[1] Shahabuddin had taken office as the acting president of the country after he was unanimously agreed upon by the leaders of all political parties to be ceremoniously appointed by Ershad just before resigning as vice-president in place of Moudud Ahmed.

During this period, he gave back freedom of the press by amending a number of law including the Special Powers Act.

[2] Following the dissolution of the 4th term of the Jatiya Sangsad on 6 December 1990, the cabinet remained in office until 20 March 1991,[1] when Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which emerged as the largest party in the general election held in February, was appointed as the new Prime Minister.

The uprising was the result of a series of popular protests that started from 10 October 1990 to topple General Ershad who came to power in 1982 by imposing martial law and replaced a democratically elected president, Abdus Sattar through a bloodless coup.

[4] The uprising is marked as the starting point of parliamentary democracy in Bangladesh after nine years of military rule and paved the way for a credible election in 1991.