Ghulam AzamFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ghulam Azam (Bengali: গোলাম আযম) (born 7 November 1922), is a Bangladeshi political leader who is regarded in his country as a war criminal of the Liberation War of Bangladesh. The former Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, he opposed the independence of Bangladesh during and after the 1971 war and led the formation of Shanti Committee, Razakar and Al-Badr to thwart the Mukti Bahini that fought for independence. He also lobbied against the acknowledgment of new-born Bangladesh after 1971 with a opened demand called 'Bangladesh Na Manjoor' (Bangladesh not approved). During this activity Ghulam Azam sent requests to Middle Eastern countries to deny recognition to Bangladesh. This continued until the late 1980s. He was a permanent resident of England until 1978, and maintained Pakistani citizenship until 1994 due to the decision by the Bangladeshi government at the time to refuse him citizenship. From 1978 to 1994 he lived in Bangladesh illegally without any authorized Bangladeshi visa. In 1994, the Supreme Court upheld the decision to restore his citizenship of Bangladesh as a matter of birth-right. He was the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh until 2000.
Early political careerAzam entered politics as a student leader at Dhaka University, and in 1947 became the Secretary General of the Dhaka University Central Students Union. Among his earliest campaigns was participation in the Bengali Language Movement during 1950s. Azam, however, distanced himself from the Language Movement when it became clear that it was becoming a rallying call for a secular Bengali nationalist movement rather than one focused on Bengali Muslim activism alone. Since his return to Bangladesh in the 1970s Ghulam Azam has never participated in the official commemorations of the Language Movement and he and his party celebrate that event separately. Azam became the secretary of the Islamist political party, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, in 1957. Later, he became the Ameer (president) of the Jamaat in East Pakistan in 1969. He was also a participant in the formation of the Pakistan Democratic Alliance in 1967. Bangladesh Liberation WarEarly initiatives with Shanti CommitteeDuring the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, Azam played a central role in the formation of Peace Committees, which declared the independence movement to be a conspiracy hatched by India. Azam was one of the founding members of this organization. After Operation Searchlight, Pakistani forces lost control of Bangladesh. To help control this situation the Pakistan Army set up a network of peace committees superimposed upon the normal civil administration as the army could not rely upon the local Bengali administration. The Peace Committee members were drawn from Azam's Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim League and Biharis. The Peace Committee served as a front for the army, informing on the civil administration as well as the general public. They were also in charge of confiscating and redistribution of shops and lands from Hindu and pro-independence Bengalis, mainly relatives and friends of Mukti Bahini fighters. Almost 10 million Bangladeshis fled to neighboring India as refugees. The Shanti Committee also recruited Razakars, who were common criminals who had thrown their lots with the army.[9] On April 12, 1971, Azam and Matiur Rahman Nizami led demonstrations denouncing the independence movement as an Indian conspiracy. Forming Razakars and Al-BadrDuring Azam's leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami, Ashraf Hossain, a leader of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, created the Al-Badr militia in Jamalpur District on 22 April, 1971.[3] Current Jamaat Ameer (supreme leader) Matiur Rahman Nizami was the supreme commander of this militia. Nizami was a leader of Islami Chhatra Shongha then. Also, in May, 1971, another Jamaat leader Mawlana Yusuf, a subordinate to Azam, created the Razakar militia in Khulna. The first recruits included 96 Jamaat party members, who started training in an Ansar camp at Shahjahan Ali Road, Khulna. Late anti-independence activitiesDuring the war Azam traveled the then West Pakistan to consult the Pakistani leaders. On June 20, 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. He also said in Rawalpindi that the actions of the Pakistan Army in Operation Searchlight were justified in order to preserve the unity of the country. Azam declared that his party (Jamaat) is trying its best to curb the activities of pro-independence "Miscreants". Azam took part in meetings with General Yahiya Khan, the military dictator of Pakistan, and other military leaders, to organize the campaign against Bangladeshi independence. On August 12, 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". The military junta of Yahya Khan decided to call an election in an attempt to legitimise themselves. So, on October 12, 1971 Yahya Khan declared that an election will be held from November 25 to December 9. Ghulam Azam decided to take part in this election. On October 15, the Pakistani government suddenly