A President Who Set Precedents

Ever since he hit the headlines, Hussain Mohammad Ershad has been setting one precedent after another. Never before in the short history of Bangladesh had a leader taken over without bloodshed, never had a leader been forcibly removed from office, or jailed for misdeeds, never had a leader won parliamentary seats from jail (not just once but twice), and never had a leader come out of jail as strong a contender for political office. Finally, never before had a leader been so open about his love life. In the end, the 69-year-old former president of Bangladesh and chairman of the Jatiya Party may have committed political suicide by admitting his long-time relationship with Zinat Musharraf Hossain, wife of Musharraf Hossain, former industry secretary and now an MP of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). His wife of more than 35 years, Begum Raushaun Ershad, walked out on him, while three of his senior party leaders with the support of the Begum herself have appeared in the press asking the party chairman to relinquish his position.

Meteoric Military Career
Mr Ershad began as a lieutenant colonel in the Liberation War, was detained in a Pakistani war camp, and it was only in 1973 that he returned to independent Bangladesh. After that his rise to the top was of meteoric. In 1974, he was made colonel and sent to a military academy in India and promoted to brigadier while he still there. He came back to Bangladesh in 1975 after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and was promoted again to Major General by Ziaur Rahman, who had himself just been appointed army chief by the then President Khondokar Mustaque Ahmed. Mr Ershad became the deputy chief of army the very next year. And in 1978, when General Zia quit the army and was elected president, it was Mr Ershad who took up the post of army chief with his new rank of lieutenant general.