On Monday morning, violating the nationwide curfew, lakhs of people took to the streets in a show of strength against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The marches started from Uttara, Shahbagh, Kawran Bazar and Farmgate areas of Dhaka, with Gonobhubon, the official residence of the Prime Minister, as their final destination. Amid this fervour, news broke that Bangladesh Army Chief Waqar-uz-Zaman will address the nation at 2:00 pm.
As the protesters moved forward, there were scenes of them meeting and greeting the deployed army personnel. Some army personnel even responded with smiles, selfies and handshakes. Some protesters even climbed onto armoured vehicles, as if the army had given them a safe passage to move forward.
The situation in Bangladesh had become so dire in the last few days before Hasina’s resignation that many people were reminded of the frequent military rule in the country.
And why not? In its 53 years of existence, Bangladesh has seen 29 attempts at military coups, the first of which occurred in August 1975, barely four years after independence.
Fall of Hasina and possibility of military rule
When Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign after ruling Bangladesh for 15 years, the notion spread on social media that Bangladesh was on the verge of military rule.
However, a few hours later the Army Chief assured that the country would move towards “better times”, and clarified that the army would not cause any trouble.
He announced that an interim government would take over after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country.
Author and columnist Shafqat Rabbi, who hopes for a smooth transfer of power in India’s eastern neighbour, told IndiaToday TV, “The ball is now in the court of the Bangladeshi army generals.”
Despite the military’s clarifications and promises, many cannot rule out the possibility that given the current turmoil and precedents, Bangladesh’s future may once again be under military rule.
Bangladesh’s military shadows democracy
In recent history, Bangladesh has been ruled by Sheikh Hasina since 2009. However, the country’s history is marred by military rule, starting with the bloody coup in 1975 that ousted its founding leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He and 18 other members of his family were murdered by military officers on August 15, 1975.
Sheikh Hasina is the daughter of Mujibur Rahman.
Following the seizure of power in 1975, Bangladesh remained under military rule until 1991.
Although the army in Bangladesh is not as powerful as that of Pakistan, its shadow still remains. However, the sidelining of soldiers from West Pakistan after 1971 led to cracks in the Bangladesh army.
Not everyone in the barracks was happy.
Coup after coup following Mizibur’s assassination
It was against this backdrop that on August 15, 1975, six middle-ranking army officers, along with a few hundred soldiers, staged a coup, resulting in the assassination of the country’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
They killed the man who led their freedom struggle in 1971, and then The whole family is calling it a “historic necessity.”
The coup replaced Rahman’s secular government with an Islamist government led by Khondaker Mushtaq Ahmad. The chaos continued. There were further coups on 3 November and 7 November of the same year, leading to a series of military takeovers and upheavals.
The 3 November coup removed Khondaker Mustaq Ahmed, who had deposed Mujib a few months earlier.
Then there was another coup.
Musharraf, who staged a coup on November 3, was assassinated in another coup on November 7. This coup was led by leftist military men and politicians from the Jatiya Samajtantrik Party (JSD).
Rule of Ziaur Rahman
However, this coup released the imprisoned Ziaur Rahman and set him up to eventually take power in Bangladesh. Ziaur Rahman became the President of Bangladesh as a direct result of the military intervention.
He eventually founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party(BNP), Which is now led by his widow Khaleda Zia.
The collapse of secular Bangladesh had begun and the country was moving away from Mujib’s ideas of parliamentary democracy. The army was going to stay.
Ziaur Rahman changed the secular principles by amending the constitution. He also legalized the Indemnity Act, which protected the killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from legal action.
He also lifted the ban on political parties like the Muslim League and Jamaat-e-Islami.
In particular, there is an interesting episode from the late 1970s – during the rule of Ziaur Rahman in Bangladesh, India was taking on another Zia – Pakistan’s military dictator, Zia-ul-Haq.
In many instances, the military rules through a president it appoints.
Ziaur Rahman, who had survived several assassination attempts before, finally met his end on 30 May 1981 when he was assassinated by a group of Bangladesh Army officers in Chittagong.
Military dictator Ershad followed Ziaur Rahman
Before democracy could re-emerge, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, a former army chief appointed by Ziaur Rahman, seized power in a bloodless coup on 24 March 1982.
AFM Ahsanuddin Chowdhury was made the nominal president, while Ershad took over as the Chief Martial Law Administrator.
Ershad attempted to legitimize his rule through the president, controlling elections and forming his own political party, borrowing leaders from various movements due to a lack of political capital. Ershad’s rule hindered the development of a functioning democracy in Bangladesh and contributed to the country’s autocratic tendencies.
The Indemnity Act legitimized by Ziaur found its place in the Bangladeshi Constitution during the reign of Hussain Muhammad Ershad.
Battle of the army and the queens
It was not until 1990, when A popular uprising led by two Begums — Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Sheikh Hasina of Awami League forced Ershad to step down. Khaleda Zia was the wife of Ziaur Rahman while Sheikh Hasina was the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Irshad later admitted that he could have done it. He remained in office for the next 10 years as Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan.
Democracy was restored in 1991 through a constitutional amendment.
Although he was removed from office in 1990, Ershad continued to exercise power. In 1996, Ershad emerged as the power behind the throne when he supported the Awami League to form the government.
In the 2000s, much of Bangladesh’s so-called democratic process came to be defined by the battle of the Begums.
After the BNP-Jamaat government ended in 2006, Army Chief Lieutenant General Moeen Ahmed seized power in early 2007, followed by a brief interregnum under Fakhruddin Ahmed, who served as Prime Minister with military support.
Hasina cancels caretaker government provision
When Hasina returned to power in 2009, she quickly abolished the provision, which was being exploited as a loophole, and began her uninterrupted term, which finally ended on Monday (August 5).
The provision of an interim caretaker government was used by Army Chief Lieutenant General Moeen Ahmed to seize power in early 2007.
Hasina implemented the caretaker government system after her coronation in 2011, which had been in place since the mid-1990s. The system ensured that general elections were monitored by non-partisan caretaker governments to prevent fraud and violence, just as in Pakistan.
Hasina, who was a critic of the last military-backed caretaker government of 2006-2008, argued that unelected people should not oversee national elections.
However, attempts to erode her hard-won democracy did not stop even after Hasina came to power. Soon after Sheikh Hasina won the 2008 elections, there was a Bangladesh Rifles mutiny in 2009.
A few years later, in 2011, another coup was planned to establish Islamic law, which was foiled by the Bangladesh Army.
It was said then that they wanted to prevent Bangladesh from becoming “India’s puppet”. Though the coup did not succeed, anti-India sentiment grew significantly over the past few years, playing a controversial role in Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and escape on Monday.
as soon as the dust settles Dramatic exit of Sheikh Hasina from the post, Bangladesh once again finds itself at a familiar crossroads. Most of the people are celebrating its development As for the “third freedom,” others remain optimistic but also cautious, recalling the familiar echoes of military boots in Dhaka’s power corridors. The military’s role in Hasina’s ouster is not yet entirely clear.