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'Khondaker Moshtaq Ahmad' (also spelled 'Khandakar Mushtaq Ahmed') (1918 - March 5, 1996) was a Bangladeshi politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 15 August to 6 November, 1975 after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh. Ahmad played important roles in the Awami League and the Mujibnagar government-in-exile formed during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Contents

Early life

Political career

President of Bangladesh

Later life and legacy

See also

References

Early life

Born in the village of Daspara in Daudkandi Upazila of Comilla District, Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad obtained the law degree from the University of Dhaka and joined politics in 1942. An activist in the Pakistan movement and a leading student activist in the Muslim League, Ahmad was one of the founder joint secretaries of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League, founded by A. K. Fazlul Huq and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. Ahmad was one of the closest associates of the young and charismatic politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, since his earliest days as a student leader.

Political career

Ahmad was elected a member of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly in 1954 as a candidate of the United Front. After the central government of Pakistan dissolved the United Front, Mostaq Ahmad was jailed in 1954 with other Bengali leaders. He was released in 1955 and elected chief whip of the United Front parliamentary party. But with the promulgation of martial law in the country in 1958 he was arrested by the regime of Ayub Khan. During the 6 Point Movement, Ahmad would be jailed again in 1966. Following his release, Ahmad would accompany Sheikh Mujib (now the topmost leader of the Awami League) to the all-parties conference called by Ayub Khan in Rawalpindi in 1969. He was elected a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1970.
At the onset of the Bangladesh Liberation War and Mujib's arrest, Ahmad and other Awami League leaders gathered in Mujibnagar to form a government-in-exile of "Bangladesh." Syed Nazrul Islam served as acting president (Mujib was declared president), Tajuddin Ahmad served as prime minister and Ahmad was made foreign minister. In this capacity, Ahmad was to build international support for the cause of Bangladesh's independence. However, suspicions and animosity between the Mujibnagar leaders soon arose as Tajuddin Ahmad alleged that Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad was maintaining secret links with the Pakistan Army and government. He was also blamed for his pro-USA tilt during the liberation war of Bangladesh which was basically being supported by Indo-soviet axis.

President of Bangladesh

After Bangladesh's independence, Ahmad became a member of the cabinet of Sheikh Mujib and was given the charge of the ministries of power, irrigation and flood control. In 1975, he was given charge of the ministry of commerce. However, Ahmad is believed to have grown alienated from Mujib and having maintained contacts with anti-Mujib and Islamic political groups. A conservative leader, Ahmad opposed Mujib's socialism, secularism and pro-India policies. Despite this, Ahmad remained in Mujib's cabinet and was appointed a member of the BAKSAL executive committee when Mujib banned other political parties, declaring himself president.
Sheikh Mujib and all but two members of his family were assassinated by a group of army officers on 15 August, 1975. Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad immediately took control of the government, proclaiming himself president. He would appoint Major General Ziaur Rahman as the army chief. He would also order the imprisonment of pro-Mujib leaders Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman and Muhammad Mansur Ali. He replaced the national slogan of ''Joy Bangla'' with the ''Bangladesh Zindabad'' slogan and changed the name ''Bangladesh Betar'' to 'Radio Bangladesh'. More controversially, he proclaimed the Indemnity Ordinance, which granted immunity from prosecution to the assassins of Mujib. Mujib's daughters Sheikh Hasina Wazed and Sheikh Rehana were barred from returning to Bangladesh from abroad. BAKSAL and pro-Mujib political groups were dissolved.
On 3 November, the four imprisoned pro-Mujib leaders were assassinated while imprisoned at the Dhaka Central Jail. However, Ahmad was ousted from power on 6 November in a coup led by pro-Mujib military officers Khaled Mosharraf and Shafat Jamil.

Later life and legacy

Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad would be imprisoned by the Mosharraf regime and later by the regime of Ziaur Rahman till 1978. Upon his release, he formed the Democratic League and attempted to resuscitate his political career, but to no avail. He spent his last years in Dhaka and died on March 5, 1996. Ahmad was named in the investigation of the murder of Sheikh Mujib launched in 1996 by his daughter Sheikh Hasina, who had just won the national elections and become prime minister. Due to his death, he was not chargesheeted or tried. Historians and critics assert that Ahmad was one of the key plotters of Mujib's murder. He is also criticised for legitimising political murders by protecting Mujib's killers.

See also

★ Military coups in Bangladesh

★ Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

★ Indemnity Act

References

★ Banglapedia biography

★ Bangladesh military coups (1975-77)