Khandker Mustaque Ahmad
Khandker Mustaque Ahmad assumed the office of President of the Republic after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975. He also became the CMLA*. Khandker Mustaque was removed from office on 6 November 1975. During the brief period that he was in office, four political leaders, namely; Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain Mansur Ali and A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman, were brutally murdered inside the Dhaka central jail on 3 November 1975. He promulgated the Indemnity Ordinance, replaced "Jai Bangla" slogan with "Bangladesh Zindabad" and changed the name of "Bangladesh Betar" to "Radio Bangladesh".
Born in 1919 at village Doshpara of Daudkandi in Comilla district, he was the fourth son of Alhaj Hazrat Khandker Kabiruddin Ahmed and Begum Rabeya. He obtained LL. B. degree from DU. He actively participated in the Pakistan Movement and was jailed in 1946. He was also one of the vanguards of the Language Movement and suffered imprisonment in 1952. A founder joint secretary of Awami Muslim League, he was elected to the EBLA in 1954. On the imposition of Governor's Rule, he was imprisoned. Upon promulgation of Martial Law in October 1958, he was again imprisoned. He toured the country extensively to form public opinion in favour of the Six Point programme formulated by AL in 1966. He was detained for three years and was released from prison in 1969. He played a pioneering role in the unseating of Ayub Khan in 1969. Mustaque Ahmad, who was then a vice president of AL, was elected a member of the Pakistan National Assembly in 1970. During the liberation war, he was the Foreign Minister and Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs of the GOB at Mujibnagar. Mustaque was re-elected a member of JS from Daudkandi in 1973. He remained a Minister of the Republic from 1972 till the assassination of Sheikh Mujib. In 1976, he founded the Democratic League. In the same year, he was convicted in two corruption cases and was imprisoned for a term of five years.* Mustaque was released from prison on 26 March 1980. He remained the Chairman of the National Democratic Alliance till his death on 5 March 1996. He was buried at his family graveyard in Daudkandi. Khandker Mustaque has left behind one son and two daughters.
Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem
Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem became President and CMLA on 6 November 1975. He was CMLA till 29 November 1976 and President of the Republic till 21 April 1977. He resigned on health grounds but before leaving office appointed Lt. General Ziaur Rahman as his successor.
Born in 1916 at Rangpur, he studied at Carmichael College, Rangpur; Presidency College and at the University Law College, Kolkata from where he earned his law degree. He became an Advocate in the Kolkata HC in 1944, and in 1947 joined the Dhaka HC Bar as a junior of A. K. Fazlul Huq. He was secretary and vice president of the HC Bar Association for several terms. He was enrolled as an Advocate of the Federal Court of Pakistan in 1951 and as a senior Advocate of the SC of Pakistan in 1959. Sayem was elevated to the HC Bench of Dhaka as an Additional Judge in 1962. He was appointed a member of the Commission of Enquiry to examine causes of exodus and eviction of minorities in 1967 and was also appointed member of the second Commission of Enquiry formed for the same purpose. Justice Sayem was a member of the Delimitation Commission of 1970, which worked for delimitation of constituencies. He was appointed a member of the Election Commission that conducted elections to the National and Provincial Assemblies in 1970-71.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman swore in Justice Sayem as the first Chief Justice of the HC of Bangladesh on 12 January 1972. He became the Chief Justice of the SC of Bangladesh on 17 December 1972 and remained in this position till he became the President and CMLA. Justice Sayem authored a book entitled At Bangabhaban: Last Phase, which was published in 1988. He died on 8 July 1997 at the age of 81.
