Category: In International Media
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
The Times interview: Bangladesh and the hazards of democracy
President Zia ur-Rahman of Bangladesh leaned forward in his armchair, his eyes alight with enthusiasm: “Everybody knows our problems in this country are terrible but we have our muscles and we can work, dig and grow. We can pull ourselves up. With our, bare hands we can achieve great things.” No one knew better than…
-
The Times Biography: Zia Ur-Rahman
The Times: Biography (June 1, 19781) President Zia ur-Rahman of Bangladesh, who was killed at the age of 45 in Chittagong on May 30 during an insurrection against the government, had been the effective instrument of power in the country since soon after the overthrow and assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by a group of…
-
A rush of blood leaves Bangladesh on the brink
John Cunningham, The Guardian (June 1, 1981) President Ziaur Rahman’s luck fatally ran out in a hail of bullets in the government rest house just before dawn on Saturday. The province on the East flank of Bangladesh which takes its name from the port city he was visiting, mocks the imprint of national stability which…
-
A moderate nationalist who wanted to lift his country out of extreme poverty
Gerard Viratelle, Le Monde (June 01, 1981) Only 46 years old, but in power since November 1975, General Ziaur Rahman, familiarly known in his country by the diminutive of Zia, was a moderate nationalist and a man of authority. Always calm, neatly dressed and with eyes often hidden behind tinted glasses, his “coldness” contrasted with…
Zia Archive 