He faces charges of serious crimes involving the War of
Liberation in 1971 when he was 19. He was set to complete higher secondary
education then.
He allegedly established Al-Badr, a paramilitary force
that helped the Pakistani army in 1971, in the district by recruiting members
from Ashek Mahmud College at Jamalpur on Apr 22, 1971.
The force was
involved in genocide, killing, rape, looting, arson, and deportation of people
in the greater Mymensingh district including Jamalpur, Netrokona, Kishoreganj,
Sherpur and Tangail, said the prosecution.
A journalism graduate from
Dhaka University Kamaruzzaman was a two-time President of Islami Chhatra Shibir,
according to his official profile posted on the website of the Jamaat-e-Islami,
which has introduced him as ‘a renowned politician, writer, orator,
intellectual, journalist and Islamic thinker’.
After doing his Master's
in Journalism in 1976, Kamaruzzaman joined as Executive Editor of monthly Dhaka
Digest in January, 1980. Later he took the charge of weekly Sonar Bangla as
Editor in January 1981. He also worked for Jamaat’s mouthpiece Sangram as
Executive Editor.
Kamaruzzaman became the Organising Secretary of
Bangladesh Islamic Students movement in 1972 when his original outfit, Shibir,
was banned. He became Secretary General of Chhatra Shibir in 1977, right about
the time when he also got married.
He took helm of the organisation as
its President the next year. Kamaruzzaman joined Jamaat-e-Islami’s Dhaka City
chapter in October 1979 and was sworn in as a full Jamaat member (Rukun) in
1979.
He was appointed Joint Secretary of Dhaka City Jamaat-e-Islami in
1981-82 and served as Publicity Secretary of the party in 1983-1991.
He
became Assistant Secretary General in 1992.
He was a member of Jamaat’s
political and liaison committees in the movement against former President HM
Ershad and in the movement for caretaker government during 1993-95, according to
his official profile.
He was also in charge of the party’s diplomatic
relations.
Kamaruzzaman has five sons with wife Nurun Nahar.