mohammed who had brought Major Zia to Kalurghat before he made this declaration. Belal Mohammaed claims this had happened on 27th March,1971, not the 26th. Major Ziaur Rahman declared the independence of Bangladesh and declared himself as temporary and made a broadcast using
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ’s name:
This is Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Bangobondhu Mujibur Rahman, hereby declare that the independent People's Republic of Bangladesh has been established. At his direction, I have taken command as the temporary Head of the Republic. In the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, I call upon all Bengalis to rise against the attack by the West Pakistani Army. We shall fight to the last to free our Motherland. By the grace of Allah, victory is ours. Joy Bangla.
Ziaur Rahman was offered the gallantry award of
Bir Uttom for his bravery in the liberation war. After independence, he was appointed brigade commander in
Comilla . In June
1972 , he was made Deputy Chief of Staff of the armed forces of Bangladesh. He was later promoted to a
Brigadier in
1973 and to a
Major General by the end of the same year.
On
15 August 1975 , the then President of Bangladesh,
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed along with several of his family members in a military coup.
Khandakar Moshtaq Ahmad replaced Mujibur Rahman and on
25 August 1975 , Ziaur Rahman was made the chief of army staff. When Brigadier
Khaled Mosharraf and Dhaka Brigade under Colonel Shafat Jamil made a counter-coup on
3 November 1975 , Ziaur Rahman was forced to resign was put under house arrest by Khaled Mosharraf.
Colonel
Abu Taher , a left-wing supporter, staged a third successful coup with the help of army soldiers who believed in
Socialism and a left-wing party, the National Socialist Party (Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal), on
7 November , Brigadier
Khaled Mosharraf was killed and Colonel
Shafat Jamil was arrested. Colonel
Taher freed Ziaur Rahman and restored him to the post of army chief. Zia proclaimed himself Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) on
7 November 1975 . On the same day, at a meeting in army headquarters, and interim government was created with:
- Chief Martial Law Administrator - Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem
- Deputy Chief Martial Law Administrators - Major General Ziaur Rahman, Air Vice Marshal MG Tawab and Rear Admiral MH Khan
Zia is also held responsible for the arrest and subsequent hanging of Colonel Taher, who was instrumental in his release and restoration to Chief of Staff
21 July 1976 . This action is regarded by many as a great betrayal. Colonel Taher was a handicapped man and hanging a handicapped person was seen very negatively.
Ziaur Rahman reinstated himself as Chief Martial Law Administrator on
19 November 1976 , when Justice Sayem relinquished his position. When President Sayem resigned on
21 April 1977 , Rahman declared himself as
President Of Bangladesh and ordered
Martial Law in the country, which lasted until
1979 .
After periods of struggle and famine, Bangladesh was an exhausted nation, struggling to keep its waning nationalism in piece, such was the time when Ziaur Rahman took power. He introduced many economic reforms which helped the Bengali nation to strengthen itself. He inspired nationalism and was the hero of the ordinary people. He was famous for his discipline and honesty in his personal life and was applauded by the people for his development schemes. He was a leader who travelled to many different villages himself and asked them about their troubles and he then took actions to solve those. In his time, the growth of Dhaka started to emerge and Dhaka became from a small underdeveloped city to a mediocre standard Asian city. Today Dhaka is a bulging metroplis of 12 million people, the 11th largest city in the world. It was all possible due Major Zia- leader of the ordinary Bengali people.
After assuming office as head of the state, Ziaur Rahman began to strengthen his foreign policy with more attention towards Western countries, moving away from the Soviet bloc as well as India. The U.S. helped the country with wheat under PL 480 law and many other economic aids.
Zia also later proposed a South Asian organization which includes seven South Asian nations. This organization was created in 1985 as the
South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation , more popularly known as SAARC.
Zia started to make changes to the country's infrastructures with these aids. He also actively strengthened the police by taking the number of officers from 40,000 to 70,000 and arranging for re-training. Armed forces' size was also boosted from less than 50,000 in 1974-75 to about 90,000 in 1976-77 by integrating the elite presidemtial guards (Rakhkhi Bahini) into regular army.
Until Ziaur Rahman's arrival, Bengali nationalism overwhelmingly dominated the political scene. Ziaur Rahman took the step of promoting a ''Bangladeshi nationalism'', especially in the light of the fact that all Bangladeshis were not Bengalis. Roughly 1-2% are non-Bengalis.
As Head of the state, Ziaur Rahman carried out several changes to the
Constitution , which are seen as a move from secularism:
- Insertion of ''Bismiliah-ir-Rahmanir Rahim'' (In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful) in the preamble of the Constitution;
- Addition of ''absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah'' to Articles 8(1) and 8(1A);
- Redefinition of socialism as ''economic and social justice'' in Article 8(1); and
- Provision that ''the state shall endeavour to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity'' in Article 25(2).
