Ziaur Rahman, Bir Uttam, is a war veteran who became the president of Bangladesh and traversed the nation preaching progress, hard work and pragmatic policies.
This website is an archive of opinion articles and media coverage on Ziaur Rahman.
THE ARCHIVE
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Dacca: A Lingering Illness
Lewis M. Simons, Washington Post (November 19, 1975) `Terminally sick nations, unlike sick people, don’t die,” a Bengali newspaper editor said mournfully one recent evening. “But they linger and linger and linger. That’s what’s happening to our Bangladesh.” Bangladesh most certainly is very sick. Its leaders have been murdered, its political parties ground into extinction, […]
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Bangladesh Chiefs Split on Ideology
Lewis M. Simons, Washington Post (May 4, 1976) Senior military commanders in Bangladesh are deeply split over ideology and the threat of renewed violence there is growing rapidly, according to an officer who has -just returned to exile from Dacca. The officer, Lt. Col. Khandakar Abdur Rashid, a leader of the Aug. 15 coup that […]
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Bangladesh President Appreciates U.S. Help And Hopes for More
Lee Lescaze, Washington Post (August 28, 1980) Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman met with President Carter yesterday to thank the United States for past assistance and explain Bangladesh’s need for even more aid in the future. Zia told a press conference that the White House meeting “was extremely useful to us.” Bangladesh, one of the world’s […]
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President Zia Has Reputation as ‘Bangladesh’s No. 1 Motivator’
Stuart Auerbach, Washington Post (March 28, 1981) Ten years ago today an obscure Army major named Ziaur Rahman proclaimed to the world over a captured radio station Bangladesh’s independence. Now Zia, a retired general, is Bangladesh’s president. Zia is described by correspondents who cover him regularly as “Bangladesh’s number one motivator.” His agriculture secretary, A. […]
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Bangladeshi Villagers Despair at Loss of President
William Branigin, Washington Post (June 3, 1981) Iman Ali Sarder paused by the side of the road outside this village northeast of Dacca, holding up an old black umbrella with a carved, wooden handle to shade himself from the blazing sun. The 67-year-old farmer listened stoically to a visitor’s question, but as he answered a […]
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Vast Crowds Mourn at Burial of Zia
William Branigin, Washington Post (June 3, 1981) Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis poured through the streets of this crowded, dirt-poor capital today in a funeral procession for slain President Ziaur Rahman and the government announced the deaths of three leaders of the rebellion that took his life. At least one person was reported killed as […]
OBITUARIES
… Zia had been one of South Asia’s most promising leaders, a man who lived modestly while others chose corruption, who searched tirelessly for solutions to his country’s awesome poverty.
— Time Magazine, 8 June 1981
OPINION ARTICLES & MEMORIES
VIDEOS
Ziaur Rahman arrives at Iran on official visit
President Ziaur Rahman pays an official visit to Iran on 4 October 1978.
Comrade-in-arms Major Hafiz recalls Zia’s war effort
Major Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikrom is a freedom fighter of Z-Force where Ziaur Rahman was the commander. He recalled their days during the liberation war.
Ziaur Rahman casts his vote in 1978 election
President Ziaur Rahman casting his vote in the presidential elections.
Zia Archive 