The Jatiya party leader in parliament died at age 89 after months of illness
Ershad was born in 1930 in Dinhata, a subdivision of Coochbehar district of present-day India’s West Bengal during the then British rule
AMN / DHAKA
Bangladesh’s former military ruler and the opposition leader in the parliament Hussain Muhammad Ershad died at a Military Hospital here today.
The chief of , Jatiya Party, passed away at the age of 89 after suffering from various illnesses including low hemoglobin, kidney and liver problem, high bilirubin and serious keen pain.
He died in the morning at around 7.45 am (local time), the Jatiya Party and Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) formally said in media statements.
HM Ershadhad been admitted to hospital in June and was undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit of the military hospital. He went on life support from June 30.
The former military ruler came to power in 1982 and declared himself the president in 1983, and later formed his Jatiya Party.
After he lost the state power in mass agitation in 1990, he was arrested in 1991 and got released in 1997.
Ershad’s party, the key partner of the ruling party Awami League, had grand alliance in the 10th and 11th parliament.
President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury mourned Ershad’s death and prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul.
A former army chief Ershad took over the state power in a bloodless coup in 1982 and subsequently ran the country for eight years until he was forced to quit in a pro-democracy mass upsurge in 1990.
Despite being imprisoned subsequently on several charges, Ershad, however, retained his stake in politics and elected to parliament several times, once contesting from the prison even.
The family and Jatiya Party sources said Ershad’s first namaz-e-janaza would be held after Johr prayers at Dhaka Cantonment’s Central Mosque and then would be flown to his ancestral home district in Rangpur to be brought back to Dhaka for burial at the Banani army graveyard.
Ershad was born in 1930 in Dinhata, a subdivision of Coochbehar district of present-day India’s West Bengal during the then British rule to Mokbul Hossain and Mazida Khatun.
His parents migrated from Dinhata to Bangladesh (the then East Pakistan) in 1948 a year after the India-Pakistan partition.
He was one of nine siblings including GM Quader and Mozammel Hossain Lalu.
Ershad studied in Carmichael College in Rangpur, and later graduated from the Dhaka University in 1950 ahead of making his debut in his military career joining the then Pakistani army in 1952.