History of Bangladesh contains some of the World’s most fascinating accounts of wonderful people and communities. It is full of events that are glorious, inspiring and, at times, very tragic. The region experienced some of the worst famines of the History of the Modern times over the past three centuries. It was the first South Asian country to have come under the rule of the European Colonialism in the early modern times. European rule brough both: modernization and Imperial exploitation. In more recent times the huge region of the Great Bengal went through two brutal and blood partitions within a quarter century during the Twentieth Century. Bangladesh has had a difficult experience with democracy and Politics. Its Economic performance, however, has been robust by regional standards during the second decade of the Twenty-First Century. This page discusses the various features of the History of Bangladesh. Feel free to join our debate by posting relevant articles, research papers, podcasts and video clips on the subject on this website.
Chronology of the History of Bangladesh
15th Century Portuguese traders and missionaries were the first Europeans to reach Bengal.
1658 3 March 1707 During Aurangzeb’s reign, the local Nawab sold three villages, including one then known as Calcutta, to the British.
1686-90 Anglo-Mughal War. Job Charnock was one of the first drivers of British influence in Bengal. He waged war against the Mughal authority of Bengal which led to the Anglo-Mughal war for Bengal (1686–1690). Shaista Khan, the Nawab of Bengal, defeated the British in the battles of Hooghly as well as Baleshwar and expelled the British from Bengal. Captain William Heath led a naval fleet against Chittagong but his efforts were unsuccessful and he had to retreat to Madras.
1757 Battle of Plassey. Bengal in British hands. Kolkata (Anglicized as “Calcutta”) on the Hooghly became a major trading port for bamboo, tea, sugar cane, spices, cotton, muslin and jute produced in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Kushtia.
1775-1941 Bengal Renaissance from Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775–1833) to Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941).
16 August 1946 Direct action Day. Great Violence in Calcutta. In those days the situation in Bengal was particularly complex. In the province, Muslims represented the majority of the population (56%, as against 42% of Hindus) and were mostly concentrated in the eastern part. In consequence, the inhabitants of Calcutta, 64% Hindus and 33% Muslims, were by then divided into two highly antagonistic entities. More than 4,000 people lost their lives and 100,000 residents were left homeless in Calcutta within 72 hours. This violence sparked off further religious riots in the surrounding regions of Noakhali, Bihar, United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab, and the North Western Frontier Province.
1947-50s The Bengali Language Movement, or Bhasha Andolon (Language Movement), was a political effort in Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan), advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of Pakistan. Such recognition would allow Bengali to be used in government affairs. It was led by Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed.
23 February 1948 The Government of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Pakistan. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies.
21 February 1952 The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organized a protest. Police killed student demonstrators on that day.
1956 Bengali too made an official language in the constitution.
1966 Sheikh Mujeeb’s Six Points Plan under the title of “Our Charter of Survival” at a national conference of opposition political parties at Lahore.
Early 1968 The Agartala Conspiracy Case was filed against Sheikh Mujib and 34 others, with the allegation that the accused were planning to liberate the East Pakistan. However, as the trial progressed, a mass uprising formed in protest against this accusation and demanded the freeing of all the prisoners.
15 February 1969 One of the prisoners of the Agartala Conspiracy Case, Zahurul Haq, was shot dead at point blank range, which further enraged the public leading the government to decide to withdraw the case on 22 February 1969.
25 March 1969 General Ayub Khan handed the state power to General Yahya Khan. A new group called ’15 February Bahini’ was formed under the leadership of Serajul Alam Khan and Kazi Aref Ahmed, who were members of the ‘Swadhin Bangla Nucleus’.
1970-71 Elections. The Awami League won a landslide victory by winning an absolute majority of 160 seats in the National Assembly. The Awami League also won 298 out of 310 seats in the State Assembly of East Pakistan. The PPP only won 81 seats in the National Assembly, but won in Punjab and Sindh. JUI emerged victorious in Balochistan and the Marxist NAP in NWFP. West Pakistan opened talks with the East on constitutional questions about the division of power between the central government and the provinces, as well as the formation of a national government headed by the Awami League.
