On November 7, 1975 a left-wing soldiers' uprising in Bangladesh, known as the Sipahi-Janata Revolution, overthrew and killed Brigadier General Khaled Mosharraf just days after he had seized power, freeing Ziaur Rahman and opening his path to the presidency, in the third violent turn of a chaotic season that had begun with the August assassination of the country's founder. After Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed on August 15, 1975 and a period of junior-officer dominance followed, Khaled Mosharraf had staged a coup on November 3 to restore the chain of command, detaining army chief Ziaur Rahman under house arrest and taking power himself. His move was perceived by left-wing soldiers and the JaSaD party as a pro-Indian, counter-revolutionary return of the old order.
On November 7, soldiers of the clandestine Biplobi Shainik Sangstha under Colonel Abu Taher rose in mutiny, freed Ziaur Rahman, and killed Khaled Mosharraf along with two fellow officers, Colonel Nazmul Huda and Lieutenant Colonel A.T.M.
Haider, who were shot after taking refuge with the 10th Bengal Regiment. The dataset, dated November 8, codes the fate as killed. Officer killings continued into November 8 amid the confrontation.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Brigadier General Khaled Mosharraf, the leader of the November 3 coup, killed on November 7, 1975 in the Sipahi-Janata counter-coup along with two fellow officers.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Khaled Mosharraf (November 3 coup leader, killed)
Abu Taher (colonel who led the November 7 soldiers' uprising)
Ziaur Rahman (army chief freed, who rose to power)
Sources
On 7 November 1975 Khaled Mosharraf was killed in another coup that restored Ziaur Rahman to chief of army staff, the coup led by the revolutionary soldiers' organisation and Colonel Abu Taher, after Mosharraf's 3 November coup had removed the mutineers and placed Zia under house arrest.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, 15 August 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'etatopen source ↗
The 7 November 1975 coup, the Sipahi-Janata Revolution, was launched by left-wing soldiers under Lt. Col. Abu Taher, primarily as a result of the 3 November coup by Khaled Mosharraf which the soldiers perceived as counter-revolutionary, and the coup resulted in the death of Brig. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf and other officers while freeing Ziaur Rahman from house arrest and enabling him to seize power.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, 7 November 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'etatopen source ↗
Khaled Mosharraf, A.T.M. Haider, and Nazmul Huda left Bangabhaban for the headquarters of the 10 Bengal Regiment when the uprising began, and after Ziaur Rahman told the commanding officer to ensure their safety, some men in uniform, probably Taher's Biplobi Sainik Sangstha personnel, forced the three out at gunpoint and shot and bayoneted them to death.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Assassination of Khaled Mosharrafopen source ↗
In Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood, Anthony Mascarenhas wrote that the killings of other army officers began on 8 November, because many officers did not agree with the 12 demands of the Biplobi Shainik Sangstha, resulting in serious confrontations between officers and their troops.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, 7 November 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'etatopen source ↗
Editorial Note
Killings protocol applied: the deposed leader Khaled Mosharraf was killed, along with Colonel Nazmul Huda and Lieutenant Colonel A.T.M. Haider, and every death claim is cited and attributed. Date nuance: the dataset dates this event November 8, 1975, while the killing of Mosharraf occurred on November 7 (the Sipahi-Janata Revolution); sources note that the broader killings of army officers began on November 8, which likely accounts for the dataset date, so the record documents the November 7 to 8 sequence. Fate coding: killed, matching the dataset. Contested memory: this event is remembered very differently by Bangladesh's political factions (variously as the Sepoy-Janata Revolution, National Revolution and Solidarity Day, and a day of officer killings), which is recorded as documented contestation rather than adjudicated. Arc context: this closes a three-coup sequence (August 15 assassination of Mujib, November 3 Mosharraf coup, November 7 counter-coup) and brought Ziaur Rahman to power; he became president in 1977, a later event.
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Brigadier General Khaled Mosharraf, the leader of the November 3 coup, killed on November 7, 1975 in the Sipahi-Janata counter-coup along with two fellow officers..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; killed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.
New York Times
“Bangladesh: Since Independence, Just Failure,” November 9, 1975
Washington Post
“Power Shifts in Dacca Again: Ousted General Stages Comeback,” November 8, 1975
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →