1981 in Bangladesh

The year 1981 was the 10th year after the independence of Bangladesh. It was also the last year of the Government of Ziaur Rahman and the first year of the Government of President Abdus Sattar

Incumbents

 * President: Ziaur Rahman (until 30 May), Abdus Sattar (starting 30 May)
 * Prime Minister: Shah Azizur Rahman
 * Vice President: Abdus Sattar (until May); Mirza Nurul Huda (starting 24 November)
 * Chief Justice: Kemaluddin Hossain

Economy
Note: For the year 1981 average official exchange rate for BDT was 17.99 per US$.

Events

 * 17 May - Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned from India after more than five years exile that began after his assassination. More than one million of her supporters turned out to welcome her return, and she urged the nation to work toward restoring democracy.
 * 30 May - Ziaur Rahman, President of Bangladesh, was assassinated as he spent the night in Chittagong. Taking place at 4:00 am local time, the attack was planned by Major General Muhammed Manzur.  Lt. Col. Motiur Rahman shot and killed the pajama-clad President Ziaur.
 * 12 June - Abdus Sattar handed the key of historical 32 Dhanmondi House to Sheikh Hasina
 * 15 November - Abdus Sattar was confirmed as President of Bangladesh in an election suspected of being rigged. Running on the Nationalist Party ticket as one of 23 candidates, Sattar, who had been the acting President since the May 30 assassination of Ziaur Rahman, officially received 14,217,601 votes, nearly two-thirds of those cast, while runner up Kamal Hossain of the Awami League got 5,694,884.

Ekushey Padak

 * 1) Abu Rushd Matinuddin (literature)
 * 2) Aminul Islam (fine arts)
 * 3) Abdul Halim Chowdhury (music)
 * 4) Mumtaz Ali Khan (music)
 * 5) Gauhar Jamil (dance)
 * 6) Mohammad Zakaria (drama)
 * 7) Zahur Hossain Chowdhury (journalism)
 * 8) Obaidul Huq (journalism)
 * 9) Mustafa Nurul Islam (literature)

Sports

 * Domestic football:
 * Abahani KC won Dhaka League title.
 * Mohammedan SC won the title of Bangladesh Federation Cup.
 * Cricket:
 * Marylebone Cricket Club cricket team visited Bangladesh and played a number of friendly matches with the Bangladesh team.

Births

 * Enamul Hossain, chess grandmaster

Deaths

 * 30 May: President Ziaur Rahman, Bir Uttam (b. 1936)
 * 24 June: Abdul Matin Chowdhury, academician (b. 1921)
 * 2 August: Syed A. B. Mahmud Hossain, jurist (b. 1916)
 * 7 August: Mahbubul Alam, author (b. 1898)
 * 9 October: Qazi Motahar Hossain, author (b. 1897)