Golam Azam

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Golam Azam (born 1922), is a Bangladeshi political leader. He is also widely known as a war criminal who collaborated with the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, particularly with regards to creating and managing the vigilante Razakar and Al-Badr forces. Recently released unclassified documents of the Pakistan government reiterate his role as a war criminal.^{[#endnote_1971_role]} However, Azam justifies his stance, without denying any of those alleged war crimes by the fact that Pakistan, which was created as a result of historical animosity between the Hindus and Muslims of former India, must not be severed. He refused to accept the independence of Bangladesh upon its liberation on December 16th 1971, and was a permanent resident of Pakistan until 1978, and maintained Pakistani citizenship until 1994.

Entering politics as a student leader at Dhaka University, Azam became the secretary of the fundamentalist 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. During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, he was accused of collaboration with the Pakistan Army, and was also accused of war crimes. After the war, the Bangladesh government sought to remove the influence of the fundamentalists and collaborators, and Azam's citizenship was cancelled. He chose to live in exile in Pakistan and England until 1978, when President Ziaur Rahman re-established multi-party democracy and legalized the previously banned fundamentalist parties, and allowed him to return to Bangladesh on a temporary visa. He became the unofficial Ameer of the party while remaining in the country illegally (though no attempt was made to restrain him and he moved around openly), and his citizenship was restored in 1994 by a decision of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

It has been alleged that during his time in exile, he travelled to a number of middle Eastern nations, seeking funds to help topple the Bangladeshi government and his party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, is responsible for thousands of human rights violations. Azam himself has never denied these allegations, and has even alluded to these activities in his autobiography, Jibane Ja Dekhlam (What I saw in my Life). Jamaat-e-Islami has also been alleged as a patron of recently (2002-2006) rising militancy and behind a number of terrorist bombings.^{[#endnote_terrorist]} Almost all of the recently arrested militants have had proven links in the past to either the Jamaat or its student wing, the Islami Chhatra Shibir, as extensively documented in Bangladeshi newspapers such as The Daily Star, Prothom Alo, Janakantha and Bhorer Kagoj. Jamaat has also been accused of pressurizing the judiciary and media through threats to those prosecuting accused Jamaat activists and to those reporting/investigating allegations of Jamaat atrocities.

In addition to his political activities with Jamaat, Golam Azam played a important role in the Bangla language movement during 1950s. He was one of the first persons to submit a memorandum to the Pakistan government demanding Bangla as one of the state languages, following the original demand made by Dhirendranath Datta in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in February 1948. The memorandum was also read by him. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. Azam however distanced himself from the 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.

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Golam Azam

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