Ghulam Azam
Ghulam Azam was a Bangladeshi writer and politician who headed the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
Azam was involved in forming paramilitary groups, including Razakar Bahini and Al-Badr, for support to the Pakistan Army during the 1971 India-Pakistan War / Bangladesh Liberation War. These militias were accused of involvement in war crimes, including murder, rape and torture during the Bangladesh genocide and opposed the Mukti Bahini, who fought for the independence of Bangladesh.
Azam was arrested on 11 January 2012 by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh, a domestic Bangladeshi tribunal, on charges of committing war crimes during the liberation war. On 15 July 2013, the ICT found him guilty of war crimes such as conspiring, planning, incitement to and complicity in committing the genocide and was sentenced to 90 years in jail. The tribunal stated that Azam deserved capital punishment for his activity during the war, but was given a lenient punishment of imprisonment because of his age and poor health. The trial was criticized by international observers for being deeply flawed, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The deficiencies highlighted in the trial included judges improperly conducting "investigation on behalf of the prosecution", "collusion and bias among prosecutors and judges", failure "to protect defence witnesses" and "lack of evidence to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt".
Family background and education
Sheikh Ghulam Azam was born on 7 November 1922 in his maternal home, Shah Saheb Bari of Lakshmibazar, Dacca, Bengal Presidency. He was the eldest son of Sheikh Ghulam Kabir and Sayeda Ashrafunnisa. His ancestral home is Maulvi Bari in Birgaon Village, Brahmanbaria. His paternal family is the Sheikh family of Birgaon, he descends from Sheikh Zaqi who had migrated from Eastern Iran, as a Muslim preacher and settled in the settlement of Birgaon beside the Meghna River. His family's residence in the area is referred to as Maulvi Bari due to the fact that the family had produced several scholarly figures during their stay in Bengal. Ghulam Azam's father, Ghulam Kabir was a Mawlana and so was his father Sheikh Abdus Subhan. The tradition of religious scholarship in the family was started by his great-grandfather Sheikh Shahabuddin Munshi, who was considered an Alim and a Munshi based in the area east of the Meghna river. His mother Sayeda Ashrafunnisa was the daughter of Shah Sayed Abdul Munim, whose family is a Sayed Peer family. His father Shah Sayed Emdad Ali was a descendant of Shah Sayed Sufi Hosseini who arrived from Iran via Delhi in 1722 AD and settled in what is now known as Sayedabad of Kaliakor. Ghulam Azam's education began at the local madrasa in Birgaon and then completed his secondary school education in Dhaka. After that, he enrolled at Dacca University where he completed BA and MA degrees in political science.Early political career
University
While studying at University of Dhaka, Azam became active in student politics and was elected as the General Secretary of the Dhaka University Central Students' Union for two consecutive years between 1947 and 1949.He earned his BA in 1946 and MA in Political Science in 1948 from Dhaka University. As DUCSU General Secretary, Azam presented a memorandum to Pakistan's Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan demanding Bengali as a state language.
Jamaat-e-Islami
In 1950, Azam left Dhaka to teach political science at Government Carmichael College in Rangpur. During this time, he was influenced by the writings of Abul Ala Maududi, and he joined Maududi's party, Jamaat-e-Islami in 1954, and was later elected as the Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami's East Pakistan branch.In 1964, the government of Ayub Khan banned Jamaat-e-Islami and its leaders, including Azam, and imprisoned them for eight months without trial. He played a prominent role as the general secretary of the Pakistan Democratic Movement, formed in 1967, and later he was elected as a member of the Democratic Action Committee in 1969 to transform the anti-Ayub movement into a popular uprising. In 1969, he became the emir of Jamaat in East Pakistan. He and other opposition leaders took part in the Round Table Conference held in Rawalpindi in 1969 to solve the prevailing political impasse in Pakistan. On 13 March 1969, Khan announced his acceptance of their two fundamental demands of parliamentary government and direct elections.
In the run-up to the 1970 Pakistani general election, Azam, together with leaders of many other parties in East Pakistan, protested against the Awami League for reportedly breaking up public meetings, physical attacks on political opponents, and the looting and destruction of party offices. During 1970, while Azam was the head of Jamaat-e-Islami East Pakistan, many political rallies, including rallies of Jamaat-e-Islami, were attacked by armed mobs alleged to be incited by the Awami League.
