Assassination of Ziaur Rahman and the Aftermath

This book is a chronology of events surrounding the assassination of late President Ziaur Rahman and the aftermath, as well as a brief commentary on Zia's rise to power. The author, who was Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong at the time of Zia's assassination, narrates these events from his perspective. It is a riveting account of the last hours of the most powerful man of Bangladesh that time, and the series of events leading to the capture and assassination of another freedom fighter, late Maj. Gen. Manzoor Hussain. Zia gave birth to a new slogan-Bangladeshi nationalism with an Islamic flavor. In doing so he also paved the way for the rehabilitation of the religion based political parties and their leaders who had sided with the opponents of Bangladesh liberation. At the end he was able to cobble together a new political party-the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which was a potpourri of diverse political elements, leftists, centrists, religious zealots, and deserters from other political parties including the Awami League. As Zia busied himself with his newly acquired political power and a besotted political party, he drifted from the original power base-the Army, in particular the freedom fighters section that he was aligned with at the beginning. Many of his new political associates were suspects in the eyes of his freedom fighter colleagues for their political past, anti-liberation stand, and their perceived corruption. Zia's life was cut to a short at the peak of his popularity by