Tajuddin Ahmad

Tajuddin Ahmad ( _bn. তাজউদ্দিন আহমেদ)(1925 - November 3, 1975) was a Bangladeshi politician who was one of the most prominent leaders of the Awami League. A statesman of a lofty magnitude, he successfully headed the government at Mujibnagar during the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was instrumental in forming the first government of the Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh on April 10, 1971.

Early life

Tajuddin Ahmad was born in 1925 in the village of Dardaria, Kapasia in the Gazipur District of the province of Bengal (now in Bangladesh). He studied the Holy Quran and memorized it with the guidance from his father Moulavi Muhammad Yasin Khan. He passed his matriculation exam in first division while earning a twelfth position in merit list nationwide in 1944. He earned an impressive fourth position in high school examination in 1948 and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Economics from Dhaka University in 1953. He would also later obtain a law degree. As a student activist, Ahmad became active in the Muslim League and the Pakistan movement. He would later organize the student wing of the Awami Muslim League in 1949, joining Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Political career

Tajuddin Ahmad was an active organizer of protests and other activities during the Language Movement of 1952. He was arrested by police and imprisoned for several months. After his release, he was elected to the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly in 1954 but was arrested following the dismissal of the A. K. Fazlul Huq-led government. He would be arrested again following the imposition of martial law by Ayub Khan in 1958 after taking power in a military coup. Ahmed worked actively in the pro-democracy campaign led by the Awami League and other political parties in Pakistan. He organized protests against the arrest of Mujib in 1966 on charges of sedition. He participated at the round table conference in Rawalpindi convened by Ayub Khan to resolve the crisis between the government and the opposition parties. Following the restoration of democracy, he was elected member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1970.

Following the arrest of Mujib on March 25, 1971 by the Pakistan Army, and as the genocide of the helpless civilians began in the hands of the Pakistan military, Ahmad organized a government-in-exile popularly known as the Mujibnagar government to win his nation freedom. Ahmad named the capital Mujibnagar,after Shaikh Mujibur Rahman.The oath taking ceremony of the first government of Bangladesh took place on the soil of Bangladesh ,in Meherpur,Kushtia on April 17,1971. As the first Prime Minister he led efforts to organize a guerrilla insurgency of Bengali civilians and armed forces and win international support. During this period, Ahmad encountered vehement intra party strifes led by khandokar Mushataq Ahmad who conspired to harm the national struggle for independence through a failed attempt to form a confederacy with Pakistan. Among Ahmad's great diplomatic achievements were to win international support and recognition of Bangladesh as a sovereign nation by the government of India. After the independence of Bangladesh, Tajuddin Ahmad returned to Dhaka on 22 December, 1971. In the subsequent cabinet formed under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Ahmad was given charge of the ministries of finance and planning. He was also appointed member of the committee in charge of writing the Constitution of Bangladesh. However, a large number of people believe that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was suffering from an inferiority complex at the dynamic leadership of Tajuddin Ahmed in Sheikh Mujib's absence during the liberation war of 1971 and that is why Sheikh Mujibur Rahman isolated Tajuddin Ahmed from the main stream of Awami League by deliberately indulging anti Bangladesh group inside the Awami League comprising people like Khondoker Moshtaq even though Sheikh Mujib was well aware of Moshtaq's role in liberation war. Till today Awami League failed to evaluate Tajuddin Ahmed's role.

Assassination

When Mujib assumed the title of president and banned other political parties in 1975, Ahmad opposed the forming of one party system known as BAKSAL. When Mujib was assassinated by a group of army officers on 15 August 1975, Ahmad was house arrested on the very same day. Later on August 22, he was arrested with other political leaders by the regime of the new president Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed and imprisoned at the Dhaka Central Jail. On November 3, in what became infamously known as the "Jail killings," Ahmad along with Syed Nazrul Islam, A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman and Muhammad Mansur Ali were killed by a group of army officers, by the direct instruction of Khondakar Mushtaq Ahmed. The recent release(March 25 2007) of a widely acclaimed documentary, Tajuddin Ahmad: An Unsung Hero (directed by Tanvir Mokammel) reflects a growing interest in the life and works of Tajuddin Ahmad.

ee also

References

* [http://banglapedia.org/HT/A_0121.htm Banglapedia biography]