2011 Bangladeshi coup attempt

Last updated
2011 Bangladesh coup d'état attempt
DateDecember 2011
Location
Bangladesh
Result Coup failed
Belligerents
baaNlaadesh aaoy'aamii liiger ptaakaa.svg Government of Bangladesh Shahada flag.svg Islamist factions of Bangladesh Army
Flag of Hizb ut-Tahrir.svg Hizb ut-Tahrir
Commanders and leaders
baaNlaadesh aaoy'aamii liiger ptaakaa.svg Sheikh Hasina (PM)Shahada flag.svg Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque
Strength
Unknown
Casualties and losses
0 0

The 2011 Bangladesh coup attempt was an attempted military coup planned in January, 2012. The coup participants were led by Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque and are widely believed to have been backed by the pan-Islamist fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. The coup was unsuccessful and, on January 19, 2012, the Bangladesh Army announced that they had prevented the coup and had arrested or implicated sixteen former or current mid-ranked officers. The Bangladeshi government attributed the coup to religious fundamentalism and a desire to institute sharia law in Bangladesh; coup participants stated that their goals related to nationalism and mistrust of the government's relationship with India. According to others, the coup was likely as a result of general discontent of internal structures in the military, possibly stemming from the government's handling of the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles revolt and resulting crackdown on the army.

Contents

Attempted coup

According to a participant, Ehsan Yusuf, the participants of the coup had planned to surround the Bangabhaban, the Ganabhaban, and a cantonment in Dhaka, and demand the resignation of the Hasina government. The plans had originally been scheduled around the time of the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles revolt, but had not been carried out. [1] According to the army, the coup participants were mostly made up of middle-ranked current and retired officers in the Bangladesh army, [2] are widely believed to have been supported by a branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir. [3] [4] [5]

On December 9, 2011, the participants held a teleconference after the departure of one of their members, and one expressed uncertainty about the plan. After the meeting, lieutenant colonel Ehsan Yusuf informed another member of the army, who in turn reported the potential coup. The Bangladesh army arrests Yusuf on December 15 and interrogate him, upon which they discover the involvement of the group's leaders: Bangladeshi businessman Ishraq Ahmed, who said had been involved in preventing the 1996 Bangladeshi coup attempt and was to be the leader in the new government, [1] and then-major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque. [4] [1]

Ziaul, a Muslim, had become a military officer after training at the Bangladesh Military Academy. He turned to religious fundamentalism after the death of his wife from cancer. [6] Ziaul coordinated the officers through texts, calls, and SNS postings, [4] especially on Facebook. [7] He used a UK-based SIM card to contact other officers after the government was made aware of his involvement, [6] and encouraged the other members to carry out the coup in January. [6] [8] Ziaul was removed from his position in the military as a result of the plot [9] and placed into custody on December 23. However, he escaped shortly after. [10]

On 31 December, another alleged coup member, Zakir Hossain, was arrested. He and Yusuf gave confessional statements to the Dhaka Metropolitan Court admitting to their role in the coup. [1]

On January 19, 2012, the Inter-Services Public Relations announced that the Bangladesh Army had prevented a military coup against the government of Sheikh Hasina, organized by current and former army officers and an individual living overseas in Hong Kong, potentially backed by Hzib ut-Tahrir. [11] [12] They declared the arrests of two retired officers, [2] and said that sixteen current or former officers had been implicated and that Ziaul had fled. [13]

In September 2012, the Jatiya Sangsad requested the arrests of Ishraq Ahmed, who they believed to be in Thailand, and Ziaul. [14] According to a 2018 article in Terrorism and Political Violence , Ziaul is believed to have become a commander in Ansarullah Bangla Team, a terrorist organization in Bangladesh. [15]

Motivations

The attempted coup is widely believed to have been instigated or backed by a branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a pan-Islamist fundamentalist organization that in 2009, had been banned in Bangladesh. [3] [4] [5] The group had historically recruited university students in Bangladesh, but, since their prohibition, had switched to recruiting military officers. By the time of the coup, they had gained the allegiance of "several dozens" of current and former officers. However, since the group could not meet in public, the leadership could misrepresent themselves to the officers as much more widely supported than they were. [3]

According to an article in Himalayan and Central Asian Studies, and the Bangladesh army, the purpose of the coup had been allow Hzib ut-Tahir to institute a form of Caliphate or sharia law in the country. [13] [16] A director of personal services in the army said that the coup has been designed "to spread disaffection", [17] and other representatives said it had been organized by "religious fanatics". [13] According to coup participant Ishraq Ahmed, the goal had instead been based in nationalism, and the participant's desire to remove Hasina from power was due to their feeling that she was “letting Bangladesh be 'turned into a Bantustan' run by India” [18] or otherwise turning it into a "puppet state of India." [19]

