| Ershad, (Lt General) Hussain M
president of Bangladesh. Born on 1 February 1930 in the district
of rangpur,
Hussain Muhammad Ershad had his early education in his home town Rangpur
and graduated from Dhaka University in 1950. He was commissioned in the
Pakistan army in 1952. During 1960-62, he was an Adjutant in the East
Bengal Regimental Centre, Chittagong. He completed the Staff Course from
the Staff College in Quetta in 1966. In 1968, he served as Brigade Major
of 54 Brigade in Sialkot. After getting promotion as Lieutenant Colonel
in 1969 he commanded the 3rd East Bengal Regiment during 1969-70 and the
7th East Bengal Regiment during 1971-72.
After his repatriation
from Pakistan, Ershad was appointed Adjutant General of Bangladesh
Army in 1973. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel on 12 December
1973 and then to Brigadier in June 1975. He attended the National
Defence College at Delhi in 1975. The same year he was promoted
to the rank of Major General, and was appointed the Deputy Chief
of Army Staff. Ershad was made the Chief of Army Staff in December
1978, and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in 1979. |
|
Hussain Muhammad Ershad |
Soon after the assassination of President ziaur
rahman on 30 May 1981, Ershad's interest in politics became
apparent. On 24 March 1982, General Ershad usurped state power by removing
the elected government of President abdus
sattar. General Ershad ruled the country as Chief Martial Law
Administrator till December 1983. He then took over the country's Presidency
from Justice afm
ahsanuddin chowdhury on 11 December 1983. Ershad introduced
the upazila system and the first elections to the upazila parishad were
held in May 1985.
Ershad was elected to the Presidency for a five-year
term in 1986 as a nominee of jatiya
party, which he established in 1986. All major political parties
had boycotted the election. In the general elections of 1986 Ershad's
Jatiya Party could manage absolute majority in the jatiya
sangsad. Although participated by the awami
league, bangladesh
nationalist party boycotted the election. The Sangsad was however
dissolved by the President on 7 December 1987 in the face of a strong
opposition movement. The general elections that followed in 1988 were
boycotted by all major opposition political parties. Amidst a relentless
combined movement by the opposition, Ershad was forced to step down on
6 December 1990.
General Ershad was subsequently arrested and kept confined.
In the Jatiya Sangsad elections of 1991, Ershad contested from jail from
five constituencies of Rangpur and won in all the seats. The BNP government
instituted a number of graft cases against him on charge of corruption,
and in some of those cases he was found guilty and thus convicted. In
the 1996 general elections he again secured five seats in the Assembly.
After six years of confinement Ershad was released on bail on 9 January
1997. He lost his membership in the Jatiya Sangsad due to his conviction
by the court. The Jatiya Party having been divided into three groups in
2000, Ershad still leads one of the factions as chairman. [Helal Uddin
Ahmed] |
