A look back at caretaker governments throughout the years

Bangladesh has had six caretaker governments over the years. 

We take a look back at what led to those governments and who they were made of. 

1990 - The first 

In 1990, the three party alliances – BNP, AL and the 5 Leftist parties – jointly made a demand for a better elections environment. In the domino effect that followed, General Ershad appointed Chief Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed as the Vice President. The three party alliance nominated Shahabuddin for chief advisor. He then became the acting president at Ershad's departure and formed the first advisory government of the country. 

The interim government consisted of:

• MA Khaleq, a judge, who served as the secretary of East Pakistan Assembly from 1956-1966. He then served as Sessions and District Judge, before retiring from judicial service in 1983. He worked at the Administrative Appellate Tribunal.
• Mahmoud Kafil Uddin who served as the finance secretary of Bangladesh and former chairman of the National Board of Revenue. 
• Fakhruddin Ahmed, who was director of Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs before returning to Bangladesh where he served as the foreign secretary. He was made ambassador to Italy after Mujib's assassination. He served a second term as foreign secretary from 1986-87. 
• Rehman Sobhan is regarded as one of Bangladesh's top public thinkers. He is the founder of the Centre for Policy Dialogue. He, along with a number of nationalist economists, contributed to the drafting of the six-points programme which became the basis for Bangladesh's struggle for autonomy.  He served as one of the members of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Planning Commission. 
• Wahiduddin Mahmud, an economist, was a member of the United Nations Committee for Development Policy. He has held positions at Cambridge University, Oxford University, IDS at Sussex, IFPRI, and the World Bank. He is the co-founding chairman for PKSF. 
• Zillur Rahman Siddiqui served as the vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University from 1976 to 1984. The noted educationist won a number of literary awards. 
• Alamgir MA Kabir was the inspector general of police after joining the Pakistan police following the partition of India. He went on to found the Polwell Market for the welfare of police officers. He also founded the Family Planning Association of Bangladesh and won the Independence Award for his role in population control in 1978.
• AKM Musa was a career bureaucrat.
• MA Majed was the principal of the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. He served as dean of the school of medicine at the University of Dhaka. He was an important proponent of the pro-democracy movement of doctors against Ershad.
• Major Rafiqul Islam, a Bir Uttam awardee, served for 14 years in various government organisations. He was elected as MP from Changpur-5 in 1996, being reelected in 2008, 2014 and 2018. 
• Iajuddin Ahmed served as the president of Bangladesh from 2002-2009. 
• ABMG Kibria was a retired police officer. He served as the Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of East Pakistan, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq. He became the president of Sadharan Bima Corporation in 1985. For 18 years he served as the president of Anjuman Mufidul Islam.
• Qazi Fazlur Rahman is a retired career bureaucrat and a trustee of the Gono University.
• Imam Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury was a career bureaucrat.
• BK Das was a bureaucrat who served as a judge in the High Court for 12 years, before having a tenure in the Supreme Court.
• Anisuzzaman was an academic. He was a member of the Planning Commision during Bangladesh's liberation war. He also took part in the Language Movement, Mass Uprising, the Liberation War and the Anti-autocracy movement which overthrew Ershad.
• AKM Aminul Haque was a Bangladeshi marine biologist who served as the VC of the Bangladesh Agricultural University for two terms. He was known as the "Father of Fisheries Education in Bangladesh". 

1996 - Borne of chaos

The lead up to the 1996 elections was rife with political chaos mostly stemming from three parties disagreeing with how the head of the caretaker government would be selected. Agitations and hartals followed, with the BNP legalising the caretaker government after the Sixth Sangsad was constituted. Justice Habibur Rahman, the chief justice in 1995, became the chief adviser. 

His interim government consisted of the advisers: 

• Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate now set to be the chief adviser, was selected in 1996 as well.
• Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed was a lawyer and constitutionalist. He was appointed attorney general in 1972 and 1976. He was the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in 1978. 
• Jamilur Reza Choudhury was a civil engineer, professor, researcher, and education advocate. He was the first VC of Brac University. He was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 2017. He was a ranking member of the Prime Minister's Task Force on developing Digital Bangladesh and served as technical adviser of Padma Bridge. 
• Wahiduddin Mahmud returned once again to become an adviser.
• Syed Manzur Elahi is a Bangladeshi businessperson and chairman of Apex group. 
• Abdur Rahman Khan is a very senior and prominent physician in Bangladesh. 
• AZM Nasiruddin was a former civil servant. 
• Shegufta Bakht Chadhury was a Bangladeshi economist who served as the fourth governor of Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh during 1987–1992. He was initially a journalist. 
• Shamsul Haq was an academic from Bangladesh who was the 19th Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University. 
• Najma Chowdhury was a pioneer in establishing women studies in Bangladesh. She founded the Women and Gender Studies department of the University of Dhaka in 2000. She was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 2008.

2001 - Keeping the peace

The year 2001 saw a peaceful power transition after Hasina's tenure expired. Justice Latifur Rahman took over as chief adviser. 