He also allowed
Jamaat-e-Islami , to start its activities for the first time in independent Bangladesh. Jamaat-e-Islami (JIB), which is frequently associated with the abetters of Pakistani occupying army in 1971 war, was banned along with several other parties soon after independence on grounds of secularism and abolition of all religious parties.
Golam Azam , the exiled chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, was allowed to come back in July,
1978 with a Pakistani passport. He was not tried for either war crimes or staying in the country without a visa. 16 years later in 1994,
Begum Khaleda Zia 's government gave Azam his Bangladeshi citizenship following a court order. Such moves are held against Khaleda Zia and his party, BNP, by The Bangladesh Awami League (BAL).
A 2005 High Court ruling, though suspended, made most of the actions taken between 1975-1979 unlawful. This ruling came despite threats and intimadation of the judges involved in the ruling. However, the current BNP-led government has contested the ruling.
As President, Zia announced a 19-point programme of economic reform and began dismantling the MLA.
In February 1978, Jatiyatabadi Ganatantric Dal (Nationalist Democratic Party) was created with Vice President Justice Abdus Sattar as its head. Ziaur Rahman himself became the nominee of the Nationalist Front consisting of six political parties in the presidential election and won after securing 76.67% of the votes. These polls in subsequent years were found to be staged and secured with the help of the Military.
On
1 September 1978 , Ziaur Rahman launched a party named the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) with himself as the head. In November 1978, remaining restrictions on political party activities were removed in time for parliamentary elections in February 1979.
Parliamentary elections were held in February 1979 and Zia's party, the BNP, won 207 seats out of 300. Considerable doubt were raised about the validity of this election. In his book, "The Generals of Pakistan and Bangladesh," the author a civil servant details the rigging of this election. The first session of the National Parliament was held on
1 April . On
9 April , martial law was lifted.
After having a two-thirds majority in parliament, Zia passed a bill called ''Indemnity Bill'', which stated that no trial will happen and no case can be made for the assassination of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman . Zia also gave Major Dalim, Major Rashid, and Major Faruk, alleged assassins of Sheikh Mujib, jobs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; again, these moves are held against Ziaur Rahman's regime by his critics. This was the proverbial quid pro quo - General Zia rewarding plotters who had murdered many and had helped him (Zia) to gain power.
Many coups occurred against Zia’s rule but Zia brutally suppressed them and many military personnel were hanged under his regime. Most of them were former
Mukti Bahini (freedom fighters) who joined the military after the liberation war. 1,800 military recruits including several hundred air force officers were executed under his regime in 1977, as a result of a failed coup initiated by some members of
Bangladesh Air Force . The Air Force never again regained its strength and organization in the need of skilled senior officers for many years. Some of those who were hanged were just 17 year old recruits, who were denied a court martial and their crime was by association or belonging to Units that were led by Officers in the attempted coup.
Amnesty International repeatedly protested these hangings, but in vain. Many also linked Zia in the coup and the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family. It has later been proven that Zia had foreknowledge of the coup, but did not directly organize it.
Zia was assassinated in
Chittagong on
30 May 1981 by a small army group, alleged to have been ordered by Major General
Monjur , head of Chittagong division army. Later, Monjur was captured in a tea garden in Chittagong hilly area and killed by army personnel. It has been later alleged by General Zia's widow, Khaleda Zia, that then Army Chief General
Ershad was behind this last coup against General Zia.
Zia was buried at
Chandrima Uddan in
Sher-e-Banglanagar ,
Dhaka .
Bangladesh's former president Ziaur Rahman, the brain behind the SAARC grouping, was honoured posthumously with the grouping's award during the Dhaka summit in 2005. His widow and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Khaleda Zia handed this award to her son Tareq Rahman who received it on behalf of his late father. The award includes 25,000 dollars, a gold medal and a certificate. The international airport in
Dhaka has been named in his honour as
Zia International Airport . The Chittagong Circuit House, where Zia was assassinated, has been converted to a museum to preserve his memory.
Following Zia's death, some of his family members took advantage of his popularity as a strongman. His widow,
Khaleda Zia , became leader of
Bangladesh Nationalist Party and led the movement against military ruler and despot, General
Ershad . Her strong stance gave her immense popularity and later take her to power as the elected prime minister after the fall of Ershad. She became prime minister during
1991 -
1996 and later from
2001 -present.
In 2005, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in a verdict declared General Zia's military rule as unconstitutional. However, the BNP-led government has appealed the decision, and no final ruling has been reached. Even so many years after his death, Major Zia remains to be a legendary leader of the Bengali people and his very memory inspires the citizens of Bangladesh. He is remembered as a valaint military commander during the war of liberation and a leader who contributed to the development of the nation.