1 March 1971 Pakistani President Yahya Khan indefinitely postponed the pending National Assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
2 March 1971 A group of students, led by A S M Abdur Rob, a student leader, raised the new (proposed) flag of Bangladesh under the direction of the Swadhin Bangla Nucleus. They demanded that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declare the independence of Bangladesh immediately but Mujibur Rahman refused to agree to this demand. Rather, he decided that he would declare his next steps at a public meeting to be held on 7 March.
March 3, 1971 A student leader, Shahjahan Siraj, read the ‘Sadhinotar Ishtehar’ (Declaration of independence) at Paltan Maidan in front of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib at a public gathering under the direction of the Swadh in Bangla Nucleus.
March 7, 1971 In his historic speech before hundred thousands of people at the Suhrawardy Udyan, the president of Awami League and the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, called upon all the people of East Pakistan to launch a decisive struggle against the Pakistani occupation and take an all-out preparation for the War of Liberation.
26 March 1971 In the early hours a military crackdown by the Pakistan army began. It was called the ‘Operation Searchlight. The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and the political leaders dispersed, mostly fleeing to neighboring India where they organized a provisional government. Before being arrested by the Pakistani Army, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman passed a hand written note which contained the Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence. This note was widely circulated and transmitted by the then East Pakistan Rifles’ wireless transmitter.
27 March 1971 Bengali Army Officer Major Ziaur Rahman captured the Kalurghat Radio Station in Chittagong and read the declaration of independence of Bangladesh during the evening hours.
10 April 1971 The Provisional Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was formed in Meherpur (later renamed as Mujibnagar, a town adjacent to the Indian border). Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was announced to be the Head of the State. Tajuddin Ahmed became the Prime Minister, Syed Nazrul Islam became the acting President and Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed the Foreign Minister. There the war plan was sketched out with Bangladesh armed forces established and named “Muktifoujo”. Later these forces were named “Muktibahini” (freedom fighters). M. A. G. Osmani was appointed as the Chief of the Armed Forces. As fighting grew between the Pakistan Army and the Bengali Mukti Bahini, an estimated ten million Bengalis, mainly Hindus, sought refuge in the Indian states of Assam, Tripura and West Bengal.
3 December 1971 India intervened on the side of the Bangladeshis which led to a short, but violent, two-week war known as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
6 December 1971 Bhutan became the first country to recognize the independence of Bangladesh.
16 December 1971 Lt. Gen A. A. K. Niazi, CO of Pakistan Army forces located in East Pakistan signed the Instrument of Surrender and the nation of Bangladesh (“Country of Bengal”) was finally established the following day. At the time of surrender only a few countries had provided diplomatic recognition to the new nation. Over 90,000 Pakistani troops surrendered to the Indian forces making it the largest surrender since World War II.
25 March 16 December 1971 Rural and urban areas across East Pakistan saw extensive military operations and air strikes to suppress the tide of civil disobedience that formed following the 1970 election stalemate. The Pakistan Army, which had the backing of Islamists, created radical religious militias – the Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams – to assist it during raids on the local populace. Urdu-speaking Biharis in Bangladesh (ethnic minority) were also in support of Pakistani military. Members of the Pakistani military and supporting militias engaged in mass murder, deportation and genocidal rape. The capital Dhaka was the scene of numerous massacres, including the Operation Searchlight and Dhaka University massacre. An estimated 10 million Bengali refugees fled to neighboring India, while 30 million were internally displaced. Sectarian violence broke out between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking immigrants. Members of the Pakistani military and supporting Islamist militias from Jamaat e Islami killed an estimated 300,000 to 3,000,000 people and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. An academic consensus prevails that the atrocities committed by the Pakistani military were a genocide. When Bangladesh became independent, the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman adopted a Bengali nationalist constitution, which denied recognition of the country’s ethnic minorities. Manabendra Narayan Larma, a member of parliament from the hill tracts, called for constitutional recognition of the indigenous people of the area. He gave a notable speech at the Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh demanding the use of “Bangladeshi” as the country’s nationality definition, instead of Bengali.
