The 1982 Bangladeshi military coup d'état deposed the civilian government headed by the President of Bangladesh Abdus Sattar and brought to power the Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad. After serving initially as the Chief Martial Law Administrator, Ershad assumed the post of president in 1983 and ruled until 1990. Background After its independence in 1971, Bangladesh saw a series of military coups, beginning with the assassination of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975, by a group of army officers, who installed Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed as president. The Khondaker Mostaq regime was overthrown on November 3 of the same year by pro-Mujib officers led by Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf and Colonel Shafat Jamil. A counter-coup on November 7 brought army chief Maj. Gen. Ziaur Rahman to power. In 1977, Ziaur Rahman assumed the post of president and handed over the post of army chief to Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Zia formed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and sought to reintroduce democracy in Bangladesh, but in 1981 he was assassinated by a group of army officers under Maj. Gen. Abul Manzoor. Although it was feared that the army would seize power again, army chief Ershad remained loyal to Ziaur Rahman's civilian successor, the vice-president Justice Abdus Sattar and crushed the Manzoor-led coup attempt. Sattar became the presidential candidate of the BNP in the 1982 election, which he won. Causes With the death of Ziaur Rahman, who had been an army general himself, the Bangladeshi military lost a patron and the close contact and political influence it had enjoyed with the president. Upon taking power, Sattar, a former judge without a military background, announced that the role of the military was strictly to protect the territory and borders of the country. Army chief of staff Ershad pressured the Sattar government to concede a greater role for the military in the government, threatening to seize power if its demands were not met. Sattar's position was also threatened by challenges to his leadership from various factions within the BNP and from opposition political parties such as the Awami League. In face of growing pressure, Sattar conceded the military's demand of creating a national security council with the military chiefs with the authority of overseeing the national defence and security policies. He also sacked the vice-president Mirza Nurul Hada due to pressure from Ershad. However, he