Khalid Newazi
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Hussain Muhammad Ershad was President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990. From the beginning of the Bangladesh Liberation War, Ershad was interned along with other Bengali officers stationed in West Pakistan, and held as a prisoner of war. In 1973 he and the others were repatriated to the new nation of Bangladesh in accordance with the Simla Agreement between India's Indira Gandhi and Pakistan's Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
After the assassination of Ziaur Rahman on 30 May 1981, Ershad remained loyal to the government. He ordered the army to suppress the coup attempt by Major General Abul Manzoor. Ershad maintained loyalty to the new president Abdus Sattar, who had led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to victory in elections in 1982.
He has twice been honoured as a United Nations Laureate, for contributions on population and environmental issues. He won the parliamentary elections three times after being toppled from the presidency. While in prison awaiting trial, Ershad twice won the parliamentary elections from five different constituencies, in the elections of 1991 and 1996.
Achievements:
H. M. Ershad stabilised the Bangladesh Armed Forces, which had struggled with a series of coups and counter coups since the nation achieved independence in 1971.
The Bangladesh Armed Forces did not attempt any coups from Ershad's takeover in 1982 until the fall of the BNP government in 1996. The Awami League in alliance with Jatiya Party won the Bangladeshi general election, June 1996.
President Ershad approved the participation in 1988 of the Bangladesh Army in the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations for the first time. In addition to contributing to multi-national initiatives, this enabled the Armed Forces to earn foreign currency. Their participation in other UN-sponsored actions has continued to contribute to the Treasury.
Formulation of Drug Policy brought down 1707 medicines in place of 4000, many of them were banned in developed countries long before. It was hailed by WHO and many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America took it as a model.
Population growth at that time was 3.8 which he brought down to 2.3 and in recognition received the UN Population Award in 1987.
He acted against women oppression. Strict law was enacted to stop dowry. Death sentence was made the punishment for acid-throwing on women.
Export of garment saw the golden era. Bangladesh achieved the 5th place in the world. He was the pioneer behind the current garments "revolution".
He laid the foundation stone for the Jamuna Bridge on 1st February 1988. For the convenience and welfare of city duellers Ershad government planned 7 Flyovers in Dhaka City which never saw the light of the day under subsequent governments. Plans were also made for rehabilitation of the prostitutes through the NGOs. A multi-storied sweepers Colony was built in Dhaka including school for education of their children. At Ershad Nagar in Tongi thousands of floating population were rehabilitated allotting a small home for each family.
He brought down the number of Ministries to 26 from 42 and the Autonomous bodies from 155 to 109 to avoid duplication of functional responsibilities. 5-tier administration was reduced to 3-tiers by converting the sub-divisions into districts for administrative expediency. This reduced minister maintenance cost and made ministries more efficient as the hierarchy was flatter.
One of the most revolutionary steps of Ershad government was the establishment of the UpoZilla system which was regarded as a unique example of decentralisation of administration taking it to the door-steps of the people. Ershad government converted 460 Thanas (police station) in rural Bangladesh into Upo Zilla in phases over a couple of years. It was not merely a change of name. Under the system the Upo Zilla became the nerve-centre of democratic process at the grass-root level. This unique system was disbanded by the BNP government of Khaleda Zia as soon as they came to power, only because this revolutionary system was introduced by Ershad.
Ershad was described by the following:
"He was the first leader in history to sign a death sentence for throwing acid on women. In the early 1980s he himself signed the death sentence of three people who had thrown acid at girls refusing their advances and ordered their public hanging. This led to a dramatic lowering of throwing acid on girls. He also issued death sentence ruling for any one who would mutilate children for begging. In Bangladesh he was the one who passed a law that if a child is found crippled on the road he has to be taken to police custody and then from there to a hospital and appropriate institution. Any one who voluntarily cripples a child or any one is given a death sentence. This also led to a dramatic decline in crippling children for begging in Bangladesh."
"He also had a long-term ruling on health care with issuing free tuberculosis and leprosy drugs for the patients in all the health complexes. He stopped human trafficking on the Bangladesh Borders. He launched a wide spread campaign against use of illicit drugs and opened a drug rehabilitation centre in Bangladesh."
The only issue regarding his rule was that all the political parties were against his rule. All of BNP, Hasina-League and JMB.... I mean Jaamat were against the elections he had held as they couldn't compete with him.
The people of Bangladesh were too carried on with the fact that both Hasina and Khaleda were related to Mujib and Ziaur Rahman, both of whom were the public face of the Liberation War. Also the fact that he was a military commander and back then the military was violent and unstable (although he made them stable as mentioned in the article)
He held elections but the oppositions were unwilling to participate as instead of the normal 2 main political party, a third one would enter the scene not because the election wasn't going to be held fair. Ershad had many members of opposition into his government.
