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Shaheed
Ziaur Rahman was commissioned in 1955 as a second
lieutenant. He served there for two years, and
in 1957, he was transferred to East Bengal Regiment.
He also worked in the military intelligence department
from 1959 to 1964. In the Indo-Pakistan War of
1965 he made his mark as a valiant fighter in
the Khemkaran sector as the commander of a company,
and incidentally, his company was one of those
which were offered maximum gallantry awards for
heroic performances in the war. He was appointed
a professional instructor in the Pakistan Military
Academy in 1966. In the same year he was sent
to the Staff College in Quetta for attending a
command course. In 1969, he joined the Second
East Bengal Regiment as its second-in-command
at Joydevpur. He was sent to West Germany for
higher training. On his return home in 1970 Ziaur
Rahman, then a major, was transferred to Eighth
East Bengal Regiment at Chittagong as its second
in command.
After
the military crackdown since the night of 25 March
1971 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and the
political leaders dispersed. The people were at
a loss. At this crucial moment when the political
leadership failed to give any direction, the Eighth
East Bengal Regiment under the leadership of Major
Ziaur Rahman revolted against the Pakistan Army
and took up the Bangladesh flag as its mainstay
on the night between 26 and 27 March 1971. Then
he took up the momentous decision of declaring
the Independence of Bangladesh. Ziaur Rahman and
his troops were in the forefront of the War of
Independence. Major Zia and the armed forces under
his command kept the Chittagong and Noakhali areas
under control for a few days and went across the
border for further preparations.
Ziaur
Rahman played a brilliant role in the War of Liberation
both at the level of planning and execution. As
the commander of Sector I up to June 1971, later
on as the head of Z-Force, Ziaur Rahman distinguished
himself as a brave warrior and was offered the
gallantry award of Bir Uttam.
After
the most creditable performances during the nine-month
war, he was appointed brigade commander in Comilla.
In June 1972, he was made Deputy Chief of Staff
of the armed forces of Bangladesh. In the middle
of 1973, he became a Brigadier, and a Major General
by the end of the year. When Khondakar Moshtaq
Ahmad assumed the office of the presidency, Ziaur
Rahman became the chief of army staff on 25 August
1975. When Khaled Mosharraf with the support of
the Dhaka Brigade under the command of Shafat
Jamil staged a coup d'etat on 3 November 1975,
Ziaur Rahman was forced to resign his command
and was put under house arrest. The Sepoy-Janata
Biplob of 7 November, however, took him to the
centre of political power. In fact, he had to
assume the responsibility of managing the affairs
of Bangladesh on the crest of the Sepoy-Janata
Biplob.
On
7 November 1975, Ziaur Rahman was proclaimed the
Chief Martial Law Administrator. In a meeting
at the army headquarters on the same day, a new
administrative set-up for the running of an interim
government was arranged with Justice Sayem as
the Chief Martial Law Administrator and the three
service chiefs, Major General Zia, Air Vice Marshal
MG Tawab and Rear Admiral MH Khan, as Deputy Chief
Martial Law Administrators. Ziaur Rahman became
Chief Martial Law Administrator on 19 November
1976, when Justice Sayem relinquished his position
and ultimately, the President of Bangladesh on
21 April 1977, when President Sayem resigned.
After
assuming office as head of the state Ziaur Rahman
issued a proclamation order amending the Constitution
to insert Bismiliah-ir-Rahmanir Rahim (In the
name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful) in
the Preamble of the Constitution. In Article 8(1)
and 8(1A) the principle of 'absolute trust and
faith in the Almighty Allah has been added. In
Article 8(1), socialism has been defined as 'economic
and social justice'. In Article 25(2) it has also
been provided that "the state shall endeavour
to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal
relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic
solidarity."
Ziaur
Rahman introduced and popularised the new concept
of Bangladeshi nationalism. He believed that in
a plural society like Bangladesh where people
are of diverse ethnicity and where they profess
different faiths, have different cultural traits
and various lifestyles, nationalism should better
be conceptualised in terms of territory rather
than language or culture. This is what he emphasised
upon. Bangladeshi nationalism took firm root and
shape as a unifying force with its emphasis on
national unity and integration of all citizens
of Bangladesh irrespective of caste, creed, gender,
culture, religion and ethnicity.
Assuming
power, Zia immediately moved to restore law and
order in the country and for the purpose strengthened
the police force, practically doubling its size
from 40,000 to 70,000 and arranging for their
proper training. He also restored order in the
armed forces. For the purpose, he took certain
steps for the development of professionalism in
them through rigorous training and restoring discipline.
He expanded their strength substantially from
less than 50,000 in 1974-75 to about 90,000 in
1976-77. Although Zia was successful in restoring
discipline within the armed forces, he had to
confront a number of mutinies and attempted coups
forcing him to adopt certain stern actions against
those who had taken part in those uprisings.