Bangladesh Liberation War
Activities during 1971 War
During the Bangladesh Liberation War, Azam took a political stance in support of a unified Pakistan, and repeatedly denounced Awami League and Mukti Bahini secessionists, whose declared aim after 26 March 1971 became the establishment of an independent state of Bangladesh in place of East Pakistan. Excerpts from Azam's speeches after 25 March 1971 used to be published in the mouthpiece of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami named The Daily Sangram. On 20 June 1971, Azam reaffirmed his support for the Pakistani army by citing that 'the army has eradicated nearly all criminals of East Pakistan'.East Pakistan Central Peace Committee
During the war of 1971, Azam played a central role in the formation of East Pakistan Central Peace Committee on 11 April 1971. Azam was one of the founding members of this organization.The Peace Committee served as a front for the army, informing on civil administration as well as the general public. They were also in charge of confiscating and redistribution shops and lands from Hindu and Bengali civilians, mainly relatives and friends of Mukti Bahini fighters. The Shanti Committee has also been alleged to have recruited Razakars. The first recruits included 96 Jamaat party members, who started training in an Ansar camp at Shahjahan Ali Road, Khulna.
During Azam's leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami, Ashraf Hossain, a leader of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, created Al-Badr in Jamalpur on 22 April 1971. In April 1971, Azam and Motiur Rahman Nizami led demonstrations denouncing the independence movement as an Indian conspiracy. Azam denied the association between the Peace Committee and Razakar Bahini, even though they were formed by the government and headed by Pakistani army general Tikka Khan.
During the war, Azam travelled to West Pakistan at the time to consult Pakistani leaders. He declared that his party is trying its best to curb the activities of "miscreants". He took part in meetings with General Yahya Khan, the then military strongman of Pakistan and other military leaders to organize the campaign against Bangladeshi independence.
Foreign affairs
On 12 August 1971, Azam declared in a statement published in the Daily Sangram that "the supporters of the so-called Bangladesh Movement are the enemies of Islam, Pakistan, and Muslims". He also called for an all-out war against India. He called for the annexation of Assam.Azam was the prime standard-bearer who presented the blueprint of the killing of the intellectuals during a meeting with Rao Farman Ali in early September 1971. With his help, Pakistan Army and the local collaborators executed the killing of the Bengali intellectuals on 14 December 1971.File:Ghulam_Azam_meets_Tikka_Khan.jpg|thumb|Ghulam Azam meets Governor Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan, one of the top architects of Operation Searchlight on 4 Apr. 1971 in Dhaka
On 20 June 1971, Azam declared in Lahore that the Hindu minority in East Pakistan, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, are conspiring to secede from Pakistan. On 12 August 1971, Azam again declared in a statement published in the Daily Sangram that "the supporters of the Bangladesh Movement are the enemies of Islam, Pakistan, and Muslims". On his part, Azam denied all such accusations and challenged the validity of some and gave reasons to justify others. However, he admitted that he was on the list of collaborators of the Pakistani army, but denied that he was a war criminal. In 2011, Azam denied such sentiments and claimed that the Pakistani government censored The Daily Sangram.
1971 election
The military junta of General Yahya Khan decided to call an election in an effort to legitimize themselves. On 12 October 1971, Yahya Khan declared that an election will be held from 25 November to 9 December. Azam decided to take part in this election. According to a government declaration of 2 November, 53 candidates would be elected without competition. Jamaat received 14 of the uncontested seats.In 2011, Azam claimed that the reason for his opposition to the creation of Bangladesh were only political and he denied participation in any crime. He also disliked Indian involvement and influence in Bangladeshi internal society and economic matters.
Leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh
The government of newly independent Bangladesh banned Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and cancelled Azam's citizenship, along with that of Nurul Amin, the former prime minister, due to their opposition to Bangladesh's independence. Following the independence of Bangladesh, he migrated to Pakistan.In 1978, his citizenship was cancelled by the Bangladeshi government. However, Azam returned to Bangladesh on a Pakistani passport with a temporary visa, staying as a Pakistani national even after his visa expired. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh reinstated his citizenship in 1994. His stay was, however, unwelcome in Bangladesh and he was beaten up by a crowd near Baitul Mukarram while attending a funeral in 1981.
Azam was particularly critical of the military rule under Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1982. Azam proposed a caretaker government system to facilitate free and fair elections, which was adopted in 1990. In the 1991 Bangladeshi general election, Jamaat-e-Islami won 18 seats and its support allowed the BNP to form a government.
During this time, he acted unofficially as the emir of the BJI until 1991, when he was officially elected to the post. This led the government to arrest him and an unofficial court called "The People's Court" was established by civilians such as Jahanara Imam to try alleged war criminals and anti-independence activists. Imam held a symbolic trial of Azam where thousands of people gathered and gave the verdict that Azam's offences committed during the war deserve capital punishment. In 1994, he fought a lengthy legal battle, which resulted in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh ruling in his favour and restoring his nationality.
In the 1996 election, Jamaat won only three seats and most of their candidates lost their deposits. Azam announced his retirement from active politics in late 2000. He was succeeded by Motiur Rahman Nizami.