The Supreme Court in 2011 had upheld the High Court order declaring illegal the Seventh Amendment to the constitution that had legitimised the autocratic regime of military strongman Hussein Muhammad Ershad. This goes on to prove that the leaders of Bangladesh are afraid of his rule and know that they can never emulate his development progress and had thus ordered the High Court to declare his rule illegal (Hasina has power over High Court and now wants power over Supreme Court)
Share your thoughts and for those who want to know a bit more about his accomplishments here's a link for that:
After the assassination of Ziaur Rahman on 30 May 1981, Ershad remained loyal to the government. He ordered the army to suppress the coup attempt by Major General Abul Manzoor. Ershad maintained loyalty to the new president Abdus Sattar, who had led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to victory in elections in 1982.
He has twice been honoured as a United Nations Laureate, for contributions on population and environmental issues. He won the parliamentary elections three times after being toppled from the presidency. While in prison awaiting trial, Ershad twice won the parliamentary elections from five different constituencies, in the elections of 1991 and 1996.
Achievements:
H. M. Ershad stabilised the Bangladesh Armed Forces, which had struggled with a series of coups and counter coups since the nation achieved independence in 1971.
The Bangladesh Armed Forces did not attempt any coups from Ershad's takeover in 1982 until the fall of the BNP government in 1996. The Awami League in alliance with Jatiya Party won the Bangladeshi general election, June 1996.
President Ershad approved the participation in 1988 of the Bangladesh Army in the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations for the first time. In addition to contributing to multi-national initiatives, this enabled the Armed Forces to earn foreign currency. Their participation in other UN-sponsored actions has continued to contribute to the Treasury.
Formulation of Drug Policy brought down 1707 medicines in place of 4000, many of them were banned in developed countries long before. It was hailed by WHO and many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America took it as a model.
Population growth at that time was 3.8 which he brought down to 2.3 and in recognition received the UN Population Award in 1987.
He acted against women oppression. Strict law was enacted to stop dowry. Death sentence was made the punishment for acid-throwing on women.
Export of garment saw the golden era. Bangladesh achieved the 5th place in the world. He was the pioneer behind the current garments "revolution".
He laid the foundation stone for the Jamuna Bridge on 1st February 1988. For the convenience and welfare of city duellers Ershad government planned 7 Flyovers in Dhaka City which never saw the light of the day under subsequent governments. Plans were also made for rehabilitation of the prostitutes through the NGOs. A multi-storied sweepers Colony was built in Dhaka including school for education of their children. At Ershad Nagar in Tongi thousands of floating population were rehabilitated allotting a small home for each family.
He brought down the number of Ministries to 26 from 42 and the Autonomous bodies from 155 to 109 to avoid duplication of functional responsibilities. 5-tier administration was reduced to 3-tiers by converting the sub-divisions into districts for administrative expediency. This reduced minister maintenance cost and made ministries more efficient as the hierarchy was flatter.
One of the most revolutionary steps of Ershad government was the establishment of the UpoZilla system which was regarded as a unique example of decentralisation of administration taking it to the door-steps of the people. Ershad government converted 460 Thanas (police station) in rural Bangladesh into Upo Zilla in phases over a couple of years. It was not merely a change of name. Under the system the Upo Zilla became the nerve-centre of democratic process at the grass-root level. This unique system was disbanded by the BNP government of Khaleda Zia as soon as they came to power, only because this revolutionary system was introduced by Ershad.
Ershad was described by the following:
"He was the first leader in history to sign a death sentence for throwing acid on women. In the early 1980s he himself signed the death sentence of three people who had thrown acid at girls refusing their advances and ordered their public hanging. This led to a dramatic lowering of throwing acid on girls. He also issued death sentence ruling for any one who would mutilate children for begging. In Bangladesh he was the one who passed a law that if a child is found crippled on the road he has to be taken to police custody and then from there to a hospital and appropriate institution. Any one who voluntarily cripples a child or any one is given a death sentence. This also led to a dramatic decline in crippling children for begging in Bangladesh."
"He also had a long-term ruling on health care with issuing free tuberculosis and leprosy drugs for the patients in all the health complexes. He stopped human trafficking on the Bangladesh Borders. He launched a wide spread campaign against use of illicit drugs and opened a drug rehabilitation centre in Bangladesh."
The only issue regarding his rule was that all the political parties were against his rule. All of BNP, Hasina-League and JMB.... I mean Jaamat were against the elections he had held as they couldn't compete with him.
The people of Bangladesh were too carried on with the fact that both Hasina and Khaleda were related to Mujib and Ziaur Rahman, both of whom were the public face of the Liberation War. Also the fact that he was a military commander and back then the military was violent and unstable (although he made them stable as mentioned in the article)
He held elections but the oppositions were unwilling to participate as instead of the normal 2 main political party, a third one would enter the scene not because the election wasn't going to be held fair. Ershad had many members of opposition into his government.
The Supreme Court in 2011 had upheld the High Court order declaring illegal the Seventh Amendment to the constitution that had legitimised the autocratic regime of military strongman Hussein Muhammad Ershad. This goes on to prove that the leaders of Bangladesh are afraid of his rule and know that they can never emulate his development progress and had thus ordered the High Court to declare his rule illegal (Hasina has power over High Court and now wants power over Supreme Court)
Share your thoughts and for those who want to know a bit more about his accomplishments here's a link for that:
