Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bengali: ; 17 March 1920 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu was a Bangladeshi politician, statesman and Founding Father of Bangladesh who served as the first President and later as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from April 1971 until his assassination in August 1975. Mujib is credited with leading the successful campaign for Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan. He is revered in Bangladesh with the honourific title of "Bangabandhu" (Bngobondhu "Friend of Bengal") which is used around the world. He was a founding member and eventual leader of the Awami League, founded in 1949 as an East Pakistanbased political party in Pakistan. Mujib is considered to have been a fundamental figure in the efforts to gain political autonomy for East Pakistan and later as the central figure behind the Bangladesh Liberation Movement and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Thus, he is regarded as the "Jatir Janak" or "Jatir Pita" (Jatir Jnok or Jatir Pita, both meaning "Father of the Nation") of Bangladesh. His daughter Sheikh Hasina is the current leader of the Awami League and currently serves as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
An initial advocate of democracy and socialism, Mujib rose in the ranks of the Awami League and East Pakistani politics as a charismatic and forceful orator. He became popular for his opposition to the ethnic and institutional discrimination of Bengalis in Pakistan, who comprised the majority of the state's population. At the heightening of sectional tensions, he outlined a six-point autonomy plan and was jailed by the regime of Field Marshal Ayub Khan for treason. Mujib led the Awami League to win the first democratic election of Pakistan in 1970. Despite gaining a majority, the League was not invited by the ruling military junta to form a government. As civil disobedience erupted across East Pakistan, Mujib indirectly announced independence of Bangladesh during a landmark speech on 7 March 1971. On 26 March 1971, the Pakistan Army responded to the mass protests with Operation Searchlight, in which Prime Ministerelect Mujib was arrested and flown to solitary confinement in West Pakistan, while Bengali civilians, students, intellectuals, politicians and military defectors were murdered as part of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. During Mujib's absence, many Bengalis joined the Mukti Bahini and with help from the Indian Armed Forces, defeated the Pakistan Armed Forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War. After Bangladesh's independence, Mujib was released from Pakistani custody due to international pressure and returned to Dhaka in January 1972 after a short visit to Britain and India.
Mujib became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh under a parliamentary system adopted by the new country. He charged the provisional parliament to write a new constitution proclaiming the four fundamental principles of "nationalism, secularism, democracy, and socialism", which reflect his political views collectively known as Mujibism. The Awami League won a huge mandate in the country's first general election in 1973. However, Mujib faced challenges of rampant unemployment, poverty and corruption, as well as the Bangladesh famine of 1974. The government was criticized for denying constitutional recognition to indigenous minorities and human rights violations by its security forces, notably the National Defence Force or Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini paramilitary. Amid rising political agitation, Mujib initiated one party socialist rule in January 1975. Six months later, he and most of his family were assassinated by renegade army officers during a coup. A martial law government was subsequently established. In a 2004 BBC poll, Mujib was voted the Greatest Bengali of all time.
Bangladeshis (Bengali: বাংলাদেশী [ˈbaŋladeʃi]) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay.
Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the permanent residents of the former East Pakistan were transformed into citizens of a new republic. Bangladesh is the world's eighth most populous nation. The vast majority of Bangladeshis are ethnolingustically Bengalis, an Indo-Aryan people. The population of Bangladesh is concentrated in the fertile Bengal delta, which has been the center of urban and agrarian civilizations for millennia. The country's highlands, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts and parts of the Sylhet Division, are home to various tribal minorities.
Bengali Muslims are the predominant ethnoreligious group of Bangladesh with a population of 135.5 million, which makes up 90.4% of the country's population as of 2011. The minority Bengali Hindu population made up approximately 8.54% of the population of the country according to the 2011 Census Non-Bengali Muslims make up the largest immigrant community; while the Tibeto-Burman Chakmas, who speak the Indo-Aryan Chakma language, are the largest indigenous ethnic group after Indo-Aryan Bengalis. The Austroasiatic Santhals are the largest aboriginal community.
The Bangladeshi diaspora is concentrated in the Arab world, North America, Canada and the United Kingdom. A significant number of Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) have dual citizenship in different countries.