Army officer and politician who seized power in Bangladesh in a bloodless coup in 1982 and declared himself presidentAs dictators go, Hussain Muhammad Ershad was not an outright brute. Bangladesh, under his rule, was not a land of mass terror, imprisonment and execution. It was, rather, a country where cynicism and despair were almost palpable. Where corruption reached into every corner and a fragile body politic was shrivelled.Ershad, who has died aged 89, dominated the country for most of the 1980s and early 90s. His only qualification for leadership was that he had been chief of staff of the Bangladesh army since 1978. At that time, Bangladesh was led by another military man, the charismatic Ziaur Rahman, who had taken over in the aftermath of the assassination, in 1975, of the nationīs founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Continue reading...
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