[Bangla Daily Star] War crimes accused Ghulam Azam had called upon the Pak authorities to provide arms to "peace-loving" auxiliary forces to restore order by "uprooting" the freedom fighters during the Liberation War.Prosecutor Sultan Mahmud Simon while placing closing arguments in the case against Azam before the International Crimes Tribunal-1 said the accused used to dub members of the auxiliary forces -- Peace Committee, Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-shams -- as "peace-loving" citizens.
The prosecutor said Azam was the chief of the then East Pakistain Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
. His appreciation and urge to provide arms prove his complicity in the war crimes committed during the war in 1971, Simon argued.
Azam at a meeting of Jamaat-e-Islami in Lahore on June 21, 1971 hailed the role of the Pakistain army for "destroying the separatist movement" in East Pakistain.
"There is no alternative to freeing the country from the separatists without the army," the prosecutor said quoting Azam, adding that the accused also made eulogy of intervention by Pakistain army.
The daily Sangram, mouthpiece of Jamaat, published a report on June 22, 1971. Simon presented Azam's quote from that report.
He explained that Azam had termed the freedom fighters "separatists" and used Islam as their weapon to substantiate the attack on them.
The prosecutor further said Azam was aware of the atrocities committed by the Mighty Pak Army and their auxiliary forces. "Even after that he supported them which proves his complicity with the war crimes committed by the Mighty Pak Army and auxiliary forces," Simon added.