SUMMARY
Bangladesh became independent in 1971 after a brief war against West Pakistan. Following independence, there was an attempt to establish parliamentary rule, but following a coup and the assassination of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the Awami League party on 15 August 1975, a military dictatorship was established. The government was controlled by a succession of generals until 1990, when General H. M. Ershad resigned following pro-democracy demonstrations. In the subsequent 1991 election, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Khaleda Zia assumed power. The same year, a referendum reduced the powerful presidency into a largely ceremonial position, and placed the executive power with the government and the prime minister.
Bangladeshi politics after the end of the military dictatorship in 1990 has mainly been characterized by the highly conflictual relationship between the center-left Awami League and the center-right BNP. Various smaller parties have supported the different governments, but BNP and the Awami League have been the dominant actors competing for government power. Violence between the followers of these parties even escalated into a violent conflict (for more on this non-state conflict, see Supporters of Awami League - Supporters of BNP). The tensions between the parties was in part caused by the Awami League party leader Sheikh Hasina being the daughter of the assassinated Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the BNP party leader Khaleda Zia being the widow of one of the generals implicated in his assassination. Both the Awami League and the BNP has on various occasions boycotted parliament and organized demonstrations.
The BNP remained in government until 1996, when the Awami League won an extra election held in June, after the party had boycotted the original election in February; Hasina became Prime Minister. In 2001, the BNP and Khaleda once again assumed power by forming a coalition with the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami. Between 29 October 2006 and 6 January 2009, Bangladesh was ruled by two “caretaker governments”; the official function of an impartial caretaker government was to run the country in the period between two elected administration. However, the second caretaker government, led by Fakhruddin Ahmed, was installed via interference from the military in January 2007. After winning both the 2008 and 2014 elections, the Awami League, with Hasina as Prime Minister, was still in power as of 2017.
Bangladesh has not completed the democratization process that began in 1990. The period since the end of military rule has been characterized by social and political unrest, varying levels of electoral malpractice, and harassment of the opposition by the parties in power.
Since independence, the Government of Bangladesh has had access to around 100 000 troops.
In 2004, the Government of Bangladesh received support from the JMB in the fighting against the Maoist militias, such as the PBCP. Allegedly, the JMB attack the left-wing militias on direct order of the government; the JMB itself claimed that it acted on the request of the local populations in the areas where fighting took place. In any case, the police operation against the Maoists, in which the JMB was involved, was approved by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
