After its independence in 1971, Bangladesh saw a series of military coups, beginning with the assassination of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975, by a group of army officers, who installed Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed as president. The Khondaker Mostaq regime was overthrown on November 3 of the same year by pro-Mujib officers led by Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf and Colonel Shafat Jamil. A counter-coup on November 7 brought army chief Maj. Gen. Ziaur Rahman to power. In 1977, Ziaur Rahman assumed the post of president and handed over the post of army chief to Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Zia formed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and sought to reintroduce democracy in Bangladesh, but in 1981 he was assassinated by a group of army officers under Maj. Gen. Abul Manzoor. Although it was feared that the army would seize power again, army chief Ershad remained loyal to Ziaur Rahman's civilian successor, the vice-president Justice Abdus Sattar and crushed the Manzoor-led coup attempt. Sattar became the presidential candidate of the BNP in the 1982 election, which he won.