Dhaka, Nov. 3 -- The city of Dhaka bristled with unrest. Across the Army ranks, competing factions manoeuvred in secrecy, their actions sending Bangladesh spiralling toward one of its most decisive and perilous historical moments.

On Aug 15, 1975, the then president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with his family, was assassinated. Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, a member of Sheikh Mujib's cabinet, assumed the presidency. Yet, the country was effectively under the control of a group of military officers.

Some Awami League leaders joined Mostaq's cabinet, while others were imprisoned or went into hiding for fear of their lives. In the early hours of Nov 3, a faction of the armed forces attempted to redirect the flow of events through a ...