Abul Hasnat Muhammad Qamaruzzaman

Qamaruzzaman was born in 1926 in the city of Rajshahi in the province of Bengal (now in Bangladesh). He obtained degrees in economics from the University of Calcutta in 1946, and a law degree from the Rajshahi University in 1956. He began practising law after his induction in the Rajshahi District bar association. As a student, Qamaruzzaman became active in the Muslim League and worked for the Pakistan movement.

Kamaruzzaman joined the Awami League in 1956. He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1962, 1965 and again in 1970. He rose to national party leadership posts in the late 1960s, becoming a close ally of Mujib. During the Bangladesh Liberation War, Kamaruzzaman served as the minister of relief and rehabilitation in the provisional government of Bangladesh formed at Mujibnagar. After the creation of Bangladesh, he won election to the national parliament from Rajshahi in 1973. The minister of home affairs in Mujib's cabinet, the first home minister of independent Bangladesh,[2] he resigned on 18 January 1974, to serve as president of the Awami League. In 1975, Kamaruzzaman was appointed minister of industries and a member of the executive committee of BAKSAL.[3]

After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975, Qamaruzzaman was arrested by the regime of the new president Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad and imprisoned in the Dhaka Central Jail with Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam and Mansur Ali. These four senior Awami League politicians were killed on 3 November 1975, by army officers who were responsible for Mujib's death.[4] His son, A. H. M. Khairuzzaman Liton, is a Bangladesh Awami League politician and the mayor of Rajshahi City.[5]