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Ghulam Azam
Ghulam Azam (7 November 1922 – 23 October 2014) was a Bangladeshi politician and writer who served as ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh.
As a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, ahead of the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war he supported the Pakistan Army in its Operation Searchlight (1971), a crackdown on Bengali nationalists in the then East Pakistan (later Bangladesh), by leading the formation of the East Pakistan Central Peace Committee. Azam has been accused of forming paramilitary groups for the Pakistani Army, including Razakars, and Al-Badr during the ensuing 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. These militias opposed the Mukti Bahini members who fought for the independence of Bangladesh, and were also involved in war crimes during the Bangladesh genocide.
After the independence of Bangladesh, he led the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh until 2000. His citizenship was cancelled by the Bangladeshi government in 1978 and he subsequently lived informally in the country till 1994 when it was reinstated by the Supreme Court.
Azam was arrested on 11 January 2012 by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT) 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 condition. The trial was criticized by international observers such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch, which was initially supportive of a trial subsequently criticized "strong judicial bias towards the prosecution and grave violations of due process rights", calling the trial process deeply flawed and unable to meet international fair trial standards.
He died at age 91, following a stroke, on 23 October 2014 at BMU. Thousands of people attended his funeral prayers that were televised and held at Baitul Mukarram.
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 in his 6th generation who had migrated from the Middle East, as a Muslim preacher and settled in the settlement of Birgaon beside the Meghna River in the 18th Century. 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.
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 (DUCSU) for two consecutive years between 1947 and 1949.
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.
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Ghulam Azam
Ghulam Azam (7 November 1922 – 23 October 2014) was a Bangladeshi politician and writer who served as ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh.
As a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, ahead of the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war he supported the Pakistan Army in its Operation Searchlight (1971), a crackdown on Bengali nationalists in the then East Pakistan (later Bangladesh), by leading the formation of the East Pakistan Central Peace Committee. Azam has been accused of forming paramilitary groups for the Pakistani Army, including Razakars, and Al-Badr during the ensuing 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. These militias opposed the Mukti Bahini members who fought for the independence of Bangladesh, and were also involved in war crimes during the Bangladesh genocide.
After the independence of Bangladesh, he led the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh until 2000. His citizenship was cancelled by the Bangladeshi government in 1978 and he subsequently lived informally in the country till 1994 when it was reinstated by the Supreme Court.
Azam was arrested on 11 January 2012 by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT) 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 condition. The trial was criticized by international observers such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch, which was initially supportive of a trial subsequently criticized "strong judicial bias towards the prosecution and grave violations of due process rights", calling the trial process deeply flawed and unable to meet international fair trial standards.
He died at age 91, following a stroke, on 23 October 2014 at BMU. Thousands of people attended his funeral prayers that were televised and held at Baitul Mukarram.
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 in his 6th generation who had migrated from the Middle East, as a Muslim preacher and settled in the settlement of Birgaon beside the Meghna River in the 18th Century. 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.
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 (DUCSU) for two consecutive years between 1947 and 1949.
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.