‘Azam wanted polls in ‘71’

Jamaat-e-Islami guru Ghulam Azam had allegedly called for dissolution of Parliament and fresh elections on Aug 30, 1971 when the Liberation War was going on in full swing, a court heard on Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting as the head of Jamaat’s East Pakistan unit chief, Azam mentioned the ‘martyrdom’ of several hundred volunteers of the auxiliary forces trying to protect the unity of Pakistan.

Prosecutor Sultan Mahmud explained to the first war crimes tribunal that these statements only confirmed his involvement with the vigilante militia groups like Razakar, Al Badr and Al Shams.

This was the seventh day of closing arguments in the war crimes case against the former Jamaat chief indicted for charges including conspiracy, incitement  and murder.

The three-member International Crimes Tribunal-1, set up to try crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, indicted Azam on May 13, 2012.

Tribunal chairman ATM Fazle Kabir, who remained absent for the last couple days, was present during Tuesday’s morning session only.

Prosecutor Mahmud summed up all charges against Azam except one, which is murder of one Siru Miah, his son and 36 others at Brahmanbaria.

The prosecutor said that he would be done with that charge on Wednesday after which the prosecution will presumably present legal arguments.

The prosecutor continued with citing newspaper clippings of 1971 that covered the Jamaat leader’s statements and speeches including the Daily Sangram which remains in publication as the Jamaat mouthpiece.

Sultan Mahmud also took the tribunal through numerous newspaper headlines from 1971 relating to atrocities by Pakistani Army, in league with the vigilante militia, in a bid to show the consequences of Azam’s incitement, conspiracy and complicity.

In the morning, the tribunal rejected Azam’s bail petition. The court also rejected an application praying that two defence witnesses, both foreigners, be allowed to give their statement physically, or via computer video link that would allow for cross-examination as well. The tribunal said that deposition of defence witnesses had already been closed.

Sultan Mahmud’s arguments included several other speeches and press briefings of Azam both in, what was to become, Bangladesh and, what is now, Pakistan.

Azam had allegedly expressed gratitude towards the Pakistan Army for protecting Pakistan at a press conference at the Karachi headquarters of Jamaate-Islami on Aug 31, 1971.

He also “dubbed the supporters of the independence of Bangladesh as bad Muslims”, who he said were ‘separatists’.

In an ‘effort to restore normalcy’, Azam and other Jamaat leaders on Sep 3, 1971, had “agreed to eliminate the so-called revolutionaries and anti-social elements” at Siddiq Bazaar, one of Jamaat’s offices in Dhaka.

During mid-September that same year, Azam congratulated the newly appointed Cabinet, which included two of his nominees. He allegedly took the opportunity to hail the Pakistan Army operation and mentioned that the central and local Peace Committees were working towards bringing back a sense of normalcy in the country.

Later that month, on Sep 25, at a reception of those two Jamaat nominees — Provincial Education Minister Abbas Ali Khan and Revenue Minister AKM Yusuf —Ghulam Azam reported about sending Jamaat members to join the Razakar units.

Azam had stated at the reception that the purpose of having Jamaat men in the Cabinet was the same as that of mobilising the Razakars.

All these put together, said the prosecutor, proved Ghulam Azam’s complicity to war crimes as well as his criminal intent.

Jamaat Guru in ICT-1

On Dec 12, 2011, the prosecution brought a 52-point charter of charges against Azam and appealed for his arrest. Later, following the tribunal order, charges were re-arranged and presented to the tribunal on Jan 5.

He was produced before the tribunal on Jan 11 and sent to jail the same day. Since that evening, the 90-year old former Carmichael College professor has been kept at the prison cell of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University for better treatment considering his delicate health.

Ghulam Azam’s indictment hearing began on Feb 15 and the court charged him on May 13.

A former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, arguably the largest Islamist organisation in the subcontinent, Azam is allegedly among the key people who pioneered anti-liberation efforts in 1971 colluding with the Pakistani military junta of that time.

He is widely perceived to have been among core group of right-wing supporters of the Pakistani Army, who came out strongly in support of a united Pakistan.

Ghulam Azam, then chief of Jamaat, was instrumental in setting up the infamous Peace Committee at the national level. The Razakars, an auxiliary force set up mainly to actively thwart the liberation forces, are said to have been mobilised through the Peace Committees across Bangladesh.

Among the most notorious vigilante militia are the Al Badr, whose membership is said to have been mainly dominated by the Jamaat's student wing called the Islami Chhatra Sangha at that time.

The Al Badr is alleged to have spearheaded execution of the intellectual elites of Bangladesh just days before the victory on Dec 16, 1971.

Azam also spoke in favour of Pakistan to the Middle Eastern countries during the war, according to the prosecution.

He stayed in London for seven years after 1971 and returned to Bangladesh in 1978 during BNP founder Ziaur Rahman's rule. Having led Jamaat for long, Azam retired from active politics in 1999.

His party remains a key ally of the main opposition BNP. Two Jamaat leaders, also behind bars for war crimes charges, have even served as ministers during the BNP's last tenure in government between 2001 and 2006, when Azam's party was part of the ruling coalition.

Azam was indicted on five charges including incitement, conspiracy, planning and complicity.