Abdus Sattar (1 March 1906 – 5 October 1985) was a Bangladeshi statesman. A leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), he served as the president of Bangladesh from 1981 to 1982, and earlier as the vice president. A jurist by profession, Abdus Sattar held numerous constitutional and political offices in British India, East Pakistan and Bangladesh. He was a cabinet minister, Supreme Court judge, and chief election commissioner of Pakistan. He took oath and became president shortly after the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman.
Abdus Sattar was an elected president through a popular vote. His short lived presidency was marked by growing political turmoil and interference from the military. Abdus Sattar was overthrown in March of 1982 by the then army chief General Hussain Muhammad Ershad.
Early life and career
Abdus Sattar was born in 1906 in Birbhum in the then Bengal Presidency, British India. He obtained his LLB and Master of Law from the University of Calcutta and joined the Calcutta High Court Bar in 1931 as a junior in the Chambers of A.K. Fazlul Huq. He specialised in municipal law. He became a protégé of A. K. Fazlul Huq, the first Prime Minister of Bengal. He served in various municipal bodies in Calcutta as an activist for the Krishak Praja Party. In 1950, following the Partition of British India, Abdus Sattar moved to Dacca in the Dominion of Pakistan. He joined the Dhaka High Court Bar. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in 1955. He served as the Home Minister of Pakistan and Education Minister of Pakistan in the cabinet of Prime Minister Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar in 1957. He was appointed a justice in the Dhaka High Court, which he served between 1957 and 1968.
In 1969, Abdus Sattar was appointed the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan. He organised the first general election of Pakistan in 1970, in which the Awami League gained a historic parliamentary majority to form a government. The League was denied the handover of power by the then military junta led by General Yahya Khan. As the Bangladesh Liberation War erupted with a genocide against Bengali civilians, Abdus Sattar was stranded in Islamabad, West Pakistan, removed from official positions, and interned by the Pakistani government. In 1973, Abdus Sattar returned to independent Bangladesh as part of the repatriation of stranded Bengali officials. He enjoyed rising prominence in Dhaka, but lived a quiet life with his wife and had no children.
Presidency
When Zia was assassinated in May 1981, a frail Vice-President Abdus Sattar was in hospital and automatically became the acting president of Bangladesh.
Abdus Sattar formed a National Security Council to explore how the Bangladesh Armed Forces could contribute to the nation's development. He was elected unopposed as president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in January 1982. Abdus Sattar then formed a new cabinet. Abdus Sattar appointed Mohammad Mohammadullah as Nurul Huda's replacement.
1982 military coup
A bloodless coup-d'etat led by the Bangladesh Army chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad toppled Abdus Sattar's government in 1982. On the morning of 24 March, the heads of the Bangladesh Navy, the Bangladesh Air Force, the Bangladesh Rifles, and the military secretary to the president entered Bangabhaban and forced Abdus Sattar to sign a statement relinquishing power. Martial law was declared. Abdus Sattar was replaced by the retired justice A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury.
Pakistan Football Federation
Sattar served as president of the Pakistan Football Federation between 1960 and 1961.
Death
Abdus Sattar died at the Suhrawardy Hospital in Dhaka on 5 October 1985, at the age of 79.