Abdullahil Amaan Azmi

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Abdullahil Amaan Al Azmi
Azmi in 2025
Born (1958-12-27) 27 December 1958 (age 67)
Mia Shaheb Moidan, East Pakistan, Pakistan
Allegiance Bangladesh
Branch Bangladesh Army
Service years1981-2009
RankBangladesh-army-OF-6 Brigadier General
UnitEast Bengal Regiment
Commands
AwardsSword of Honour (BMA)
Alma materGovernment Laboratory High School
Notre Dame College
Bangladesh Military Academy
RelationsGhulam Azam (Father)

Abdullahil Amaan Azmi (Bengali: আবদুল্লাহিল আমান আযমী) is a retired one star officer of Bangladesh army and Human rights and political activist. He was subjected to enforced disappearance in 2016 and was held captive in Aynaghar, a secret detention center operated by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence.[1][2] On August 6, 2024, he was released from Aynaghar following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina.[3]

Early life and education

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Azmi was born in 1958 at the Shah Shaheb Bari lodge, a Sufi lodge in the nucleus of Old Dacca of then East Pakistan, Pakistan (now Dhaka Division, Bangladesh). He is the eldest son of Ghulam Azam, the former Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.[4] Azmi finished elementary school at Government Laboratory High School and high school from the Notre Dame College.[5] Azmi was enlisted to Bangladesh Military Academy on 1979. He was awarded the sword of honour for his enormous confidential records as the top officer's cadet of 5th BMA long course. His parent unit was 14th East Bengal Regiment.[6]

Military career

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Azmi taught at the East Bengal Regimental Centre, School of Infantry and Tactics and the Defence Services Command and Staff College. He commanded two infantry companies under the 2nd and 11th East Bengal Regiment, one infantry battalion the 18th East Bengal Regiment and one infantry brigade at Bandarban Cantonment. He was also the former station commander of Ghatail and commandant of the School of Military Intelligence at Cumilla Cantonment. On 2009, Azmi was summarily dismissed from the army by Second Hasina ministry without pension and without any explanation. He had the rank of brigadier general at the time of his dismissal.[6] Azmi's list on dismissal was withdrawn by the Yunus administration and furthermore, given a proper retirement on 26 December 2024.[7][8]

Disappearance and release

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Azmi demonstrating his illicit sentence in Aynaghar on December 2024

Azmi was detained by plainclothes officers of Bangladesh Police on 24 August 2016 from his home in Moghbazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.[9] Around the same time, two other sons of opposition leaders were detained, Hummam Quader Chowdhury, son of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, and Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, son of Mir Quasem Ali. Azmi's father died in 2014 while in jail after being convicted for war crimes in the Bangladesh Liberation war.[10][11] In March 2017, Hummam Quader Chowdhury was released, and he could not say who had detained him.[12]

In 2022, an investigation by the Swedish based news network Netra News revealed that Azmi was being held at Aynaghar, a secret prison run by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence.[13]

Release

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Azmi was released from Aynaghar on 6 August 2024, the day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled Bangladesh following popular protests.[14] After being admitted into a hospital for better treatment, he said, "How long have I not seen the light and air, I have not seen the world of Allah, I have not been allowed to hear the call to prayer. The amount of tears that I have wiped on this towel, if collected, a lake could have been made."[3]

Views and activism

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Azmi is notable for his Anti-Indian stance.[15][16][17] On 12 November 2012, Azmi testified as a defence witness in the trial of his father, Ghulam Azam, International Crimes Tribunal-1. He was the lone defence witness at the trial.[18] On 23 October 2014 Azam died at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University. Azmi expressed dismay with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party for not speaking about the death of his father.[19] He led the Janazah prayer at the funeral of his father at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.[20] In 2015, Azmi controversially challenged the number of Indian soldiers killed in the Bangladesh Liberation war following a Facebook post by Journalist Anjan Roy. He also questioned the number of Bangladeshi citizens killed in the Bangladesh genocide. There have been claims that the unit of “lakh” was mistranslated to a million increasing the claimed deaths tenfold. This triggered criticism from Bangladesh civil society members and media.[21]

In September 2024, Azmi proposed the change of national anthem and constitution. He further proposed to assemble a national committee that will prevent passing laws contradictory to Islam.[22]He critiqued the 3 million death toll figure during the 1971 Liberation War saying a census was carried out where the death toll was 286,000.[23]

See also

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References

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  • Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons
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