Abdus Sattar

Justice Abdus Sattar (1906 - October 5, 1985) was a Bangladeshi jurist and politician who served as the president of Bangladesh following the assassination of Ziaur Rahman. He had previously served as Zia's vice-president and organised the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Sattar was deposed from the presidency by the army chief Hossain Mohammad Ershad.

Early life

Abdus Sattar was born in 1906 in the village of Daraka in the Birbhum District of the province of Bengal (now in West Bengal, India). Sattar obtained a master's degree in political science and a law degree from the University of Calcutta and joined the bar at the court in Calcutta. He entered politics by joining the Krishak Praja Party of Bengali politician A. K. Fazlul Huq. He entered the bar of the Calcutta High Court in 1941. He served as councillor of the Calcutta Corporation (1939) and a member of the Calcutta Improvmeent Tribunal (1940-42) and the chief executive officer of the city corporation (1945). He also joined the Muslim League and supported the Pakistan movement.

Political career

After the partition of India, Sattar moved to Dhaka in East Pakistan in 1950 and joined the Dhaka High Court. He joined the Awami Muslim League of Fazlul Huq and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in 1953 and was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in 1955. Sattar was appointed minister of home affairs and education in the short-lived cabinet of prime minister Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar (1957). After the dismissal of the government, Sattar was appointed justice at the Dhaka High Court, serving from 1957 to 1968. In 1968 he was appointed to serve on the Supreme Court of Pakistan and became the chief election commissioner of Pakistan from 1969 to 1972. Sattar was responsible for supervising the 1970 elections, which led to a major political crisis between East Pakistan's Awami League, the Pakistan Peoples Party of West Pakistan and the military ruler Yahya Khan.

Justice Sattar was called in Islamabad in May 1971, however, he refused to serve the government of Pakistan and was immediately put in house arrest. He and the family remained under house arrest until his escape to Bangladesh, via Afghanistan, in 1973. Upon his arrival, Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman asked him to join the Awami League government which he respectfully declined. Upon the Prime Minister's request to serve the newly independent country in some fashion, he agreed to serve as chairman of the Bangladesh Jiban Bima Corporation (Bangladesh Life Insurance Corporation), the Journalist Wage Board and the Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs for the next two years. Following the military coup on November 7, 1975 Sattar was appointed special adviser to the president Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem, later succeeding to the ministry of law and parliamentary affairs. He supported the army chief Ziaur Rahman's elevation to the presidency in 1977 and was subsequently appointed vice-president of Bangladesh. Vice President Sattar established the organisation of the Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal, a political party composing of Zia's political allies. After Zia's victory in the 1978 elections, Sattar organised the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which became one of the largest political parties in the nation.

President of Bangladesh

Ziaur Rahman was assassinated on May 30, 1981 in an abortive military coup instigated by Major General Abul Manzur in Chittagong. Sattar assumed the presidency and suppressed the coup as he was able to retain the support of the Bangladesh Army. He led the BNP to a major victory in the elections held in 1982. However, dissatisfaction amongst senior military officers led to a coup by the army chief Lt. Gen. Hossain Mohammad Ershad on March 24. Sattar was briefly arrested by Ershad's regime but released after a few months. He died in Dhaka on October 5, 1985.

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References

* [http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/S_0138.htm Banglapedia biography]