Abdus Sattar
Justice Abdus Sattar (1906 - October 5, 1985) was a Bangladeshi jurist and politician who served as the 9th president of Bangladesh following the assassination of Ziaur Rahman from May 30 1981 until March 24 1982. He had previously served as Zia's vice-president from June 3rd, 1977. Elected to the Pakistan parliament in 1955 he was briefly minister for home affairs and education before his appoitment as a Judge of the High Court of East Pakistan in 1957. In 1967 he was promoted to the Supreme Court. When Pakistan's military ruler, Yahya Khan called election in 1970, Sattar played a key role as chief election commissioner. East Pakistan's Awami League emerged as the single largest party but was prevented from forming a government, precipitatying East Pakistan's secession as Bangladesh. After several years within the private sector, Sattar became Special Assistant to the President in 1975 responsible for the ministry of law and parliamentary affairs. Sattar organised, then led, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) although "Zia was the real leader" which won the election of 1979, which has been described as "mostly free and fair".Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tagUnfortunately, his health was failing, the BNP was rife with internal squabbles and the chief of the army, Hossain Mohammad Ershad was demanding a role in governance. When Sattar refused to oblige, accusing the government of corruption and inefficiency, Ershad seized power. Sattar died in 1985, so did not live to see Ershad impeached and imprisoned for corruption followed by the election of a BNP government led by Khaleda Zia. Committed to peace and stability for his young nation, Sattar may have been better suited to assisting than to leading but
.==Early life== Abdus Sattar was born in 1906 in the village of Daraka in the Birbhum District of the province of Bengal (now in West Bengal, India). Sattar obtained a master's degree in political science and a law degree from the University of Calcutta and joined the bar at the court in Kolkata (then Calcutta). He entered politics by joining the Krishak Praja Party of Bengali politician A. K. Fazlul Huq. He entered the bar of the Kolkata High Court in 1941. He served as councillor of the Calcutta City Corporation (1939) and a member of the Calcutta Improvmeent Tribunal (1940-42) and the chief executive officer of the city corporation (1945). He also joined the Muslim League and supported the Pakistan movement.
Political career
After the partition of India, Sattar moved to Dhaka in East Pakistan in 1950 and joined the Dhaka High Court. He joined the Awami Muslim League of Fazlul Huq and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in 1953 and was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in 1955. Sattar was appointed minister of home affairs and education in the short-lived cabinet of prime minister Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar (1957). After the dismissal of the government, Sattar was appointed justice at the Dhaka High Court, serving from 1957 to 1968. In 1968 he was appointed to serve on the Supreme Court of Pakistan and became the chief election commissioner of Pakistan from 1969 to 1972. Sattar was responsible for supervising the 1970 elections, which led to a major political crisis between East Pakistan's Awami League, the Pakistan Peoples Party of West Pakistan and the military ruler Yahya Khan.
Justice Sattar was called in Islamabad in May 1971, however, he refused to serve the government of Pakistan and was immediately put in house arrest. He and the family remained under house arrest until his escape to Bangladesh, via Afghanistan, in 1973. Upon his arrival, Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman asked him to join the Awami League government which he respectfully declined. Upon the Prime Minister's request to serve the newly independent country in some fashion, he agreed to serve as chairman of the Bangladesh Jiban Bima Corporation (Bangladesh Life Insurance Corporation), the Journalist Wage Board and the Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs for the next two years. Following the military coup on November 7, 1975 Sattar was appointed special adviser to the president Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem, later succeeding to the ministry of law and parliamentary affairs. He supported the army chief Ziaur Rahman's elevation to the presidency in 1977 and was subsequently appointed vice-president of Bangladesh. Vice President Sattar established the organisation of the Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal, a political party composing of Zia's political allies. After Zia's victory in the 1978 elections, Sattar organised the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which became one of the largest political parties in the nation.
President of Bangladesh
Ziaur Rahman was assassinated on May 30, 1981 in an abortive military coup instigated by Major General Abul Manzur in Chittagong. Sattar assumed the presidency and suppressed the coup as he was able to retain the support of the Bangladesh Army. He led the BNP to a major victory in the elections held in 1982. However, dissatisfaction amongst senior military officers led to a coup by the army chief Lt. Gen. Hossain Mohammad Ershad on March 24. Sattar was briefly arrested by Ershad's regime but released after a few months. He died in Dhaka on October 5, 1985.
See also
| Preceded by: Ziaur Rahman |
President of Bangladesh 30 May 1981–24 March 1982 |
Succeeded by: A.F.M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury |
Template:BangladeshPresidents
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Chowdhury, Mahfuzul H. 2003. Democratization in South Asia: lessons from American institutions. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. ISBN 9780754634232
- Mendis, Dushyantha. 2008. Electoral processes and governance in South Asia. New Delhi: Sage Publications. ISBN 9780761935773
- Oberst, Robert C.; Kennedy, Charles H.; Malik, Yogendra K.; Lawoti, Mahendra. 2008. Government And Politics In South Asia: Sixth Edition. Westview Press. ISBN 9780813343891
- Shastri, Amita, and A. Jeyaratnam Wilson. 2001. The post-colonial states of South Asia: democracy, identity, development, and security. Richmond, Surry: Curzon. ISBN 9780700712922
- Wolpert, Stanley A. 1977. A new history of India. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195021530
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