His advisers:

• Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed joined for his second stint. 
• Bimalendu Bikash Roy Chowdhury was a Bangladeshi judge.
• ASM Shahjahan was a Bangladeshi government police officer, civil servant and educator. He served as the 15th Inspector General of Police and also as secretary of the youth ministry. 
• Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury is a retired Bangladeshi career bureaucrat who served as secretary in  a number of ministries. He is an independent director of ACI Limited, Pioneer Insurance Company Ltd, and Summit Alliance Port Limited. 
•  AKM Amanul Islam Chowdhury went on to serve  as a chairman of Chittagong Port Authority and Dhaka Power Supply Authority. He was also a general manager of Bangladesh Railway. 
• M Hafizuddin Khan is a Bangladeshi career bureaucrat and sixth comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh. He served as the director of Basic and Rupali banks. He is the founder-chairman of Citizens for Good Governance (SHUJAN).
•  Abdul Malik was a Bangladeshi cardiologist and National Professor of Bangladesh. He was the first cardiac surgeon of united Pakistan. He went on to found the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh. He was awarded the Independence Day Award in 2004 for his contribution to medical science. The unit he set up at the Military Hospital in Rawalpindi was the first to conduct an open heart surgery in the country.
• Moinul Hossain Chowdhury, a Bir Bikrom was a Bangladesh Army officer who served as the adjutant general of Bangladesh army. He also served as a diplomat. 
• Rokia Afzal Rahman] was a banker and entrepreneur. She was the first woman bank manager in Bangladesh. Notably, she was the chairperson of Mediaworld Limited, the holding company of The Daily Star.

2006 - In the line of fire

By 2006, the political calm that swept the previous elections had all but dissipated. Political crisis was at an all time high. Justice KM Hasan was supposed to be the chief justice to lead the next caretaker government, but declined amid huge opposition from AL. On the advice of the BNP, Iajuddin Ahmed assumed office as chief adviser, while holding on to his role as president. This interim government was short-lived. Newspapers were not allowed to cover the event. 

His advisers: 

• Justice Mohammad Fazlul Haque was a former High Court judge of Bangladesh.
• Akbar Ali Khan was a Bangladeshi economist and educationist who served as a bureaucrat until 2001. He was a sub-divisional officer of Habiganj during the Bangladesh Liberation War when he decided to join the war. He also served as an official of the Mujibnagar government. 
• Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury was a Bangladesh Army general who was 12th Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army from 2002 to 2005. He was the last officer to serve in this position who had first been commissioned by and served with the Pakistani Army.
• CM Shafi Sami is a Bangladeshi diplomat. He was the chief coordinator of the first SAARC and also served as Bangladesh's High Commissioner to Pakistan from 1987 to 1991. He is credited with an important role in the signing of the Ganges Water Distribution Agreement and the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord.
• M Azizul Haq is a former inspector general of the Bangladesh Police. He was in the centre of the Salman Shah murder case, referring the case to the CID for further investigation. 
• Dhiraj Kumar Nath was a Bangladeshi diplomat.
• Mahbubul Alam was the editor of The Independent. 
• Sufia Rahman had a background in the health discipline.
• Yasmeen Murshed is a Bangladeshi businesswoman, being the founder of Scholastica School. In 2007, she was made the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Pakistan.
• Sultana Kamal is a Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist. She serves as the executive director of Ain o Salish Kendra, a civil rights organisation. She has won a number of words and is one of the most well-known rights activists in the country.

2007 - The last 

In what Hasina claimed was failure to discharge duties, three advisers in the Iajuddin led ministry resigned. Iajuddin, too, followed suit. Following AL's firm resistance, the caretaker government underwent another shuffle. Fakhruddin Ahmed, a Bangladeshi economist, civil servant and former governor of Bangladesh Bank then took the position. 

His advisers:  

• MA Matin, a Bir Protik, is a retired two star rank Bangladesh Army officer.
• AB Mirza Azizul Islam is a Bangladeshi bureaucrat and former chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Hossain Zillur Rahman is an academic, economist and policy maker from Bangladesh. He led the drafting of the poverty reduction strategy of the government in 2005 and was a member of the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA). He was elected chairperson of Brac and is a senior trustee of the Global Board of BRAC. 
• Mainul Hosein was a Bangladeshi lawyer and the publisher of the daily newspaper The New Nation. He was also chairman of the editorial board of The Daily Ittefaq.
• AF Hassan Ariff is a Bangladeshi lawyer and former attorney general.
• Chowdhury Sajjadul Karim was a Bangladeshi nuclear physicist and chairman of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. He was also a former inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
• Golam Kader is a retired two star rank Bangladesh Army officer.
• Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury had a diplomatic career and had been chairman of the WTO Council on Trade Policy Review. He was appointed Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at its headquarters in Geneva.
• Anwarul Iqbal served at the Bangladesh Police and played a significant role in the UN Mission at Mozambique. He was also the founding director general of the Rapid Action Battalion. 
• Ayub Quadri was a career bureaucrat. His tenure is marked by the scandal of an artifact theft. The antiques were lost while being boarded in a Paris-bound plane at the Dhaka airport, which was waiting to fly a consignment of antiques from Bangladesh for an exhibition at the Guimet Museum in Paris. 
• Rasheda K Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi academic who was elected president of Dhaka University's English Department Alumni Association. 
• ASM Matiur Rahman is a retired two star rank Bangladesh Army officer.
• MM Shawkat Ali is a career bureaucrat. 
• Tapan Chowdhury is the managing director of Square Pharmaceuticals Limited, Square Textiles Limited and Square Hospital. 
• Geetiara Safya Choudhury is a Bangladeshi businesswoman. In 1978, she became the first female member of the Dhaka Club.

In 2011, the caretaker government system was abolished.