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| English: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, 1949 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Born and hailing from
East-Pakistan, Suhrawardy, as many of his Muslim League peers, educated from
Calcutta University and
Oxford University, and upon his return to India in 1921. Rising to the leadership of the
Muslim League in the
Bengal Presidency, Suhrawardy was a leading advocate of creating a separate Muslim state of
Pakistan. Infamous for his role in the violent
Direct Action Day in Calcutta, he advocated and played a major role for the success of
Pakistan Movement and, under auspices of Jinnah, Suhrawardy rose to prominence, and became an important ally of Jinnah in
East-Pakistan. Suhrawardy was a populist leader who advocated socialism, left the ruling Muslim League in 1949, shortly after the death of Jinnah, to join East Pakistan Awami Muslim League of
Maulana Bhashani, but was forced out from the party by the junior leadership. In 1957, forming the
National Democratic Front, Suhrawardy fought for the rights of people of Pakistan, both in
East and
West-Pakistan.
Although an
anti-communist, Surawardy won the slot of
Prime minister, and appointed to head a coalition
government of Pakistan in 1956, with initial target to resolve the energy crises, economical disparity, and promised to build a massive military in an arms race with the
India. At first, his initiatives included the re-building and reforming of the
military forces, expansion of defence infrastructure, establishing the plan of
nuclear power against India, and
supply-side economics polices. As for the Foreign policy, Suhrawardy was also the first Prime minister to have visit the
China, strengthening the
Sino-Pak relations and was one of the pioneer of foreign policy to enhance the pro-
United States-Pakistan‘s long associated ties, due to his common distrust of
communism. The economic disparity, the collapse of
One Unit programme, and failure to control and diminished the influence of business monopoly in
national politics, further forced Suhrawardy to resigned from his post, with many believe he was forced to resigned under threat of dismissal on October 10, 1957, by the President. A chronic heart patient, Suhrawardy died in
Beirut, Lebanon, on December 5, 1963.
Early life and family
Suhrawardy had an elder brother
Shahid Suhrawardy, the co-founder of Pakistan PEN Miscellenay with Professor Ahmed Ali.
Education and marriage
In 1920, Suhrawardy married Begum Niaz Fatima, daughter of
Sir Abdur Rahim, the then home minister of the
Bengal Province of
British India and later President of India’s
Central Legislative Assembly. Suhrawardy had two children from this marriage; Ahmed Shahab Suhrawardy and
Begum Akhtar Sulaiman (née Akhtar Jahan Suhrawardy). Ahmed Suhrawardy died from pneumonia whilst he was a student in London in 1940. Begum Akhtar Sulaiman was married to Shah Ahmed Sulaiman (son of Justice
Sir Shah Sulaiman) and had one child,
Shahida Jamil (who later became the first female Pakistani Federal Minister for Law).
Shahida Jamil has two sons, Zahid Jamil (a lawyer in Pakistan) and Shahid Jamil (a solicitor in London).
Return to British India
Suhrawardy became the Deputy Mayor of the Calcutta Corporation at the age of 31 in 1924, and the Deputy Leader of the Swaraj Party in the Provincial Assembly. However, following the death of Chittaranjan Das in 1925, he began to disassociate himself with the Swaraj Party and eventually joined
Muslim League. He served as Minister of Labour, and Minister of Civil Supplies under
Khawaja Nazimuddin among other positions. He was the Minister responsible during the Midnapore (Bengal) famine of 1943, but did little to relieve it. Relief only arrived after Wavell became Viceroy, who used the Indian Army to organise relief. In the Bengal Muslim League, Suhrawardy and
Abul Hashim led a progressive line against the conservative stream led by Nazimuddin and
Akram Khan.
In 1946, Suhrawardy established and headed a Muslim League government in Bengal. It was the only Muslim League government in India at that time.
As the demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan became popular amongst Indian Muslims, the partition of India on communal lines was deemed inevitable by mid-1947. To prevent the inclusion of Hindu-majority districts of Punjab and Bengal in a Muslim Pakistan, the Indian National Congress and the Hindu Mahasabha sought the partition of these provinces on communal lines. Bengali nationalists such as
Sarat Chandra Bose, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy,
Kiran Shankar Roy,
Abul Hashim,
Satya Ranjan Bakshi and
Mohammad Ali Chaudhury sought to counter partition proposals with the demand for a united and independent state of Bengal. Suhrawardy and Bose sought the formation of a coalition government between Bengali Congress and the Bengal Provincial Muslim League. Proponents of the plan urged the masses to reject communal divisions and uphold the vision of a united Bengal. In a press conference held in Delhi on April 27, 1947 Suhrawardy presented his plan for a united and independent Bengal and Abul Hashim issued a similar statement in Calcutta on April 29. Such a unifying movement was started by
Rabindranath Tagore and others in 1905 during British Bengal administrative division(Bongovongo) or Division of
United Bengal. But unfortunately Suhrawardy’s plan gained no popularity, although among-st the people who wanted unity of east and west Bengal in 1905.
