Published: 01:05 AM, 16 August 2026
Shadow Over Dhaka: The Dark 81-Day Rule That Shattered a Nation
History in shadows — Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with his trusted ally Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad.
- Photo: Internet
Internet archives preserve two striking visual parallels: the image of Jesus and Judas, and that of Mujib and Mushtaq. The structural symmetry across these four historical figures is immediate—a connection made obvious even by their shared initials. Yet the focus today is not theological, but resolutely political.
Judas planted a kiss on the cheek of Jesus; Mushtaq kissed Mujib on the cheek. The resonance between the two acts is unmistakable. Judas was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, a figure firmly established in historical record. Mushtaq, likewise, stood among the key leaders of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League. While Jesus Christ served as the spiritual savior of humanity, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led the Bengali people toward political emancipation. Both men ultimately fall victim to treacherous political conspiracies, meeting brutal ends. The primary conspirators who orchestrated and executed these betrayals were Judas and Mushtaq—figures whose names remain synonymous with infamy, destined to draw the condemnation of history for as long as civilization endures. Let us now examine the grim reality of traitor Mushtaq’s 81-day regime. In the early hours of 15 August 1975, following the assassination of Bangladesh’s founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and most of his family, Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad assumed the presidency.
A former commerce minister in Mujib’s cabinet, Mostaq remained in office for just 81 days before being ousted on 3 November in a counter-coup led by Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf. Despite his brief tenure, Mostaq’s administration systematically sought to dismantle the core domestic and foreign policy foundations of the government he replaced. According to the political researcher and historian Mohiuddin Ahmad, Mostaq functioned largely as a titular figurehead for the military faction that carried out the coup.
Nevertheless, because the administration was formed under his leadership—comprising former Awami League cabinet members—it executed immediate structural shifts away from the pre-15 August framework, Ahmad said. The administration promptly dissolved the one-party BAKSAL political system by executive decree, restored publishing licenses for previously banned newspapers, and raised the ceiling for private industrial investment from BDT 30m to BDT 100m in an effort to accelerate state-sector denationalization. Concurrently, state curbs on communal political activity were relaxed. Administrative realignments and military shifts Following his accession to power, Mostaq publicly praised the military officers involved in the assassination. Major General (Retd) Moinul Hossain Chowdhury, writing in his memoir Silent Witness of a General: First Decade of Independence, noted that the regime replaced the national slogan “Joy Bangla” with “Bangladesh Zindabad” and appointed several figures known for their anti-liberation stances to senior administrative posts.
Diplomatically, Pakistan became the first nation to extend recognition to the new government, leading to the formal establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations on 4 October 1975. On 20 August, Mostaq declared martial law and appointed himself chief martial law administrator. He abolished the post of prime minister, administering the country alongside a cabinet of 12 ministers and 11 state ministers, while appointing the former land minister, Mohammad Ullah, as vice-president. The military command structure was reorganized swiftly: General M.A.G. Osmani was appointed military adviser to the president, Major General Ziaur Rahman assumed the post of chief of army staff, and the outgoing chief, Major General K.M. Shafiullah was transferred to the ministry of foreign affairs for a diplomatic assignment. The administration also initiated the disbandment of the Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini, integrating its personnel into the regular armed forces. State symbols and protocol changes The government introduced a series of symbolic shifts, changing the official name of the state broadcaster from Bangladesh Betar to Radio Bangladesh. Cabinet decisions from 6 October show the administration mandated the Achkan and Sherwani—attire consistently worn by Mostaq—as official state dress for senior civil servants during formal functions.
Political detentions and the jail killings In Rakkhi Bahinir Satya-Mithya, the witness Anwar Ul Alam documented that the administration began detaining political opponents immediately after seizing power. On 23 August, five senior political leaders who refused to support the regime—Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, A.H.M. Quamaruzzaman, M. Mansur Ali, and Abdus Samad Azad—were arrested and imprisoned in Dhaka Central Jail. To protect the military personnel involved in the 15 August killings from prosecution, Mostaq promulgated the controversial Indemnity Ordinance on 26 September 1975. The ordinance was later ratified into law under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution in 1979 during the rule of Ziaur Rahman, effectively blocking judicial proceedings for 21 years until its repeal by parliament in November 1996. The regime ended amid severe internal conflict. On 3 November 1975, a group of army officers entered Dhaka Central Jail and killed four of the imprisoned national leaders: Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, A.H.M. Quamaruzzaman, and M. Mansur Ali. Historical testimony provided to BBC Bangla in 2010 by the jailer at the time, Aminur Rahman, indicated that direct instructions were issued from the presidency ordering prison authorities to allow the armed personnel entry.