A
believer in democracy Zia moved as fast as he
could to democratise the polity by re-instituting
the institution of election either for enabling
a political party to assume power or for transferring
it to other political party peacefully. As a first
step, that is why, he allowed the disbanded political
parties to be revived and political activities
to be carried on once again. Having that in view,
he also disallowed the ban on the newspapers and
inaugurated the free flow of news by making the
news media free. For the same purpose, he re
-instituted the independence of judiciary as the
bulwark of rights of the people. The prevailing
situation persuaded him to take part in active
politics so that he could establish democratic
order in the country. In February 1978 he floated
Jatiyatabadi Ganatantric Dal with Vice President
Justice Abdus Sattar as its head. Zia himself
became the nominee of the Nationalist Front consisting
of six political parties in the presidential election.
He won a comprehensive victory by securing 76.67%
of the votes.
On
1 September 1978, a new political party, Bangladesh
nationalist party (BNP), was launched with Zia
as its chairman. The parliamentary elections were
held in February 1979 and BNP won 207 seats out
of 300. On 1 April 1979, the first session of
the Jatiya Sangsad was convened. On 9 April, martial
law was lifted after the enactment of the Fifth
Amendment.
President
Zia's dynamic economic policy laid emphasis on
private sector development. A new development
strategy designed to encourage the private entrepreneurs,
both local and foreign, and to promote agricultural
development through massive subsidies to the farmers
was initiated. The process of handing over nationalised
industries to their former owners began. Promotion
of export of conventional and non-conventional
goods became a national priority. Food production
reached a new height and Bangladesh began exporting
rice.
To
bring in dynamism in his action plan Zia put forward
a 19-point programme, and that was designed to
bring rapid socio-economic transformation in the
country. The main thrust of the programme was
self-reliance and rural uplift through people's
participation. Its primary objectives were accelerated
agricultural growth, population control, self-sufficiency
in food, decentralisation of administration and
greater incentives to the private sector. It was
designed to meet the basic needs of the people
and special needs of women, youths and workers,
and it aimed at establishing a political order
based on social justice.
For
bringing rapid socio-economic transformation in
the country, President Zia transformed the politics
of the country into a production-oriented one.
He chalked out programmes of action for the purpose,
terming these as revolutions and motivated his
party men to realise those programmes through
their devotion and commitment. The first of those
was canal digging, and it was designed to supply
adequate water to the farmers, especially during
the lean season. The second was to remove illiteracy
from the society so that an air of enlightenment
might prevail all around using both formal and
non-formal techniques all over the country. Moreover,
motivational programmes were set on for the enhancement
of productions both in the field and factories.
The initiation of family planning programme, revolutionary
as it was, was designed to stabilise population
at a level which might be termed as optimum from
the economic point of view. The institution of
Gram Sarker aimed at enlisting the support of
the people for a self-reliant Bangladesh, which
president Zia advocated. Zia began executing his
programme in right earnest and beneficial results
were in sight. The excavation and re-excavation
of more than 1,500 canals in a year and a half,
record production of food grains in two successive
years (1976-77 and 1977-78), an average annual
GDP growth of 6.4% during 1975-78, a vigorous
mass education campaign, introduction of village
government (Gram Sarkar) and Village Defence Party
(VDP) made deep impression in the minds of the
people.
Having
the objectives of establishing good neighbourly
relations with India and other South Asian countries
on equal footing Zia started bringing in changes
first at the internal setting through resurgence
of nationalistic aspirations of the people and
then by stabilising countervailing forces at the
regional and international levels.
The
foreign policy goals were thus devised anew, and
dynamic international relations were set on with
a view to preventing Bangladesh from hurtling
down to the abyss of dependence. At the regional
level, Bangladesh developed a pattern of mutuality
with such states as Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri
Lanka, and Maldives along with India so much so
that it ultimately led to the forging of regional
co-operation in the region for the first time
in its history.
At
the international level, Bangladesh, then a lonely
sojourner, picked up friends from both the right,
centre and left and established a kind of viable
comradeship amongst them. Bangladesh was lifted
from the dead end of the Indo-Soviet axis and
Indian hegemonic circle. Bangladesh came closer
to the Muslim world of more than fifty states,
which began to take fresh look at Bangladesh and
its problems. One of the superpowers of the time
became a good friend of Bangladesh, though its
role was not people-friendly during the Liberation
War. Bangladesh developed a good working relation
with China. South East Asian countries were drawn
closer. The distant Europe remained no longer
disinterested in the affairs of Bangladesh.
Through certain
creative moves, he drew Bangladesh into the world
of the liberal west, the fraternal middle East
and West Asia, and the rising South East Asia.
He attended many international conferences and
visited dozens of countries to promote the cause
of the nation's multilateral and bilateral relations.
The dividend was rich. Bangladesh was elected
to the Security Council in one of its non-permanent
seats in 1978, and became actively involved in
the activities of the UN members. In the middle
East and West Asia Bangladesh emerged as a forceful
actor. It was President Zia who conceived of the
idea of, and initiated actions for, regional co-operation
is South Asia. For the purpose, he visited these
countries during 1979-80 to speak of the need
to develop a framework for mutual co-operation.
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) was the outcome of his efforts, which
was formally launched in Dhaka in 1985. Zia did
not survive to see his dream come true. He was
assassinated in Chittagong on 30 May 1981 in an
abortive army coup. He lies buried at Sher-e-Banglanagar,
Dhaka.
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