ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the military, the political leaders and their institutions stood in the way of democratic consolidation in the countries of South Asia particularly in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. In both Pakistan and Bangladesh the truth is that the military enjoys extra privileges under the civilian rule. The change of the first democratic government to authoritarianism or totalitarianism in 1975 demonstrates that there was a lack of serious commitment to the democratization process by the political leaders in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's first military coup took place in 1975. Since then several abortive coups and counter coups took place in Bangladesh. The chapter shows how the military had intervened in the political affairs of the state again by staging another coup under General Hussein Mohammad Ershad in 1982. General Ershad had to step down by transferring power to a transitional government headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Shahabuddin Ahmed.