11 January 1972 The new country changed its name to Bangladesh and became a parliamentary democracy under a constitution.
12 January 1972 The left-wing Awami League, which had won the 1970 election in Pakistan, formed the first post-independence government in Bangladesh. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became the 2nd Prime Minister of the country.
1972 The original Constitution of Bangladesh, drafted by Dr. Kamal Hossain, laid down the structure of a liberal democratic parliamentary republic with socialist influences.
19 March 1972 Bangladesh signed a friendship treaty with India. Bangladesh sought admission in the UN with most voting in its favor, but China vetoed this as Pakistan was its key ally. The United States, also a key ally of Pakistan, was one of the last nations to accord Bangladesh recognition.
1972 The Simla Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan. The treaty ensured that Pakistan recognized the independence of Bangladesh in exchange for the return of the Pakistani PoWs. India treated all the PoWs in strict accordance with the Geneva Convention, rule 1925. It released more than 93,000 Pakistani PoWs in five months.
1974 In the Delhi Agreement Bangladesh, India and Pakistan pledged to work for regional stability and peace. The agreement paved the way for the return of interned Bengali officials and their families stranded in Pakistan, as well as the establishing of diplomatic relations between Dhaka and Islamabad.
Rahman imposed a three-month state of emergency to quell protests. He formed the Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini, which was accused of human rights abuses. The Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini was also distrusted by many in the Bangladesh Army.
Famine in Bangladesh.
January 1975 Sheikh Mujib assumed the presidency with extraordinary powers, dissolved the parliamentary system, and established a one party state. Various political parties were merged into a sole legal national party, the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League, popularly known by its acronym BAKSAL. Most Bangladeshi newspapers were banned, except for four nationalized dailies. Sheikh Mujib quickly lost the support of most social groups in Bangladesh. The failure of his economic policies alienated the population. From “Father of the Nation”, he had by 1975 fallen to what journalist Anthony Mascaren has described as “the most hated man in Bangladesh.”
15 August 1975 A group a junior army rebels assassinated Sheikh Mujib and most of his family at his private residence in Dhaka. The coup leaders installed Vice-President Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad as Sheikh Mujib’s immediate successor. A staunch conservative, Ahmad promulgated martial law and jailed many prominent confidantes of Sheikh Mujib, including Bangladesh’s first Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad. The jailed leaders were executed on 3 November 1975. Ahmad reshuffled the leadership of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, paving the way for the country’s future military dictatorship.
6 November 1975 A counter-coup led by Brigadier General Khaled Mosharraf overthrew Ahmad from the presidency on. The chief justice, Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem, was installed as president. Mosharraf was killed by renegade socialist troops led by Abu Taher on 7 November 1975.
1976 The army chief, Lieutenant General Ziaur Rahman, emerged as the country’s most powerful figure. He served as deputy martial law administrator under President Sayem. The dispute over the sharing the water of the Ganges, due to India’s construction of the Farakka Barrage, led Bangladesh to seek the intervention of the United Nations.
1977 Indo-Bangladeshi Ganges water dispute resolved through a bilateral treaty.
21 April 1977 Lt Gen Ziaur Rahman (popular known as Zia) assumed the presidency and the office of CMLA from Justice Sayem.
June 1978 Presidential Elections.Zia sought to give his presidency and political ambition democratic legitimacy. He formed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as a centre-right political party. Zia promoted the notion of Bangladeshi nationalism as a territorial and inclusive national identity, with an emphasis of the country’s Muslim heritage.
