In his address to the media on Monday (August 5), Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman said an interim government will be formed to run the country. He said he was “taking responsibility”, and urged the people to maintain peace and order.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had just resigned and fled the country in the face of ongoing protests that began over quotas for the kin of freedom fighters in government jobs. Thousands of people were celebrating in the streets, and many stormed the official residence of the Prime Minister and Home Minister.
Very significantly, television pictures showed protesters attacking the head of a giant statue of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of independent Bangladesh. Mujib was assassinated in a coup by the army in August 1975, just four years after the independence of the country from Pakistan.
Advertisem*nt
The army controlled politics in Bangladesh directly or indirectly for the next 15 years. Here’s a look at the role of the army in Bangladesh over the decades.
The 1971 Liberation War
In the 1970 general elections of Pakistan (then East and West Pakistan), Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League registered an absolute majority, winning 160 of the 162 seats in East Pakistan — Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s PPP won 81 of 138 seats in West Pakistan.
Despite the victory of the Awami League, Pakistan Army Chief General Yahya Khan, who was ruling the country through martial law at the time, refused to hand over power to Mujibur Rahman. This sparked unrest across East Pakistan, where an agitation powered by Bengali cultural nationalism, and against the imposition of Urdu was already underway.
On March 7, 1971, Mujib issued a call to the people of East Pakistan to prepare themselves for an all-out struggle for Bangladesh’s independence. In response, the Pakistan Army launched its infamous Operation Searchlight — a military operation to crush the protests which led to widespread killings, illegal arrests, and a brtual campaign of rape and arson.
Advertisem*nt
Soon afterward, Bengali soldiers in East Pakistan revolted, leading to the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War in which India intervened. These soldiers joined forces with civilians to form the Mukti Bahini, and carried out guerilla warfare against the Pakistan Army.
Also in Explained | As Sheikh Hasina flees, what does it mean for India? Six preliminary takeaways from Bangladesh’s crisis
First two decades after independence
Once Bangladesh attained independence, the members of Mukti Bahini became part of the Bangladesh Army. However, in the years following independence, tensions began to emerge within the army due to discrimination against those Bengali soldiers who had not rebelled against Pakistan in the lead-up to the Liberation War.
THE FIRST MILITARY COUP: The discontent came to a boil on August 15, 1975, when a handful of young soldiers assassinated the Bangabandhu and his entire family except his daughters Sheikh Hasina (the former Prime Minister who landed in India on August 5 evening) and Sheikh Rehana (who accompanied Hasina to India on Monday) at his residence in Dhaka.
Advertisem*nt
This paved the way for the first military coup in Bangladesh, led by Major Syed Faruque Rahman, Major Khandaker Abdur Rashid, and politician Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad. A new regime was established — Mostaq Ahmad became the President and Major General Ziaur Rahman was appointed as the new army chief.
MONTHS LATER, A SECOND COUP: However, the new rulers did not stay in power for long. On November 3, Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf, who was seen as a supporter of Mujib, led another coup, and appointed himself as the new army chief. Mosharraf put Ziaur Rahman under house arrest, as he believed that the latter was behind the Bangabandhu’s killing.
A THIRD COUP: And then came the third coup on November 7. This was launched by left-wing army personnel in collaboration with left-wing politicians from the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. The event was known as the Sipoy-Janata Biplob (Soldiers and People’s Revolution). Mosharraf was killed and Ziaur Rahman became the president.
Ziaur Rahman formed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 1978, which won the general election of that year. But in 1981, he was himself overthrown by a mutinous army unit headed by Major General Manzur. The rebels accused the president of favouring soldiers who did not participate in the war against Pakistan — and those who had come from West Pakistan after independence.
Advertisem*nt
GEN ERSHAD’S COUP: On March 24, 1982, then Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Hussain Muhammad Ershad took power in a bloodless coup, suspending the constitution and imposing martial law — he overthrew President Abdus Sattar (of BNP) who had succeeded Ziaur Rahman.
Ershad founded the Jatiya Party in 1986 and allowed the first general elections in Bangladesh since the 1982 coup. His party won a majority, and Ershad remained president till 1990 — he had to leave office after pro-democracy protests engulfed the country.
In the 1990s and later: continuing interference
Although parliamentary democracy returned to Bangladesh in 1991, the interference by the army did not stop.
In 2006, political turmoil erupted after the BNP-Jamaat government’s term ended. BNP and Awami League locked horns over choosing a candidate to head the necessary caretaker government before fresh elections could take place.
Advertisem*nt
In October that year, President Iajuddin Ahmed declared himself leader of the caretaker government, and announced that elections would be held in January of the following year.
However, on January 11, 2007, Army Chief Lt General Moeen Ahmed led a military coup, forming a military-backed caretaker government. Fakhruddin Ahmed, an economist, was appointed the head of government, while President Iajuddin Ahmed was forced to maintain his presidency.
Moeen extended his tenure as army chief by one year and the rule of the caretaker government for two years. Military rule came to an end in 2008 after national elections were held in December and Sheikh Hasina rose to power.
