Former Bangladesh president Ershad passes away

Former Bangladesh president Ershad passes away

Former Bangladesh President and opposition Jatiya Party chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad passed away on Sunday. He was 89.

Ershad breathed his last at 7.45 am at the intensive care unit of the Combined Military Hospital here, BSS news service reported, quoting the Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR). He was on life support for the last nine days when he was exposed to gradual organ failures.

A former army chief, Ershad took over the state power in a bloodless coup in 1982 and subsequently ran the country for eight years until he was forced to quit in a pro-democracy mass upsurge in 1990. Despite being imprisoned subsequently on several charges, Ershad, however, retained his stake in politics and elected to parliament several times, oncecontesting from the prison even.(UNI)