[2] In his military career spanning three decades, he was in Deputy Command of the armed forces of the United Nations after the onset of the Sierra Leone Civil War in 2002 in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Republic Armed Forces and Police to provide support to the Special Court for Sierra Leone following the arrest of former Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leaders and Government minister on charges of war crimes, and enforce the Community Arms Collection and Development Program introduced by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in collaboration with the local paramount chiefs where neighbouring conflicts in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Liberia had resulted in an influx of refugees in the area.

Following his service to the UN in West Africa, he commanded the Rajshahi and Khagrachari fronts of the Border Guard Bangladesh (then known as the Bangladesh Rifles) during clashes with the Banga Sena (Bengal Army) and Indian Border Security Force (BSF) in the North West and during the aftermath of the Shanti Bahini (Peace Army) operations in the South East.

[5] In 2005, along with General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury outright rejected the Indian High Commission claim of setting up border structures close to the zero line according to a former treaty.

[citation needed] He is married to Dr. Kamrun Nahar and has a daughter Shahzia Sarwar Shazi and a son, Sanwar Azam Sunny.

[1] He is the third son of Gulbadan Begum of Natore and Shamez Uddin Ahmed and is the brother-in-law to MM Rahmatullah through his elder sister, Gole Afroz.

[10] After being directly commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Army in May 1976, he served at Rangpur, Saidpur, Jessore, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Savar, Gazipur and Chittagong military units and brigades, among others till 2002.

As a Major, he was the Staff officer to Brigadier Hannan Shah in Chittagong, (later BNP politician, minister and Advisor to Khaleda Zia, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh) in 1979, before he was removed from the military by Lt. General Hussain Muhammad Ershad following the assassination of General Ziaur Rahman, the President of Bangladesh in 1981 at the Chittagong Circuit House.

It was created by the United Nations Security Council in October 1999 to help with the implementation of the Lomé Peace Accord, an agreement intended to end the Sierra Leonean civil war.

[12] The mandate was notable for authorising UNAMSIL to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence (albeit "within its capabilities and areas of deployment") – a return to a more proactive style of UN peacekeeping.

[13] Among others, its mission was to monitor adherence to the ceasefire in accordance with the ceasefire agreement[14] (whose signing was witnessed by Jesse Jackson); and to provide support, as requested, to the elections, which are to be held in accordance with the present constitution of Sierra Leone[15] It was later revised to guard weapons, ammunition and other military equipment collected from ex-combatants and to assists in their subsequent disposal or destruction[16] Upon withdrawal, the remaining staff in Freetown were transferred to United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL).

[17] In early 2003 at Magburaka, as Deputy Commander of UNAMSIL's Sector Centre, Colonel Azam informed the Force Commander that in spite of the recent indictments by the Special Court for Sierra Leone of former Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leaders and a Government minister on war crimes charges, the current security situation in the area was "calm and stable."

He said there was no significant reaction to the indictments by local leaders, the army or the police but assured the Acting Force Commander that his troops would continue to monitor the situation.

Under the program, local communities are encouraged to hand over weapons at designated dropping points, particularly shotguns, that were not covered under the UNAMSIL disarmament process.

[3] Azam's service ended in December 2003, and one of the two planes carrying the forces from Freetown, Sierra Leone crashed in Democratic Republic of the Congo killing 128 people and 15 peacekeepers from Bangladesh.

One of the disputed areas was a small sliver of land near the village of Pyrdiwah which the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) had occupied since the 1971 liberation of Bangladesh.

[26] Fresh clashes erupted along the India–Bangladesh border just hours after both sides voiced regret for the recent killings, but by midnight of 20 April firing had again stopped.

[30] Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Raminder Jassal reported that both India and Bangladesh would improve diplomatic channels and promised to exercise restraint in the future.

[39] In a news conference in August 2008, it was stated that 59 people had been killed (34 Bangladeshis, 21 Indians, rest unidentified) trying to cross the border illegally during the prior six months.

[40][41] The Banga Sena, (translated as the Bengal Army) a separatist[42] Hindu organisation advocated formation of a separate homeland for Bengali Hindus in Bangladesh.

[47] More than 400 members of the Banga Sena were arrested in India on 18 February 2003 for trying to cross over into Bangladesh from the district of North 24 Parganas in southern West Bengal.

[49] Regarding the activities of the Banga Sena, the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury made it clear that his country will not tolerate any statement or move against its territory or sovereignty.

[52][53] In it he protested the record amount of killings of innocent citizens by Indian military, border tension, smuggling, trespassing, drugs and arms trafficking.

[58] In September 2011, the Prime Ministers of the two countries (Manmohan Singh of India and Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh) signed an accord on border demarcation and exchange of adversely held enclaves.

The six, 16 cylinder, gas fuelled Rolls-Royce Bergen B35:40 gas engines provides power in addition to automatic powered generator plant supplying 45MW self-substation on the premises of the structure which also built a 5,000-lot automated parking structure below the level of the mall is surrounded by 900-room five star hotel, a TV Channel station, a hospital and a mosque.