# Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad

Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad (Bengali: খন্দকার মুশতাক আহমেদ, romanized: Khandakar Mushtaq Ahmed; 27 February 1919 – 5 March 1996) was a Bangladeshi politician. He was the Minister of Commerce in the third Mujib Rahman ministry under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and assumed the presidency of Bangladesh after the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975. He praised the assassins as "sons of the sun" and put cabinet ministers loyal to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in jail. He was himself deposed by another coup, less than three months later on November 3, 1975.

## Background

Khandaker Mostaq Ahmad was born on 27 February 1918, into a Bengali Muslim family of Khandakers in the village of Doshpara in Daudkandi, Tipperah district (now Comilla District, Bangladesh). The family was a Pir family, his father Al-Hajj Hazrat Khandaker Kabiruddin Ahmed was considered to be a Muslim saint and was known widely as Pir Sahib, his mother was Begum Rabeya Khatun, a homemaker. He was a fourth-generation descendant of Khandaker Jalaluddin, an immigrant scholar of Arabic and Persian from Baghdad who was employed by the Nawabs.
Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed was the least controversial of the Awami League ministers during the time and generally considered to be the leader of the party's right wing due to his Islamic leanings fostered by saintly background. He completed his Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Dhaka and entered politics in 1942. He was one of the founder joint secretaries of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League.

## Political career

Ahmad was elected a member of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly in 1954 as a candidate of the United Front. After the central government of Pakistan dissolved the United Front, Ahmad was jailed in 1954 along with other Bengali leaders. He was released in 1955 and elected the chief whip of the United Front parliamentary party.
In 1958, with the promulgation of martial law, he was arrested by the regime of Ayub Khan.
During the 6 Point Movement, Ahmad was again jailed in 1966. Following his release, Ahmad accompanied Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (then the most senior leader of the Awami League Party) to the all-parties conference called by Ayub Khan in Rawalpindi in 1969.
In 1970, he was elected a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan.

### Government of Bangladesh in exile

At the onset of the Bangladesh War of Independence and Mujib's arrest, Ahmad and other Awami League leaders gathered in Mujibnagar, Meherpur to form the Government of Bangladesh in exile. Syed Nazrul Islam served as the acting president while Mujib was declared president, Tajuddin Ahmad was appointed prime minister and Khondakar Mostaq Ahmed was made the foreign minister. In this capacity, Ahmad was to build international support for the cause of Bangladesh's independence. But his role as the Foreign Minister became controversial as he wanted a peaceful solution, remaining within Pakistan in line with the Six Point Charter of his leader Sheikh Mujib. He was sidelined after his maneuverings came to light, left out of a visit to the United Nations General Assembly and dismissed by Prime Minister Ahmad shortly before the end of the provisional government, when the war had already ended. He was replaced by Abdus Samad Azad. Zafrullah Chowdhury alleges that Ahmad did not act alone in this regard and that Awami League leaders were involved.
After the liberation, Ahmad was appointed the Minister of Power, Irrigation and Flood Control in 1972 as part of the Second Sheikh Mujib cabinet. In 1973, he took charge of the Ministry of Commerce in the Third Sheikh Mujib cabinet. He was a member of the executive committee of Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL) formed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which made Bangladesh, a one-party system which was formed in 1975.

## Presidency

Sheikh Mujib and all members of his family, except his two daughters, who were in West Germany at the time, were assassinated by a group of army personnel on 15 August.
Ahmad immediately took control of the government, proclaiming himself President. All three services chiefs were dismissed and replaced by next in line seniors. Major General Ziaur Rahman was appointed Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, replacing K M Shafiullah. Air Vice Marshal A. K. Khandekar was replaced by AVM M G Ghulam Tawab. Mushtaq reportedly praised the plotters who killed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman calling them Shurjo Shontan (sons of the sun). Mushtaq Ahmad also ordered the imprisonment of leaders Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman and Muhammad Mansur Ali. He replaced the national slogan of Joy Bangla with Bangladesh Zindabad slogan and changed the name Bangladesh Betar to 'Radio Bangladesh'. He proclaimed the Indemnity Ordinance, which granted immunity from prosecution to the assassins of Mujib. Mujib's daughters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana were barred from returning to Bangladesh from abroad. BAKSAL and pro-Mujib political groups were dissolved.
On 3 November, in what became infamously known as the "Jail Killing Day", the four imprisoned leaders Tajuddin Ahmad, Syed Nazrul Islam, A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman, and Muhammad Mansur Ali, who had refused to co-operate with Mostaq, were killed inside Dhaka Central Jail by a group of army officers on the instruction of President Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad. However, Mushtaq Ahmad was ousted from power on 6 November following a coup on 3 November led by Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf and Colonel Shafat Jamil among others.

## Later life and legacy

Ahmad was imprisoned by Brigadier General Khaled Mosharraf and later by the Ziaur Rahman administration until 1978. Upon his release, he formed Democratic League and attempted to resuscitate his political career, but to no avail. He spent his last years in Dhaka and died on 5 March 1996.
Ahmad was named in the investigation of the murder of Sheikh Mujib launched in 1996 by his daughter Sheikh Hasina, who had just won the national elections to become Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Hasina blamed Ahmad for her father's death. Due to his death, he was not charged or tried.