1979 Parliamentary Elections. The BNP gained a landslide majority and the Awami League became the principal opposition party. Zia appointed the former East Pakistani politician and diplomat Shah Azizur Rahman as his prime minister. He also lifted the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami. Zia faced twenty-one attempted coups against his government, including one by the air force. His onetime ally Colonel Abu Taher was tried for treason and executed.
30 May 1981 Zia was killed by troops loyal to Major General Abul Manzoor who stormed his official residence in Chittagong. The mutiny was later suppressed by army chief Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Zia was succeeded by Vice-President Abdus Sattar.
1981 President Sattar received a popular mandate during the 1981 presidential election, despite allegations of vote rigging by his rival Kamal Hossain. Sattar’s presidency was marked by infighting within the ruling BNP, which forced cabinet reshuffles and the resignation of Vice-President Mirza Nurul Huda. A national security council was formed amid anti-Bengali Muslim violence in Northeast India and Burma.
1982 The 1982 Bangladesh coup d’état deposed President Sattar and his civilian government. Sattar was replaced by the chief justice A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury. Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad proclaimed martial law and became the Chief Martial Law Administrator. He appointed himself as the President of the Council of Ministers and the naval and air force chiefs as deputy martial law administrators. Ershad geared Bangladesh’s foreign policy more towards the anti-Soviet bloc.
1983 Ershad assumed the presidency. Political repression was rife under Ershad’s martial law regime. However, the government implemented a series of administrative reforms, particularly in terms of devolution. The eighteen districts of the country were divided into sixty-four districts. The upazila system was also created.
1984 Ershad sought the opposition parties’ participation in local elections under martial law. The opposition’s refusal to participate, however, forced Ershad to abandon these plans.
March 1985 Ershad sought public support for his regime in a national referendum on his leadership. He won overwhelmingly, although turnout was small.
May 1985 Ershad held elections for local council chairmen. Pro-government candidates won a majority of the posts, setting in motion the President’s ambitious decentralization program.
Early 1986 Political life was further liberalized and additional political rights, including the right to hold large public rallies, were restored. At the same time, the Jatiya (National) Party, designed as Ershad’s political vehicle for the transition from martial law, was established.
May 1986 Despite a boycott by the BNP, led by President Zia’s widow, Begum Khaleda Zia, parliamentary elections were held on schedule. The Jatiya Party won a modest majority of the 300 elected seats in the National Assembly. The participation of the Awami League—led by the late President Mujib’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajed lent the elections some credibility, despite widespread charges of voting irregularities.
Ershad resigned as Chief of Army Staff and retired from military service in preparation for the presidential elections.
October 1986 Presidential Elections. Protesting that martial law was still in effect, both the BNP and the AL refused to put up opposing candidates. Ershad easily outdistanced the remaining candidates, taking 84% of the vote. Although Ershad’s government claimed a turnout of more than 50%, opposition leaders, and much of the foreign press, estimated a far lower percentage and alleged voting irregularities.
November 1986 Ershad government mustered the necessary two-thirds majority in the National Assembly to amend the constitution and confirm the previous actions of the martial law regime. The President then lifted martial law, and the opposition parties took their elected seats in the National Assembly.
1970s-1980s There were attempts by the government to settle with the Bengali people. These attempts were resisted by the hill tribes, who, with the latent support of neighboring India, formed a guerrilla force called Shanti Bahini. As a result of the tribal resistance movement, successive governments turned the Hill Tracts into a militarized zone.
July 1987 After the government hastily pushed through a controversial legislative bill to include military representation on local administrative councils, the opposition walked out of Parliament. Passage of the bill helped spark an opposition movement that quickly gathered momentum, uniting Bangladesh’s opposition parties for the first time. The government began to arrest scores of opposition activists under the country’s Special Powers Act of 1974. Despite these arrests, opposition parties continued to organize protest marches and nationwide strikes. After declaring a state of emergency, Ershad dissolved Parliament and scheduled fresh elections for March 1988.
