Lieutenant-General Ziaur Rahman, Bir Uttam, Hilal-i-Jurat ( Ziaur Rôhman; January 19, 1936–May 30, 1981) was a Bangladeshi war hero, politician and statesman. He was the President of Bangladesh from 1976 until 1981 and founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), one of the two largest political parties in the country. His widow, Begum Khaleda Zia, has been Prime Minister of Bangladesh three times.