“Murderers are not monsters; they’re men. And that’s the most frightening thing about them,” American author Alice Sebold wrote in her book The Lovely Bones. Murderers are flesh and blood. Such a psychopathic murdererโwith a snotty nose, black sunglasses covering his cold eyes, and dressed in a military uniform or civilian safariโemerged in this delta.
So, how many people can one person kill and still remain “normal”? Belgian King Leopold II killed about 10 to 15 million people in his African colony during his entire reign. Hitler killed about 10 million people, including 6 million Jews, during World War II. The Pakistan army under Yahya, Tikka, and Niazi carried out genocide, killing 3 million Bengalis in the Great Liberation War of 1971.
Our nation’s misfortune is that, within four years of being stained with the blood of three million martyrs, this fertile Bengal fell into the hands of another cold-blooded murderer. Today, I will tell you the story of the rise of that murderous military dictatorshipโGeneral Ziaโwho remained indifferent despite killing thousands of freedom fighters, army officers, and independence supporters. For this, we must go back exactly 50 years to the last week of October 1975.
Chaos in the Wake of Assassination
The first week of November 1975 dawned on a Bangladesh reeling from chaos. Three months after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s assassination, the country had lost its direction. By then, Sector Commander Khaled Mosharraf had taken the initiative to save the nation from the hands of Bangabandhu’s killers, the Mushtaq government, and the disorderly army officers, aiming to restore discipline in the military.
November 7: A heinous terror plot by General Zia and Mujib killer Mohiuddin
Awami League: Four national leaders are our source of inspiration
Bangladesh, where even grief for Bangabandhu is criminalised
Before that, on November 3, four national leaders had been murdered in jail. The aim was clear: to divert Bangladesh from the spirit of the Liberation War and the path of progress.
Continuing this misguided path, General Ziaโthe uniformed military dictatorโclimbed onto the chest of Bengal on the shoulders of radical soldiers. He did so by killing Khaled Mosharraf and freedom fighter officers.
Zia’s Calculated Plot for Power
General Zia had already hatched a plan to seize power by destroying army discipline and eliminating freedom fighter officers. Journalist Anthony Mascarenhas, in his book A Legacy of Blood, quoted the confessions of Bangabandhu’s self-confessed murderers, Rashid and Farooq, stating that Zia knew everything about the assassination.
When the commander of the 46th Brigade, Colonel (Retd.) Shafayat Jamil brought the news of Bangabandhu’s assassination to Zia the next morning. Zia remained indifferent and said: “So what? Let the vice president take over.” As if everything was unfolding according to his plan.
The dishonest Mushtaq came to power and appointed Zia as army chief. Zia planned to maintain political influence over the Mushtaq government by keeping Bangabandhu’s self-confessed murderers in Bangabhaban. At the same time, from the cantonment, he aimed to neutralise all those in the army who favoured the Liberation War.
Khaled Mosharraf’s Foiled Resistance and the Sepoy Mutiny
Sector Commander Khaled Mosharraf foiled Zia’s plan. He marched to Bangabhaban, forced Mushtaq to resign, and ordered all rebel soldiers to return to their barracks. It was then that the evil-minded Zia launched his deadly move. He allied with Jasad, which had spread rumours and terror throughout Bangabandhu’s reign, and ignited the so-called Sepoy Mutiny.
We get a vivid description of how brutal the soldiers were under Zia and Taher’s orders during this mutiny from the accounts of Colonel (Retd.) Shafayat Jamil, then Khaled Mosharraf’s associate and head of the 46th Brigade.
In his book The Liberation War of ’71, Bloody Mid-August, and Conspiratorial November, he writes about the so-called mutiny of November 7, 1975: “The scope of the mutiny gradually spread to the unit and sub-unit. Due to insecurity, many officers fled the cantonment. Despite having no connection with our uprising, 13 officersโincluding a lady doctorโwere shot dead by the so-called revolutionary soldiers. They also killed the wife of the brave freedom fighter, Lt. Col. Abu Osman Chowdhury. It is worth noting that most of the sepoys who participated in the so-called Sepoy Mutiny were Pakistan returnees.”
Lt. Col. (Retd.) Abdul Hamid, in his book Three Military Coups and Some Unspoken Words, describes how the rebel soldiers following Zia and Taher looted the arsenal and ammunition. They killed army officers who were freedom fighters and their families by forcing foreign terrorists into the cantonment. This power-hungry dictator brought down the atmosphere of the black night of March 25, 1971, at midnight on November 7, 1975.
Purges and Executions: A Reign of Terror
After seizing power, Zia first eliminated his rivals and hanged Colonel (Retd.) Taher.
From Professor Abu Sayyid’s book General Zia’s Reign, we learn that a total of 19 military coups were organized during Zia’s tenure. Using these as pretexts, he changed the rules of court-martial and killed thousands of army officers. According to official figures, military dictator Zia executed 1,143 soldiers by hanging until October 9, 1977.
The trials were conducted in a hasty manner, thumbing their noses at legal procedures and justice. Three or four people were tried together and sentenced to death. The entire process was completed in just four hours. General Zia, abusing his dual power as president and chief martial law administrator, used the state machinery to kill freedom fighter army officers and soldiers, bypassing the law entirely.
Professor Abu Sayyid, in his book, recounts the memoirs of civilian prisoners: For several weeks, the prisons became terrifying at night with the screams of soldiers. As they approached the gallows, they would scream loudly, proclaiming their innocence. No military or civilian law was followed during their trials.
Political Manipulation and the Rise of Mafia Politics
Not only in the military but also in the political arena, Zia had leaders and activists of the Awami Leagueโwho had led the Liberation Warโkilled. Zia, the patron of black money, muscle power, and mafia in Bangladeshi politics, once commented on politics: “I will make politics difficult for the politicians.” Zia’s soldiers continued the trend of depoliticisation by introducing black money, bribery, extortion, and mafia elements into politicsโa legacy that persists to this day.
“Ten dowries, twenty gangsters, cold electionsโ following the policy Zia implemented, his party, BNP, came to power in parliament in 1979 and passed the infamous Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Zia’s BNP converted the “Immediate Death Ordinance,” which granted immunity to Bangabandhu’s killers, into law.
Zia politically, socially, and economically rehabilitated Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muslim League, mass murderers who had opposed Bangladesh’s independence in the Great Liberation War. It was during his tenure that war criminal Golam Azam, the head of the Peace Committee, returned to the country and became active in politics. Bangladesh entered a dark chapter of military dictatorship.
A Legacy of Betrayal
The chariot of progress and prosperity for newly independent Bangladeshโwhich had started its journey in reverse with the killing of the Father of the Nation and his family on August 15โwas completed by Zia on November 7 by murdering freedom fighter officers and seizing power. After coming to power, Zia killed thousands of freedom fighter army officers and soldiers, rehabilitated anti-independence war criminals in politics, and dragged Bangladesh back to Pakistani ideology.
The former British Prime Minister called Hitler “a monster of wickedness” for his atrocities in World War II and his Nazi activities, “a crime against civilisation.” If Churchill’s symbol of atrocity given to Hitler is applied to Zia, it is probably not an exaggeration. What Hitler did in World War II and what Yahya-Tikka-Niazi did in 1971, Zia brought back to the heart of the Bengali mother. And the rise of this cold-headed, cold-eyed murderer began on November 7, 1975.
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