On the same day, a counter-coup led by Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf unseated Mostaq. He was placed under arrest on 6 November, bringing an end to an 81-day presidency that profoundly altered the trajectory of post-independence Bangladesh.
While concluding, the inevitable point of deception comes back to haunt us again and again. The deaths of Jesus Christ and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman belong to very different historical, religious, and political contexts. Jesus was crucified in first-century Judea, while Bangabandhu, the founding leader of Bangladesh, was assassinated in Dhaka in 1975. Yet, when their stories are viewed through the human experience of betrayal, a striking emotional similarity emerges: both suffered because trust surrounding them was profoundly violated.
Jesus’s final days are remembered in Christian tradition as a story of betrayal. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, identified Jesus to those who came to arrest him. The importance of Judas’s act lies not simply in its consequences, but in its deeply personal character. Judas belonged to Jesus’s own circle of followers. Jesus had shared his teachings, ministry, and journey with his disciples. Therefore, betrayal by a trusted companion made the suffering surrounding Jesus’s death even more painful. The story has endured for centuries partly because it expresses a universal fear: that the deepest wound can come from someone whom we trust.
The assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman also carries a profound sense of betrayal, although it occurred in a completely different historical setting. On 15 August 1975, Bangabandhu was assassinated during a military coup at his residence in Dhaka. Several members of his family were also killed. The tragedy was particularly shocking because the assassination came from within the country’s own military and political environment, after Bangabandhu had played a central role in Bangladesh’s struggle for independence and the establishment of the new state. For many Bangladeshis, therefore, the event represented not merely the killing of a political leader but a painful violation of loyalty to a figure associated with national liberation.
The strongest similarity between the two stories is the contrast between trust and violence. Jesus was betrayed by a disciple from within his immediate community. Bangabandhu was overthrown and killed by people operating within the state he had helped create. In both cases, the danger did not come only from a distant or easily identifiable enemy. It emerged from people connected, in different ways, to the victims’ own worlds. This makes betrayal central to the emotional memory surrounding both deaths.
Another similarity is the way their deaths became larger than the individuals themselves. Jesus’s crucifixion became central to Christianity and its understanding of sacrifice, suffering, forgiveness, and redemption. Bangabandhu’s assassination became a defining trauma in the political history of Bangladesh and remains closely connected with national discussions about leadership, democracy, independence, and political violence. Their deaths therefore acquired meanings extending far beyond the immediate circumstances of their killings.
There is also a symbolic similarity in their legacies. Jesus continued to inspire millions of people through his teachings of love, compassion, forgiveness, and sacrifice. Bangabandhu continued to inspire Bangladeshis through his leadership, his call for national freedom, and his vision for an independent Bangladesh. In both cases, the death of a prominent leader did not erase the influence of his ideas. Instead, the tragedy strengthened the emotional and symbolic importance of his life and work for later generations.
Nevertheless, the comparison should not erase the important differences between the two events. Jesus’s crucifixion is primarily a religious event whose meaning Christians understand through scripture, faith, and theology. Bangabandhu’s assassination was a modern political crime arising from conflict within a newly independent state. Their motives, circumstances, and historical consequences were fundamentally different. Thus, the two deaths should not be treated as identical events.
What connects the stories most powerfully is the emotional force of betrayal. Losing a respected leader is painful, but losing that leader through the actions of trusted or closely connected people can make the tragedy even more devastating. The stories of Jesus Christ and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman therefore continue to evoke questions about loyalty, sacrifice, courage, and the destructive consequences of betrayal. Their deaths remind us that history’s greatest tragedies can become even more painful when violence comes from closely affiliated disguised backstabbers.
Sarwar Chowdhury writes on geopolitical
standings and contemporary matters.
