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Tajuddin Ahmad.

Tajuddin Ahmad (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 Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh on April 10, 1971.

Tajuddin Ahmad was born in 1925 in the village of Dardaria 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 exam 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 organise the student wing of the Awami Muslim League in 1949, joining Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Tajuddin Ahmad was an active organiser 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 organised 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 organised 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 organise a guerrilla insurgency comprised of Bengali civilians and armed forces and win international support. During this period, Ahmad encounterd 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.

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 in by a group of army officers on 15 August 1975 Ahmad was house arreseted 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 anfd works of Tajuddin Ahmad.

v • d • e Prime Ministers of Bangladesh
Tajuddin Ahmad | Sheikh Mujibur Rahman | Muhammad Mansur Ali | Shah Azizur Rahman | Ataur Rahman Khan | Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury | Moudud Ahmed | Kazi Zafar Ahmed | Khaleda Zia | Habibur Rahmani | Sheikh Hasina | Latifur Rahmani | Khaleda Zia | Iajuddin Ahmedi | Fazlul Haquei | Fakhruddin Ahmedi (i) interim

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