Hussain Muhammad Ershad. File Photo
The fifth anniversary of the death of former president and Jatiya Party founder Hussain Muhammad Ershad was observed on Sunday (14 June) amid various programmes.
The leaders and activists of the party and its different associate bodies placed wreaths on the portrait of Ershad in the morning on the premises of the party’s Kakrail office.
A doa mahfil and memorial meeting was held at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) with the Jatiya Party Chairman and leader of the opposition in parliament, GM Quader, in the chair.
The Jatiya Party flag was kept at half-mast atop all the offices of the party across the country.
Besides, all divisions, districts, cities, upazilas, thanas, and union units of JaPa also marked the day with various programmes, including discussion meetings and milads, doa mahfils, and food distributions in observance of the day.
In Rangpur, Jatiya Party leaders and activists offered fateha at the grave of Ershad and paid homage to him by placing wreaths. A doa-mafil-cum-discussion was also held at Ershad's residence "Palli Nibas".
General Ershad, who was ousted in 1990 after his nine years of autocratic rule, died on July 14, 2019, at the age of 89 while undergoing treatment at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka.
Amid political turmoil following the assassination of Ziaur Rahman in a military coup, Ershad took over state power from then-President Abdus Sattar on March 24, 1982, as the Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA).
He formed the Jatiya Party in 1986 and was elected president of the country for a term of five years that same year through the third parliamentary election, triggering huge protests by other political parties.
Amid a fierce combined movement by the opposition parties, he was finally forced to step down on December 6, 1990.
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