Khandaker Abdur Rashid | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1946 Comilla |
| Allegiance |  Pakistan (Before 1971) Bangladesh |
| Service/ |  Pakistan Army  Bangladesh Army |
| Years of service | 1967-1976 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant Colonel |
| Unit | Regiment of Artillery |
| Commands |
|
| Known for | Assassination of Sheikh Mujib |
Khandaker Abdur Rashid is a Bangladesh Army officer and a accused of assassinating the first president of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujib. [1] [2]
Khandaker Abdur Rashid was born on 1946 in the district of Comilla, in British India. He served in the Pakistan army and defected during the start of Bangladesh Liberation war. Thus, he was a freedom fighter. Despite having a similarity in family name, the only relation between Abdur Rashid and Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed was their common birth district. Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed became the president of Bangladesh after the assassination of Sheikh Mujib. [3] Rashid was a major at the time of the 15 August 1975 coup and assassination of Sheikh Mujib. He was part of the team that raided the armory of the 2nd Field Artillery on 11:30 pm August 15 to use the weapons in the coup. He was maintaining contact with Moshtaque throughout the time. The conspirators held several meetings at his residence in Dhaka cantonment. [4] He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel after the assassination. He returned to Dhaka during the regime of Hussain Mohammad Ershad. He formed Bangladesh Freedom Party with Syed Faruque Rahman. He was elected to parliament in the 15 February 1996 general election from Comilla-6, which was discredited. [5] Faruque was his brother in law. [6]
He was convicted and sentenced to death in absentia for the assassination of Sheikh Mujib. He lives in the United States as of 2000. [7] In 2016 the government of Bangladesh passed a law that allowed for the seizure of the properties of those convicted in the killing of Sheikh Mujib. Abdur Rashid's shares in Kushtia based Jubilee Bank were ordered to be seized by Bangladesh Bank. [8] His daughter Mehnaz Rashid is a leader of the Freedom Party and was arrested in 2009 by Bangladesh police. [9]
Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad was a Bangladeshi politician. He was the Minister of Commerce in the third Mujib Rahman ministry under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and assumed the presidency of Bangladesh after the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975. He praised the assassins as "sons of the sun" and put cabinet ministers loyal to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in jail. He was himself deposed by another coup, less than three months later on November 3, 1975.
National Revolution and Solidarity Day is a commemorative and former public holiday celebrated in Bangladesh on November 7. The day pays homage to the Sipahi-Janata revolution in 1975 by regular army soldiers of Dhaka Cantonment and the common masses that showed solidarity with them in support of the deposed government against a military coup. The uprising, though organised by Lt. Col. (retd.) Abu Taher and his clandestine revolutionary socialist group of sepoy mutineers, the Biplobi Shainik Sangstha (BSS), to unsuccessfully create a socialist revolution, resulted in a counter coup. In the backdrop of the 15 August coup against Sheikh Mujib, it ended the four-day long coup d'état to remove from power Mujib's replacement President Khondaker Mostaq and the mid-ranking anti-Mujib army officers backing him, Capt. Abdul Majed, Maj. Syed Faruque Rahman, Maj. Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Maj. Shariful Haque Dalim, organised by the pro-Mujib Brig. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf, who was assassinated in the aftermath. Meanwhile, the soldiers proceeded to release Maj. Gen. Ziaur Rahman, who was put under house arrest at the inception of the coup by Mosharraf.
The Indemnity Ordinance, 1975 was a controversial law enacted by the martial law regime of Bangladesh on 26 September 1975. It provided legal immunity to all persons involved in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was killed with most of his family on 15 August 1975. Immunity meant the assassins were immune from any legal action. The surviving family members of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were unable to file a murder case against the assassins due to this law.
Sayed Farooq Rahman was the chief organizer involved in toppling the Sheikh Mujib regime in Bangladesh. He was convicted and hanged on 28 January 2010 along with co-conspirators Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda in Dhaka Central Jail, Old Dhaka, for the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and the first president of Bangladesh. Sayed Farooq Rahman and his close ally Khondaker Abdur Rashid were the chief organisers of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975. He was 2IC of the 1st Bengal Lancers Regiment of the Bangladesh Army who led a group of junior army officers in order to overthrow the regime of Sheikh Mujib and install Khondaker Mushtaque Ahmed as president of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, was assassinated along with most of his family members during the early hours of 15 August 1975 by a group of Bangladesh Army personnel who invaded his residence as part of a coup d'état. The Minister of Commerce, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, immediately took control and proclaimed himself head of an interim government from 15 August to 6 November 1975; he was in turn succeeded by Chief Justice Abu Sayem. The assassination marked the first direct military intervention in Bangladesh's civilian administration. Lawrence Lifschultz characterized this incident as an outcome of the Cold War between the United States-influenced Pakistan and the Soviet Union-influenced India. 15 August is annually observed as National Mourning Day, a commemorative day in Bangladesh.
