| Cabinet Type: | Council of Ministers |
| Cabinet Number: | 6th |
| Jurisdiction: | the People’s Republic of Bangladesh |
| Flag: | Flag of Bangladesh.svg |
| Incumbent: | 26 November 1975–12 June 1978 |
| Date Formed: | 8 November 1975 |
| Date Dissolved: | 29 June 1978 |
| Government Head: | Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem Ziaur Rahman (acting) |
| Government Head Title: | President |
| Government Head History: | ASM Sayem Former Chief Justice of Bangladesh (1972–75) Ziaur Rahman Chief of Staff of Bangladesh Army (since 1975) Chief Martial Law Administrator (since 1976) |
| Deputy Government Head: | Abdus Sattar |
| Deputy Government Head Title: | Vice-President |
| Political Parties: | Military Independent Awami League Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal |
| Members Number: | 21 |
| Total Number: | 31 |
| Election: | - |
| Last Election: | 1978 (presidential) |
| Legislature Status: | Dissolved |
| Previous: | Mostaq |
| Successor: | Zia |
The Sayem ministry led what eventually became the first interim government in independent Bangladesh and an unofficial model for future interim regimes. It was formed on 8 November 1975, following the assassination of Brig. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf on 7 November amid a nationwide soldier and public uprising against his 3 November coup d'état.[1] [2] After a three-day coup with support of some high-ranking officers and his Dhaka Brigade, Mosharraf had forced Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, who, following the 15 August coup that assassinated the founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,[3] replaced him as President of Bangladesh with support of the mid-ranking assassin officers, to resign.[4] Chief Justice Sayem, with the constitutional requirement for the direct election of the president and role of the vice-president as acting president suspended by Mostaq under a martial law proclamation,[5] had been installed in his place. With Mosharraf's death the responsibility of CMLA (Chief Martial Law Administrator) fell on Sayem.
Following the first-ever dissolution of the Jatiya Sangsad on 7 November,[6] the cabinet was initially set up as a military junta with the recently promoted armed forces chiefs, notably the chief of army staff autocratic hero Ziaur Rahman, who had been usurped and put under house arrest by Mosharraf during the coup, as the CMLA's deputies.[7] [8]
At Bangabhaban on 26 November 1975, the president administered oath to a newly formed council of advisers defacto headed by the junta. He promised a general election in February 1977 in a presidential speech addressed to the nation,[9] but in November 1976, with the country in a dire situation with no stability and security, indefinitely postponed it and relinquished his CMLA duty with Zia nominated to succeed. 5 months later on 21 April 1977,[10] when Sayem retired on health grounds,[11] in the absence of a vice-president in office Zia decided to act as president. Forty days later he organised a nationwide presidential confidence referendum to legitimise his presidency. In June, the President's special assistant Abdus Sattar was promoted to the office of vice-president and on 9 December, the council of advisers was reorganised with three dismissals and seven new appointments.
After coming to power, Zia immediately moved to restore law and order in the country by strengthening the police force, practically doubling its size and arranging for their proper training, as well as order in the armed forces and withdrew the ban on the newspapers inaugurating the free flow of news by making the information media free and without government interference. An ordinance allowing political parties to engage in open politics was promulgated reversing the ban imposed on them by Mujibur Rahman months prior to his assassination. Zia organised his own party in February 1978 called the Jatiyotabadi Gonotantrik Dol ("Nationalist Democratic Party"), or JaGoDol for short, and in the presidential election – the first direct election – that year, his candidacy was supported by his and five other parties of the nationalist "Jatiyatabadi Front".[12] He achieved a landslide victory against his wartime superior, retired commander-in-chief MAG Osmani, whose candidacy was supported by the then-dominant Awami League and five other parties of the socialist "Ganatantrik Oikkya Jote ("Alliance of Democratic Unity")".
The cabinet was dissolved on 29 June 1978, once Zia formed his provisional Council of Ministers before the pending general election scheduled to be held next year.
The following lists the president(s), the vice-president(s) and the special assistant(s) to the president:[13]
The following lists the advisers of the interim government:[14]