declared that 15 candidates were elected without any competition. According to the declaration of November 2 as many as 53 candidates were elected without any competition.In this election Azam's Jamaat won 14 of the uncontested seats. Fleeing from BangladeshGhulam Azam wrote some of his activities of 9 months of the war in his biography Jibone Ja Dekhlam (What I have seen in life). According to his book, Azam claims that he was on way to Dhaka from West Pakistan on 3 December when midway through the flight, the plane changed direction to Saudi Arabia because of the formation of India-Bangladesh joint force against Pakistan. A few weeks later East Pakistan emerged as newly independent country Bangladesh and Ghulam Azam along with his political party Jamaat-e-Islami was banned by new country's government and Azam's Bangladesh citizenship was cancelled.[citation needed] However, New York Times reported that Azam left East Pakistan due to his opposition to the independence movement. Years in exileAfter the war, the Bangladesh government declared the newly independent country to be secular, and mandated separation of religion from the state, and therefore sought to remove the influence of religious fundamentalists from national life, and religion based political parties were banned. In addition, the Jamaat and its leaders, because they were seen as guilty of collaboration with the Pakistan occupation forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War, were similarly restricted from participation in the new country's political scenario. On 18 April, 1973 the government revoked the citizenship of Ghulam Azam and thirty-eight other collaborators of Pakistan Army. Azam refused an offer of amnesty from the then Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to return to Bangladesh and renounce Jamaat politics,choosing to live in exile in Pakistan and England until 1978, when President Ziaur Rahman restored multi-party democratic system, Jamaat re-launched itself, seizing the opportunity, and soon Ghulam Azam returned to Bangladesh on a temporary visa. While in Pakistan, he was a leader of what was left of the Pakistani branch of the Jamaat. Anti-Bangladesh Lobbying after 1971After the victory of the Joint forces of the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini over Pakistan on 16 December, 1971 a new nation named Bangladesh was born. Azam continued his anti-Bangladesh and pro-Pakistan activities even after 1971. He tried to convince many political leaders of Middle-East and Pakistan not to support the new born nation. A complete description of these lobbies are found in the writings of Dhaka University Professor Anisuzzaman. Mr. Anisuzzaman submitted all the allegations against Golam Azam to the People's Court in 1992. People's Court was established as a mass movement to try war criminals and anti-independence activists by Jahanara Imam and others. Jahanara Imam held this unprecedented Peoples' Court as a symbolic trial of Ghulam Azam where thousands of people gathered and the court gave verdict that Azam's offences committed during the Liberation War deserve capital punishment. According to Prothom Alo, three intellectuals submitted allegations of war crimes against Ghulam Azam. The activities regarading Bengali culture were submitted by Syed Shamsul Huq, alleged war crimes during 1971 were detailed by Borhanuddin Khan Jahangir and his pro-Pakistan lobbying after 1971 was detailed by Anisuzzaman. Notable pro-Pakistan lobbying of Ghulam Azam after 1971 are as follows:
Rehabilitation in independent BangladeshIn 1978, then Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman allowed Azam to return to Bangladesh. Ghulam 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. Azam became the unofficial Ameer of the party while remaining in Bangladesh illegally, as he was denied Bangladeshi citizenship and had overstayed his visitors visa on his Pakistani passport. However, no attempt was made to restrain him, and he moved around openly. His citizenship was granted in 1994 by a decision of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, as the panel of Judges, with Habibur Rahman as the Chief Justice (later chief of the Caretaker government of 1996), decreed that by virtue of his birth he had right to Bangladeshi citizenship. Though the Jamaat fell out with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the run up to the 1996 elections, it re-established its alliance creating a coalition of 4 parties prior to the 2001 elections. In conjunction with the Islami Oikya Jote and a faction of the Jatiya Party, Jamaat again allied with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the coalition emerged as the winning power. Ghulam Azam announced his retirement from active politics in late 2000. He was succeeded by Motiur Rahman Nizami. Ghulam Azam's party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has been widely accused different organizations as a patron of recently (2002-2006) rising militancy and behind a number of terrorist bombings Courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghulam_Azam | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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