Qamaruzzaman, Abul Hasnat Mohammad
Qamaruzzaman, Abul Hasnat Mohammad (1926-1975) lawyer, politician. He was born in 1926 in Rajshahi. He obtained BA (Hons) degree in Economics in 1945 and MA in 1946 from Calcutta University. After obtaining BL degree from Rajshahi University in 1956, he joined the Rajshahi district bar.
Qamaruzzaman became involved in politics at a very early age. He became the secretary of the Rajshahi district unit of Bengal Muslim Student League in 1942, and during 1943-45 he was its vice president. He joined awami league in 1956. He was elected a member of the Pakistan National Assembly in 1962 and again in 1965 under the Basic Democracy system. Qamaruzzaman was the convenor of Awami League in 1967 and the general secretary of the Party in 1970.
Qamaruzzaman resigned from the National Assembly in 1969 as a protest against the repression of the Ayub government and declared his solidarity with the eleven-point demands of the Chhatra Sangram Parisad. Qamaruzzaman was a member of the Awami League delegation to the Round Table Conference convened by President ayub khan in Rawalpindi in 1969. He was elected a member of the National Assembly in 1970 from Rajshahi. Mohammad Qamaruzzaman played a vital role in the struggle for the independence of Bangladesh. He was minister of Relief and Rehabilitation in the provisional government of Bangladesh at Mujibnagar in 1971.
After liberation, Qamaruzzaman was elected a member of the Jatiya Sangsad from two constituencies in Rajshahi in 1973. He was a member of the cabinet of Bangabandhu sheikh mujibur rahman during the period from 1972 to 1974. He was elected president of Bangladesh Awami League in 1974 and consequently resigned from the cabinet. He was, however, included in the new cabinet formed in 1975 and was placed in charge of the Ministry of Industry. Qamaruzzaman was a member of the executive committee of bangladesh krishak sramik awami league (BAKSAL).
After the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975, Qamaruzzaman was arrested along with some senior party leaders and was kept confined in the Dhaka Central Jail, where he along with three other key Awami League leaders, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain M Mansur Ali and Syed Nazrul Islam, were brutally killed on 3 November 1975. [Muntassir Mamoon]
