It later became known that the rebellion did not primarily involve enlisted soldiers; rather, it was carried out by officers of the Chattogram Division, nearly all of whom were personally known to Ziaur Rahman. It was even reported that the President's then Principal Staff Officer (PSO) had been involved in the conspiracy. Many details of the plot and the assassination have since been described in books by various authors.

Those of us who had known Ziaur Rahman since 1966 and later saw him serve as Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Army Chief, and President never imagined that he would meet such an end. For that reason, I was deeply shaken by his assassination.

On 7 November 1975, General Zia was freed from detention through what is often referred to as the Sipahi-Janata (Soldier-People) Uprising. According to the author, at that critical moment he helped save the country from a path of certain destruction. That day, I was among 20 to 25 officers who stood beside him in the Dhaka Cantonment.

During that period, many officers had been killed by members of Colonel Abu Taher's so-called "Revolutionary Soldiers Organisation". Resistance emerged not only in Dhaka but also from soldiers stationed outside the capital, and the coup led by Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf ultimately failed. The author argues that one reason for its failure was the decision to carry out the coup while keeping then-Army Chief General Zia imprisoned.