Ghulam Azam

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Ghulam Azam bigraphy, stories - Bangladeshi politician

Ghulam Azam : biography

7 November 1922 –

Ghulam Azam ( born. 7 November 1922) is a retired Bangladeshi Islamist political leader, and an alleged war criminal of the Bangladesh liberation war. He was the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh until 2000., Islamic Voice, December 2006. Azam opposed the independence of Bangladesh during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.H. Evans in ‘The Post-colonial States of South Asia:Democracy, Development and Identity’, edited by A. Shastri and A. Wilson, Palgrave, 2001, p. 71.

As a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, he was a part of the controversial Peace or Shanti Committees which were formed at the time of the Liberation War alongside other pro-Pakistan Bengali leaders. Azam is accused of forming paramilitary groups for the Pakistani Army, including Razakars, and Al-Badr. These militias opposed the Mukti Bahini revolutionaries who fought for the independence of Bangladesh, and also stand accused of war crimes. However, according to his Defence counsel, as a civilian he played no commanding role within the army and had no superior or command responsibility for any military groups. Azam’s citizenship of Bangladesh had been cancelled by the Bangladeshi Government because of his subversive role during the Bangladesh Liberation War. He lived in Bangladesh illegally without any authorized Bangladeshi visa from 1978 to 1994.

Former caretaker government adviser, human rights activist and witness for the prosecution Sultana Kamal said- "In brutality, Ghulam Azam is synonymous with German ruler Hitler who had influential role in implementation and execution of genocide and ethnic cleansing".*"In brutality, Ghulam Azam is synonymous with German ruler Hitler who had influential role in implementation and execution of genocide and ethnic cleansing, said Sultana Kamal." In response to this statement the defense cousel pointed out that the comparison was a fallacy and ‘fake with malicious intention’ as Hitler held state power, which Ghulam Azam did not and that in 1971 General Tikka Khan and Yahya Khan held state power.

On 11 January 2012, he was arrested on charges of committing war crimes during the Bangladesh Liberation War by the International Crimes Tribunal., The Daily Star, 13 December 2011 The tribunal rejected the plea of bail after noting that there were formal charges against Azam of which it had taken cognisance., BDINN, 26 November 2012., The Daily Star, 13 December 2011, Corbis, 11 January 2012, Bdnews24.com, 19 July 2012

Rehabilitation in independent Bangladesh

In 1978 Azam returned to Bangladesh on a temporary visa with a Pakistani passport. But he had been living in Bangladesh from 1978 to 1994 as a Pakistani national without any valid visa to stay in Bangladesh, refusing to leave a country he considered his home by birth-right.গোলাম আযমের বিরূদ্ধে ডঃ আনিসুজ্জামান উত্থাপিত অভিযোগপত্র (Allegations against Ghulam Azam submitted by Prof. Anisuzzaman); The Daily Prothom Alo – March 14, 2008Women and Islam in Bangladesh: Beyond Subjection and Tyranny by Taj I. Hashmi;

Ghulam Azam announced his retirement from active politics in late 2000. He was succeeded by Motiur Rahman Nizami.

Bangladesh Liberation War

The 1970 elections

Together with leaders of a number of other parties in East Pakistan (including the Pakistan Democratic Party, National Awami Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and the Pakistan National League), Ghulam Azam protested at the Awami League approach to electioneering for the 1970 general elections in Pakistan, accusing them of breaking up public meetings, physical attacks on political opponents and the looting and destruction of party offices.’White Paper on The Crisis in East Pakistan’, Government of Pakistan, Islamadab, August 5, 1971 During 1970, while Azam was the head of Jamaat-i-Islami, a number of political rallies, including rallies of Jamaat-i-Islaami, were attacked by armed mobs alleged to be incited by the Awami League.Idem, pg. 6-8’Police accused over rioting’,The Guardian, January 26, 1970, pg. 4