March 1988 Elections. All major opposition parties refused government overtures to participate in these polls, maintaining that the government was incapable of holding free and fair elections. Despite the opposition boycott, the government proceeded. The ruling Jatiya Party won 251 of the 300 seats. The Parliament, while still regarded by the opposition as an illegitimate body, held its sessions as scheduled, and passed numerous bills.
June 1988 A controversial constitutional amendment making Islam Bangladesh’s state religion and provision for setting up High Court benches in major cities outside of Dhaka. While Islam remains the state religion, the provision for decentralizing the High Court division has been struck down by the Supreme Court.
10 October- 4 December 1990 Mass Uprising and Democratic Movement toppled Hussain Muhammad Irshad. The uprising is marked as the starting point of parliamentary democracy in Bangladesh after nine years of military rule and paved the way for a credible election in 1991. Bangladesh Nationalist Party led 7-party alliance, Bangladesh Awami League led 8-party alliance and Leftist 5-party alliance was instrumental in staging the uprising against Ershad.
The chief justice, Shahab Uddin Ahmed, was sworn in as acting president and formed the first caretaker government of Bangladesh. Ahmed placed Ershad under arrest and organized free and fair elections in 1991.
1991 The center-right BNP won a plurality of seats and formed a government with support from the Islamic party Jamaat-I-Islami, with Khaleda Zia, widow of Ziaur Rahman, obtaining the post of prime minister. Only four parties had more than 10 members elected to the 1991 Parliament: The BNP, led by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia; the AL, led by Sheikh Hasina; the Jamaat-I-Islami (JI), led by Ghulam Azam; and the Jatiya Party (JP), led by acting chairman Mizanur Rahman Choudhury while its founder, former President Ershad, served out a prison sentence on corruption charges.
October 1991 Members of Parliament elected a new head of state, President Abdur Rahman Biswas.
Early 1990s Finance Minister Saifur Rahman launched a series of liberal economic reforms, which set a precedent in South Asia and was seen as a model in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
March 1994 Controversy over a parliamentary by-election, which the opposition claimed the government had rigged, led to an indefinite boycott of Parliament by the entire opposition. The opposition also began a program of repeated general strikes to press its demand that Khaleda Zia’s government resign and a caretaker government supervise a general election. Efforts to mediate the dispute, under the auspices of the Commonwealth Secretariat, failed.
December 1994 Another attempt at a negotiated settlement failed narrowly in late December 1994, the opposition resigned en-masse from Parliament. The opposition then continued a campaign of marches, demonstrations, and strikes in an effort to force the government to resign. The opposition, including the Awami League’s Sheikh Hasina, pledged to boycott national elections scheduled for 15 February 1996.
February 1996 Khaleda Zia was re-elected by a landslide in voting boycotted and denounced as unfair by the three main opposition parties.
March 1996 Following escalating political turmoil, the sitting Parliament enacted a constitutional amendment to allow a neutral caretaker government to assume power and conduct new parliamentary election.
March-June 1996 Caretaker government. Coup attempt. The chief justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman became the 1st Chief Advisor of Bangladesh under the country’s constitutional caretaker government system. During this period, President Abdur Rahman Biswas sacked army chief Lieutenant General Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim for alleged political activities, causing the general mount an abortive coup. The sacked army chief ordered troops in Bogra, Mymensingh and Jessore to march towards Dhaka. However, the military commander of Savar sided with the president and deployed tanks in the capital and its surrounding highways, and also suspended ferry services, as part of operations to deter the coup forces. Lt Gen Nasim was later arrested in Dhaka Cantonment.
12 June 1996 The Chief Advisor successfully held free and fair elections. The Awami League emerged as the single largest party, with 146 seats in parliament, followed by the BNP with 116 seats and Jatiya Party with 32 seats.
1996-2001 Sheikh Haseena Wajid Administration.
