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Sayem ministry
The Sayem ministry led what eventually became the first interim government in independent Bangladesh and an unofficial model for future interim regimes. It was formed on 8 November 1975,[1] following the assassination of Brig. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf on 7 November amid a nationwide soldier and public uprising against his 3 November coup d'état.[2][3] After a three-day coup with support of some high-ranking officers and his Dhaka Brigade,[4] Mosharraf had forced Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, who, following the 15 August coup that assassinated the founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,[5] replaced him as President of Bangladesh with support of the mid-ranking assassin officers, to resign.[6] Chief Justice Sayem, with the constitutional requirement for the direct election of the president and role of the vice-president as acting president suspended by Mostaq under a martial law proclamation,[7] had been installed in his place.[6][8] With Mosharraf's death the responsibility of CMLA (Chief Martial Law Administrator) fell on Sayem.[4] Following the first-ever dissolution of the Jatiya Sangsad on 7 November,[9] the cabinet was initially set up as a military junta with the recently promoted armed forces chiefs, notably the chief of army staff autocratic hero Ziaur Rahman, who had been usurped and put under house arrest by Mosharraf during the coup,[2][10] as the CMLA's deputies.[4][8][10] At Bangabhaban on 26 November 1975, the president administered oath to a newly formed council of advisers de facto headed by the junta. He promised a general election in February 1977 in a presidential speech addressed to the nation,[8] but in November 1976, with the country in a dire situation with no stability and security, indefinitely postponed it and relinquished his CMLA duty with Zia nominated to succeed.[4][9] 5 months later on 21 April 1977,[9][11] when Sayem retired on health grounds,[12] in the absence of a vice-president in office Zia decided to act as president. Forty days later he organised a nationwide presidential confidence referendum to legitimise his presidency.[9][10] In June, the President's special assistant Abdus Sattar was promoted to the office of vice-president and on 9 December, the council of advisers was reorganised with three dismissals and seven new appointments.[9] After coming to power, Zia immediately moved to restore law and order in the country by strengthening the police force, practically doubling its size and arranging for their proper training, as well as order in the armed forces and withdrew the ban on the newspapers inaugurating the free flow of news by making the information media free and without government interference.[4][10] An ordinance allowing political parties to engage in open politics was promulgated reversing the ban imposed on them by Mujibur Rahman months prior to his assassination.[4][10] Zia organised his own party in February 1978 called the Jatiyotabadi Gonotantrik Dol ("Nationalist Democratic Party"), or JaGoDol for short, and in the presidential election – the first direct election – that year, his candidacy was supported by his and five other parties of the nationalist "Jatiyatabadi Front".[13] He achieved a landslide victory against his wartime superior, retired commander-in-chief MAG Osmani,[10] whose candidacy was supported by the then-dominant Awami League and five other parties of the socialist "Ganatantrik Oikkya Jote ("Alliance of Democratic Unity")".[13] The cabinet was dissolved on 29 June 1978, once Zia formed his provisional Council of Ministers before the pending general election scheduled to be held next year.[1] Background15 August 1975 coup d'état The military coup in Bangladesh on August 15 of 1975 was launched by mid-ranking army officers in order to assassinate founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,[14][15] whose administration post-independence grew corrupt and reportedly authoritarian until he established a one-party state-based government led by the socialist party Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League.[16][17] Mujib, along with his resident family members, were killed during the coup but was survived by his two then-expat daughters, one of them being future prime minister Sheikh Hasina.[18][19] The officers were led by Capt. Abdul Majed, Maj. Sayed Farooq Rahman, Maj. Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Maj. Shariful Haque Dalim.[18] Immediately following the coup, one of Mujib's close associates and cabinet ministers Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, with support of the officers, took control of the government and declared himself President of Bangladesh.[20] Under martial law, he made a proclamation on 20 August to amend the constitution to omit the provision for the legal basis for one-party system.[21] He reportedly praised the assassin officers, calling them "Children of the Sun", and proclaimed the Indemnity Ordinance, which granted them immunity from prosecution.[22][23]3 November counter coupThe 3 November coup d'état was organised by Brig. Khaled Mosharraf against President Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad to remove him from the presidency and the assassins of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from power: Capt. Abdul Majed, Maj. Syed Faruque Rahman, Maj. Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Maj. Shariful Haque Dalim.[24] The coup resulted a return of Mujibist forces in Bangladeshi politics for a short time. The coup was the result of a power struggle between the regime of Mostaq Ahmed and the mid-ranking officers backing him, Majed, Faruque, Rashid and Dalim,[24] and Mosharraf and the high-ranking officers supporting him, Col. Shafaat Jamil, Lt. Col. Abu Taher Mohammad Haider and Col. Khondkar Nazmul Huda. The high-ranking officers were worried about army discipline with "junior mutinous officers issuing orders from the presidential palace". With the coup, Mosharraf promoted himself to the rank of major general and the post of Chief of Army Staff after placing Maj. Gen. Ziaur Rahman under house arrest while the mid-ranking officers went on exile, as was agreed upon between the belligerents. The coup lasted 3 days, after which Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem was installed as president while Mosharraf served as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. The coup resulted the death of four national leaders of Bangladesh: Syed Nazrul Islam, former vice president and acting president of Bangladesh, Tajuddin Ahmad, former prime minister of Bangladesh, Muhammad Mansur Ali, former prime minister of Bangladesh, and Abul Hasnat Muhammad Qamaruzzaman, former home minister of Bangladesh.7 November revolution National Revolution and Solidarity Day (Bengali: জাতীয় বিপ্লব ও সংহতি দিবস) is a commemorative and former public holiday celebrated in Bangladesh on November 7 to commemorate the 7 November 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état (Sipahi–Janata Revolution) by regular soldiers of Army and the common masses that showed solidarity with them.[25][26][27] In the backdrop of the 15 August coup that resulted in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, it ended the 3 November coup to remove from power Mujib's replacement President Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, organised by the pro-Mujib Brig. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf, who was assassinated in the aftermath.[25][28] Meanwhile, the soldiers proceeded to release Maj. Gen. Ziaur Rahman, who was put under house arrest at the inception of the coup by Mosharraf.[28][29] The uprising, though organised by Lt. Col. (retd.) Abu Taher and his clandestine revolutionary socialist group of soldier mutineers, the Biplobi Shainik Sangstha (BSS), to unsuccessfully create a socialist revolution, resulted Zia's ascension to the power.[30] The day is marked to end the political turmoil and series of coups and counter-coups those occurred after the assassination of Mujibur Rahman, the founding President of Bangladesh, on 15 August 1975.[31][28]MembersThe following lists the president(s), the vice-president(s) and the special assistant(s) to the president:[1]
List of advisersThe following lists the advisers of the interim government:[1][32]
See also
NotesReferences
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