Jail Killing Day is observed by the Awami League (AL) of Bangladesh and many other political organisations on 3 November every year. It commemorates the killing of four Awami League and national leaders: former vice-president Syed Nazrul Islam, former prime minister Tajuddin Ahmed and Captain (Rtd.) Mansur Ali, and former home minister A H M Quamruzzaman on this date in 1975.
The Bangladesh Freedom Party, also known as Freedom Party is a political party founded by Sayed Farooq Rahman, Khandakar Abdur Rashid and Bazlul Huda who were the chief organisers of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975.
Shariful Haque Dalim (born 2 February 1946) is a former Bangladeshi army officer and ambassador of Bangladesh. He was also convicted for his part in the assassination of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.
Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan was a Bangladeshi army officer who was convicted for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and then President of Bangladesh. On 28 January 2010, Rahman was hanged along with Syed Faruque Rahman, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda in Old Dhaka Central Jail.
Mohammad Bazlul Huda was a Bangladeshi Army officer and freedom fighter who was convicted of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding president of Bangladesh. On 28 January 2010, Bazlul was executed along with Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed in Old Dhaka Central Jail.
A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed was a Bangladesh Army officer who was convicted in absentia and executed for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On 28 January 2010, Ahmed was hanged along with Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda in Old Dhaka Central Jail.
The military coup in Bangladesh on August 15 of 1975 was launched by mid-ranking army officers in order to assassinate founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose administration post-independence grew corrupt and reportedly authoritarian until he established a one-party state-based government led by the socialist party Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League. Mujib, along with his resident family members, were killed during the coup but was survived by his two then-expat daughters, one of them being future prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The officers were led by Capt. Abdul Majed, Maj. Syed Faruque Rahman, Maj. Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Maj. Shariful Haque Dalim.
Mohiuddin Ahmed was a Bangladesh Army officer who was convicted of the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On 28 January 2010, Ahmed was hanged along with Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Syed Farooq Rahman, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda at Old Dhaka Central Jail.
The 3 November coup d'état was a military coup in 1975 by Brig. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf against President Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad to remove the assassins of Sheikh Mujib from power and Mostaq from the Presidency. It was the result of a power struggle between the regime of Mostaq Ahmad and the mid-ranking officers backing him, Capt. Abdul Majed, Maj. Syed Faruque Rahman, Maj. Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Maj. Shariful Haque Dalim, and Mosharraf and the high-ranking officers supporting him, Col. Shafaat Jamil, Lt. Col. Abu Taher Mohammad Haider and Col. Khondkar Nazmul Huda. The high-ranking officers were worried about army discipline with "junior mutinous officers issuing orders from the presidential palace". With the coup, Mosharraf promoted himself to the rank of major general and the post of Chief of Army Staff after placing Maj. Gen. Ziaur Rahman under house arrest while the mid-ranking officers went on exile, as was agreed upon between the belligerents. The coup lasted 3 days, after which A. S. M. Sayem was installed as president while Mosharraf served as the Chief Martial Law Administrator.
Mohammad Kismat Hashem was a Bangladesh Army officer who was convicted for his role in the 1975 Jail Killing of four senior Awami League leaders following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the president of Bangladesh.
Abdul Majed was a Bangladeshi military officer who was convicted for his role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh.
MoslemuddinKhan, also known as Rafiqul Islam Khan, is a Bangladeshi army officer who was convicted for his role in the 15 August 1975 Bangladeshi coup and the subsequent jail killings. He was sentenced to death in absentia and is currently a fugitive.
Abdul Wahab Joardar is a Bangladesh Army non-commissioned officer who is known for his role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh.
The 1976 Bogra mutiny was a rebellion on 30 April 1976 of Bangladesh Army soldiers stationed in Bogra Cantonment.
The Sayem ministry led what eventually became the first interim government in independent Bangladesh and an unofficial model for future interim regimes. It was formed on 8 November 1975, following the assassination of Brig. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf on 7 November amid a nationwide soldier and public uprising against his 3 November coup d'état. After a three-day coup with support of some high-ranking officers and his Dhaka Brigade, Mosharraf had forced Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, who, following the 15 August coup that assassinated the founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, replaced him as President of Bangladesh with support of the mid-ranking assassin officers, to resign. Chief Justice Sayem, with the constitutional requirement for the direct election of the president and role of the vice-president as acting president suspended by Mostaq under a martial law proclamation, had been installed in his place. With Mosharraf's death the responsibility of CMLA fell on Sayem.