The 2016 Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Bangladesh made the argument that the coup had been supported by the middle-ranking military officers due to their displeasure with the government's handling Bangladesh Rifles revolt and a belief that those involved should have been punished, general discontent and disillusionment with the higher ranks, and the "sanctioning suspected recalcitrant officers". [11] In 2009, the Bangladesh government had started a crackdown on the military after the Bangladesh Rifles revolt, which was also believed to be a contributing factor to the attempted coup. [20] [14] The Asian Journal of Political Science attributed the participant's motivations to more general societal discontent, especially with the two leading political parties: Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League. The authors described the coup as an "act carried out by a segment of the population who would find refuge in political Islam". [5]

Aftermath

In Handbook ofTerrorism in the Asia-Pacific, the authors wrote that the successful recruitment of military officers and attempted coup "indicate[d] a deeper crisis within Bangladeshi society". [21] In a piece for Time, Ishaan Tharoor argued at the time that, due to the coup's participant's potential connection to Islamist groups, the coup could be used by Hasina and her government as a way to secure power and "beat down more religious opponents". [2] In the years after the attempted coup, Hasina made public speeches praising rank and file army members and their role in Bangladesh's democracy. Her government also increased military spending and defense budgets. [22]

In 2021, Ziaul was sentenced to death in abstensia over an unrelated murder. After the 2024 uprising and subsequent exile of Sheikh Hasina, his lawyer applied for all cases against him to be dismissed. [23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Ishraq was to head 'new regime'". The Daily Star. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Tharoor, Ishaan (2012-01-19). "Behind Bangladesh's Failed Coup Plot: A History of Violence". Time. ISSN   0040-781X . Retrieved 2025-03-23.
  3. 1 2 3 Osman, Mohamed Nawab Mohamed (2018). "Conclusion". Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and Political Islam: Identity, Ideology and Religio-Political Mobilization. Routledge. ISBN   978-0-8153-7528-9.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Shaffer, Ryan; Ashraf, A. S. M. Ali, eds. (2025). Intelligence Services in South Asia: colonial past and post-colonial realities. Studies in Intelligence Series. S.l.: Routledge. ISBN   978-1-040-31367-1.
  5. 1 2 3 Griffiths, Martin; Hasan, Mubashar (2015-05-04). "Playing with Fire: Islamism and Politics in Bangladesh" . Asian Journal of Political Science. 23 (2): 226–241. doi:10.1080/02185377.2015.1040039. ISSN   0218-5377.
  6. 1 2 3 "Major Zia used UK mobile SIM to talk to officers". The Daily Star. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  7. ↑ "Army foils bid to topple govt". The Daily Star. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  8. ↑ Gottipati, Sruthi; Kumar, Hari (19 January 2012). "Bangladesh Army Claims to Thwart Coup Attempt". The New York Times .
  9. ↑ "Bangladesh army 'foils coup' against Sheikh Hasina". BBC News . 19 January 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  10. ↑ Sengupta, Anaya; Mohan, Archis (January 20, 2012). "Coup bid by fanatics foiled: Bangla army: Mastermind with anti-India history". The Telegraph . Archived from the original on 2012-01-23.
  11. 1 2 Riaz, Ali; Rahman, Mohammad Sajjadur, eds. (2016). "The attempted putsch". Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Bangladesh. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-30877-5.
  12. ↑ "Bangladesh authorities vow to hunt coup plotters". BBC News. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  13. 1 2 3 Ahmed, Anis (January 19, 2012). "Bangladesh army says it foiled coup in December". Reuters .
  14. 1 2 "Arrest Maj Ziaul, Ishraq". The Daily Star. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  15. ↑ Riaz, Ali; Parvez, Saimum (2018-11-02). "Bangladeshi Militants: What Do We Know?" . Terrorism and Political Violence. 30 (6): 944–961. doi:10.1080/09546553.2018.1481312. ISSN   0954-6553.
  16. ↑ Sharma, Raj Kumar (2015). "Rise of Islamic Radicalism in Bangladesh Implications for the Security of North-East India". Himalayan and Central Asian Studies. 19 (1/2). ProQuest   1705723128.
  17. ↑ Chowdhury, Syed Tashfin (24 January 2012). "Bangladesh warning after foiled coup". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  18. ↑ "Ishraq admits arrested men are his friends". The Daily Star. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  19. ↑ "Turbulent house". The Economist . 28 January 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  20. ↑ Magnier, Mark (19 January 2012). "Bangladeshi army says it has foiled coup attempt". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  21. ↑ Gunaratna, Rohan; Kam, Stefanie, eds. (2016). Handbook of terrorism in the Asia-Pacific. Imperial College Press insurgency and terrorism series. London: Imperial College Press. p. 295. ISBN   978-1-78326-996-9.
  22. ↑ Riaz, Ali; Rahman, Mohammad Sajjadur, eds. (2016). "Pacification policy and rejuvenation of the military". Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Bangladesh. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-30877-5.
  23. ↑ "Sacked major Zia applies for withdrawal of cases". The Daily Star. 2025-01-05. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
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