June 1996 Sheikh Hasina formed what she called a “Government of National Consensus” in June 1996, which included one minister from the Jatiya Party and another from the Jatiyo Samajtantric Dal, a very small leftist party. Only three parties had more than 10 members elected to the 1996 Parliament: the Awami League, BNP, and Jatiya Party. Jatiya Party president, Ershad, was released from prison on bail in January 1997.
End 1996 The BNP staged a parliamentary walkout over this and other grievances.
January 1997 BNP rejoined Parliament under a four-point agreement with the ruling party.
August 1997 The BNP asserted that January 1997 agreement was never implemented and staged another walkout.
September 1997 The Jatiya Party had never entered into a formal coalition arrangement, and party president H.M. Ershad withdrew his support from the government.
2 December 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Treaty signed. It is a political agreement and peace treaty signed between the Bangladeshi Government and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (United People’s Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts), the political organization that controlled the Shanti Bahini militia. The accord allowed for the recognition of the rights of the peoples and tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region and ended the decades-long insurgency between the Shanti Bahini and government forces.
March 1998 The BNP re-entered the Parliament. The first Hasina administration is credited for landmark initiatives in environmental and inter-ethnic peacemaking. It was responsible for signing the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty with India and the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord with ethnic insurgents, for which Hasina won the UNESCO Peace Prize. Hasina was also one of the founding leaders of the Developing 8 Countries.
1998 Hasina hosted a rare and unprecedented trilateral economic summit in Dhaka with Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan and I. K. Gujral of India.
Early 1999 A four-party opposition alliance formed at the beginning of 1999 announced that it would boycott parliamentary by-elections and local government elections unless the government took steps demanded by the opposition to ensure electoral fairness.
February 1999 The opposition subsequently boycotted all elections, including municipal council elections and several parliamentary by-elections.
June 1999 The BNP and other opposition parties again began to abstain from attending Parliament. Opposition parties staged an increasing number of nationwide general strikes, rising from six days of general strikes in 1997 to 27 days in 1999.
17 November 1999 UNESCO declared 21 February International Mother Language Day for the whole world to celebrate in tribute to the Language Movement and the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world.
January 2000 The opposition boycotted the Chittagong city corporation elections.
July 2001 The Awami League government stepped down to allow a caretaker government to preside over parliamentary elections. Political violence that had increased during the Awami League government’s tenure continued to increase through the summer in the run up to the election.
August 2001 Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina agreed during a visit of former President Jimmy Carter to respect the results of the election, join Parliament win or lose, forswear the use of hartals (violently enforced strikes) as political tools, and if successful in forming a government allow for a more meaningful role for the opposition in Parliament.
1 October 2001 The caretaker government, led by Chief Advisor Latifur Rahman, was successful in containing the violence, which allowed a parliamentary general election to be successfully held. The election saw a landslide victory of the BNP-led coalition, which included the far-right Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote. The BNP won 193 seats and the Jamaat won 17 seats. Despite her August 2001 pledge and all election monitoring groups declaring the election free and fair, Sheikh Hasina condemned the last election, rejected the results, and boycotted Parliament.
After September 11, 2001 attacks The government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia allowed the United States to use Bangladeshi airports and airspace for combat operations in Afghanistan. Bangladesh was also quick to respond to relief efforts in Afghanistan after the overthrow of the Taliban, with BRAC becoming the largest development agency in the war-torn country. The United States praised Bangladesh as an “elegant, compelling and greatly needed “voice of moderation” in the Muslim world. Khaleda Zia also developed a strategic partnership with China and signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement with Beijing.
2002 Hasina Wajid led her party legislators back to Parliament.
June 2003 The Awami League again walked out in June 2003 to protest derogatory remarks about Hasina by a State Minister and the allegedly partisan role of the Parliamentary Speaker.
