Ziaur Rahman

Ziaur Rahman (born January 19, 1936, Bagbari, East Bengal, India—died May 30, 1981, Chittagong, Bangladesh) was a Bangladeshi soldier and statesman who served as president of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which became one of the country’s major political parties. His wife, Khaleda Zia, later served as Bangladesh’s first woman prime minister (1991–96 and 2001–06), and his son, Tarique Rahman, was sworn in as prime minister in 2026.

Joining the military as a cadet in 1953, Ziaur Rahman obtained a military commission in 1955 and became a paratrooper. After fighting in the Bangladesh Liberation War—in which the Pakistani province of East Pakistan fought for and obtained independence from Pakistan—Zia was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1972 in the newly independent country. He came to political prominence following the August 1975 military coup in which Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s first leader, was killed. The new president, Khundaqar Mushtaq Ahmed, appointed him chief of army staff, and Zia attained still greater powers under Ahmed’s successor, Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem. When Sayem resigned the presidency for health reasons in April 1977, Zia was the heir apparent. He promised reform and a return to democratic elections, but an attempted coup in November 1977 slowed the process. Nevertheless, eight months later Bangladesh’s first elections held under universal suffrage took place. The results endorsed Zia’s politics.

During Zia’s presidency, Bangladesh’s relations with Pakistan improved, though there were continued border tensions with India. Zia was assassinated in 1981 during a coup attempt led by Maj. Gen. Mohammad Abdul Manzoor, who in 1971 had fought beside him in the battle to win independence for Bangladesh.

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