How the Formula to “Minus” the Zia Family Was Foiled

The India-backed “1/11” caretaker government, led by Fakhruddin Ahmed and Moeen U Ahmed, laid the groundwork for establishing Sheikh Hasina’s fascism following a blueprint designed by India’s intelligence agency, RAW. A few former leaders of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), loyal to the ideology of late President Ziaur Rahman, worked behind the scenes to disrupt that entrenched scheme. Operating against the tide, they used their positions to dismantle the plans of both the 1/11 administration and reformist leaders within the BNP. During this critical juncture, Begum Khaleda Zia also consulted grassroots contacts and made decisive, far-sighted choices.

Geopolitically, Bangladesh stands at a critical crossroads. The nation has long been entangled in “deep state” maneuvers aimed at exploiting its natural assets, including oil and gas. Over the years, India’s strategic focus on the country intensified, particularly after 2000. To ensure long-term governance aligned with the Awami League, external geopolitical calculations began taking shape. After power was transferred to the caretaker government in 2001, the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance won an absolute majority and formed the government in October of that year. Following this, plans were set in motion to label the routine religious practices of observant citizens as the “rise of militancy.”

Between 2002 and 2004, political narratives around extremism gained momentum. Exploiting these themes, synchronized bomb blasts were orchestrated across 63 districts nationwide.

Serving as the opposition in parliament, the Awami League maintained pressure on the streets. During this period, narratives such as the “trump card theory,” the 21 August grenade attack, the 10-truck arms haul, and claims regarding “Hawa Bhaban” circulated widely. High-profile incidents including the assassination of former finance minister Shah A.M.S. Kibria, the bomb attack on British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury at the Hazrat Shahjalal shrine, the Ramna Batamul blast, and the bombing at Shamim Osman’s rally heightened public alarm. Eventually, the Awami League turned the issue of increasing the retirement age of Supreme Court judges into a major political confrontation.

A dedicated multi-crore budget was mobilized to carry out these strategic maneuvers during the BNP-led alliance’s 2001–2006 tenure. In October 2006, the Awami League and left-leaning allies launched violent street protests, known as the logi-baitha (boat-oar and stick) violence, in Paltan. Violent clashes were highlighted across international media to convey that law and order had slipped beyond the BNP administration’s control. Using this turmoil as a pretext, the military-backed caretaker administration popularly known as the “1/11 government” assumed state power with foreign diplomatic backing.

Upon taking office, the 1/11 administration launched sweeping “reforms.” Within a year, widespread student protests erupted at the Dhaka University campus, ensuring the regime could not sustain power beyond two years.

Under the guise of institutional reform, the caretaker administration formed the “National Coordination Committee on Combating Serious Crimes,” headed by Major General (Retd.) Abdul Matin and General Masud Uddin Chowdhury. Operating under this committee was an inter-agency Task Force comprising middle-ranking officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, National Board of Revenue, banking sector, the defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption, and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Group 23 of this Task Force led by then-Major Mostafa (later Major General and BTRC Chairman) investigated municipal ward councilors, civil servants, and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. ACC Deputy Director Golam Shahriar Chowdhury represented the anti-graft body within this unit.

Based on their findings, the ACC filed a corruption case involving alleged losses of over a thousand crore taka on the night of September 2, 2007. The First Information Report (FIR) named 15 individuals, including Begum Khaleda Zia and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, as well as Jahanara Akbar (wife of late minister Akbar Hossain), Ismail Hossain Simon, A.K.M. Musa Kajol, GATCO directors Shahjahan M. Hasib, Syed Tanveer Ahmed, and Syed Galib Ahmed, alongside several top Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) officials and bureaucrats.

Known as the “GATCO case,” the charges centered on a 2004 contract for container handling at the Dhaka Inland Container Depot (ICD) and Chittagong Port container yard. The tender process began in March 2003 with specific experience criteria. Out of 25 tender documents sold, six submitted bids; three were deemed non-responsive, leaving three eligible bidders. Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Company Ltd. (GATCO) emerged as the lowest bidder, received board approval from the port authority, and was formally approved by the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase in December 2003. The prosecution alleged that the accused abused their authority, bypassed official criteria, and awarded the contract to an unqualified firm, causing substantial financial loss to the state. The FIR further claimed that after the proposal was initially rejected by the purchase committee, an intervention in the Prime Minister’s Office led to its resubmission and approval.

However, none of the members of the Cabinet Purchase Committee were originally named in the FIR. The case was widely viewed as an instrument to pressure Begum Khaleda Zia and her family into permanently leaving domestic politics. Begum Zia was arrested on September 3, 2007. Under intense administrative pressure, Tarique Rahman was arrested on September 11, later securing release to travel to London for medical treatment while his mother remained to face legal proceedings. Her younger son, Arafat Rahman Koko, was also detained and placed in custody.

The investigation was assigned to ACC Deputy Director Dr. Mohammad Jahirul Huda. Unbeknownst to the commission at the time, Huda had previously served as the organizing secretary of the Jahangirnagar University chapter of JCD. When his political background came to light, officials chose to retain him under the assumption that he could be pressured to deliver a directed outcome quickly.

Supervised by Task Force leader Md. Golam Mostafa, Huda examined the documentation and finalized an investigation report in December 2007. Contrary to the authorities’ expectations, the chargesheet expanded beyond Begum Zia to include the entire Cabinet Purchase Committee of that era as newly identified accused: Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, M. Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, M. Shamsul Islam, M.K. Anwar, Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, and A.K. Mosharraf Hossain.

This development caused significant disruption: the very leaders attempting to form a “reformist BNP” without the Zia family found themselves implicated as formal co-defendants. Between January and April 2008, intense negotiations unfolded to drop these figures from the case. The investigating officer faced severe intimidation in the cantonment to submit a chargesheet limited strictly to the original 15 suspects, but he refused.

By April 2008, military officials attempted to persuade Begum Khaleda Zia to travel to Saudi Arabia under the pretext of medical treatment. During this period, she sought counsel from the investigating officer through her lawyer, Barrister Nasiruddin Asim.

When Barrister Asim reached out, Huda advised that if Begum Zia chose exile, the Zia family would be effectively sidelined from national politics, paving the way for the reformist faction to negotiate a compromise government with the 1/11 administration after the next election. He explained that because his chargesheet formally implicated the reformist leaders, their leverage to split the party had been neutralized, making foreign departure unnecessary and counterproductive.

Heeding this counsel, Begum Khaleda Zia firmly refused to leave the country. As a result, the reformist faction retreated, the party maintained its unity around her leadership, and the 1/11 administration’s design to eliminate the Zia family from national politics fell apart.