2004 Assassination attempt on Hasina Wajid.
June 2004 The AL returned to Parliament without having any of their demands met. They then attended Parliament irregularly before announcing a boycott of the entire June 2005 budget session.
2001-6 Khaleda Zia’s administration was marked by improved economic growth, corruption allegations and growing rifts between the country’s secular and conservative forces. Her son Tarique Rahman was described in American diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks as being “notorious for flagrantly and frequently demanding bribes in connection with government procurement actions and appointments to political office”. A series of high-profile assassinations targeted the Awami League-led opposition.
2005 The Jamaatul Mujahadeen Bangladesh launched several terrorist attacks. The League accused the BNP and Jamaat of having complicity in the rise of militancy. Relations with neighboring India deteriorated over allegations that Bangladeshi territory was allowed to be used by Northeast Indian insurgents.
2006 A major political crisis erupted after the end of the BNP’s tenure, as the Awami League-led coalition demanded a neutral candidate for Chief Advisor. Weeks of strikes, protests and blockades paralyzed the country. President Iajuddin Ahmed assumed the responsibilities of Chief Advisor but failed to allay the fears of the opposition of an impending rigged election. The Bangladeshi press accused the president of acting under the influence of the BNP. Violent protests continued even as the military was deployed in aid of civil administration.
11 January 2007 A state of emergency was declared by President Ahmed, who resigned from the office of chief advisor under widely reported pressure from the military, particularly the army chief General Moeen Ahmed. The former governor of the central bank, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, was appointed as the Chief Advisor and the cabinet was reshuffled with many technocrats. The military-backed caretaker government started an anti-corruption drive, which saw the arrest of over 160 politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats, including former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, as well as Khaleda’s two sons.
August 2007 Student protests in Dhaka University demanded the restoration of democracy but were suppressed by a curfew.
2008 Khaleda and Hasina were released.
December 2008 Election saw a landslide victory for the Awami League-led coalition, which also included the Jatiya Party.
2007-9 State of Emergency.
Early 2009 Within two months of assuming office, Sheikh Hasina’s second government faced the BDR Mutiny, which provoked tensions with sections of the military. Hasina successfully tackled the threat from mutineers and enraged elements in the military. Hasina Wajid formed the international crimes tribunal to prosecute surviving Bengali Islamist collaborators of the 1971 genocide. The tribunal has criticism over its fairness and impartiality. Most of its convicted and executed war criminals are senior leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a party accused of opposing Bangladesh’s independence and aiding Pakistan during the genocide. An anti-terror crackdown dramatically improved relations with neighboring India. Bangladesh and India have increasingly focused on regional connectivity and trade.
2010 The Supreme Court of Bangladesh reaffirmed secularism as a fundamental principle in the constitution.
2013 The war crimes tribunal mobilized public opinion in favor of secularism, which was manifested in the March 2013 Shahbag protests.
May 2013 A huge Islamist mobilization also took place led by the Hefazat-e-Islam group
Early 2010s The intense bickering between the League and BNP, often dubbed the Battle of the Begums, has continued. The Hasina government abolished the provision of caretaker government in the constitution through the controversial Fifteenth Amendment. The move was seen by the BNP as an attempt to corrupt the election process in favor of the League. Street violence between the League, BNP and the Jamaat intensified in the run up to the general election.
2014 Elections. The general election was boycotted by the BNP; while the Jamaat was barred from contesting. It was also the most violent election in Bangladeshi history. The election was criticized by the United States as one-sided. Sheikh Hasina was sworn in for a third tenure as prime minister.
2015-16 Bangladesh has seen increasing assassinations targeting minorities and secularists, including Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Western and Asian expatriates, LGBT activists, Sufi Muslims, bloggers, publishers and atheists.
July 2016 The country’s worst terrorist attack saw the death of 20 people after an upmarket restaurant was sieged by gunmen. The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks, although the Hasina government insists local terror outfits are more likely to be responsible.