Leonard Mosley, in his book ‘The last days of the British Raj’ writes [on page 26]: “Mr. Suhrawardy was a party ‘boss’ of the type who believes that no politician need ever be out of office once his strong-arm squads have gained control of the polling booths; that no minister should ever suffer financially by being in public life; that no relative or political cohort should ever go unrewarded. He loved money, champagne, Polish blondes and dancing the tango in nightclubs, and he was reputed to have made a fortune during the war. He loved Calcutta, including its filthy, festering slums, and it was from the noisome alleyways of Howrah that he picked the goondas who accompanied him everywhere as bodyguards.”
Perception in independent India
Suhrawardy has left a controversial legacy in post-partition India. He is perceived as responsible for unleashing, at Jinnah’s behest, the Direct Action Day in August 1946 which killed thousands of Hindus. The intention was to prove that if the Congress Party did not agree to partition, all of British India would be engulfed by civil war. This action turned Hindus and Muslim neighbours into enemies and caused a cycle of death, revenge and further destruction. On the other hand, those Indians who believe that partition saved West Bengal and East Punjab from Muslim rule, credit Suhrawardy for imposing a solution that limited communal clashes in the post-independence era.
Independence
In 1947, the balance of power in Bengal shifted from the
Muslim League to the
Indian National Congress, and Suhrawardy stepped down from the Chief Ministership. Unlike other Muslim League stalwarts of India, he did not leave his hometown immediately for the newly established Pakistan. Anticipating revenge of Hindus against Muslims in
Calcutta after the transfer of power, Suhrawardy sought help from
Gandhi. Gandhi was persuaded to stay and pacify tempers in Calcutta with the intention that Suhrawardy share the same roof with him so that they could appeal to Muslims and Hindus alike to live in peace. “Adversity makes strange bed-fellows,” Gandhi remarked in his prayer meeting.
[4]Upon the formation of
Pakistan, Suhrawardy maintained his work in politics, continuing to focus on East Bengal as it became after the partition of India. On return to Dhaka he joined Awami Muslim League that Maulana Bhashai formed.
In the 1950s, Suhrawardy worked to consolidate political parties in East Pakistan to balance the politics of
West Pakistan. He, along with other leading Bengali leaders
A.K. Fazlul Huq and
Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, formed a political alliance in the name of
Jukta Front which won a landslide victory in 1954 general election of East Pakistan. Under
Muhammad Ali Bogra, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy would serve as Law Minister and later become the head of opposition parties.
Prime Minister of Pakistan
In 1956, Suhrawardy won the slot of Prime minister and was hastily appointed as fifth Prime Minister by
President Iskander Mirza after the surprise resignation of
Chaudhry Muhammad Ali. As Prime minister, Suhrawardy took the nation on confidence on
national radio, promising to resolve the energy crises, economical disparity and promised the nation to build a massive military in an arms race with India.
One Unit programme
Suhrawardy inherited a political schism that was forming in Pakistan between the Muslim League and newer parties, such as the
Republican Party. The schism was fed by the attempt to consolidate the four provinces of
West-Pakistan into one province, so as to balance the fact that East Pakistan existed as only one province. The programme was opposed in West-Pakistan, and the cause was taken up by the Muslim League and religious parties. Suhrawardy supported the plan, but the vast opposition to it stalled its progress. The
One Unit programme suffered several set back in West, and it was brutally failed to produce any last effective results, while the programme was a quiet success in East. The nationalist and socialist democratic parties oppose Suhrawardy’s One Unit programme, and soon Suhrawardy was forced to end the programme; the four provinces did not integrate into one single province, and retained its current status. The East was revolved into one single large province, with overwhelming Bengali population.
Economic policies
An
anti-communist, Suhrawardy put the country’s economical system towards
capitalism and
Free-market economy. Suhrawardy encourage the small business community to expand their business activities, allowing the community to establish and invest their money to contribute the country’s economy. In order to divert attention from the controversy over the “
One Unit” programme as it was called, Suhrawardy tried to ease economic differences between East and West Pakistan. However, despite his intentions, these initiatives only led to more political frictions, and was worsened when Suhrawardy tried to give more financial allocations to East Pakistan than West Pakistan from aids and grants.
Rebuilding the military
Suhrawardy, as promised, decided to rebuild the massive military forces, and the military promotion in East and West was projected all over the country. Approving a new defence policy, Suhrawardy expanded the area of
military districts, integrating the adjacent areas, and making arm deals enhance the military capabilities. Suhrawardy appointed radiochemist dr.
Abdul Hafeez as the Chairman of the
Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) whilst the ingenious military reforms and production were also taken. The presence of Pakistan Armed Forces in East Pakistan also exponentially grew, but restricted to maintain combatant forces in West whilst the reserves were sent to East Pakistan.
Legal reforms
Such moves led to a threat of dismissal looming over Suhrawardy’s head, and he resigned in 1957. His contribution in formulating 1956 constitution of Pakistan was substantial as he played a vital role in incorporating provisions for civil liberties and universal adult franchise in line with his adherence to parliamentary form of liberal democracy.
Foreign policy
In the foreign policy arena, Suhrawardy wasted no time announcing his foreign policy in first session of the
parliament of Pakistan.
[5] Suhrawardy advocated a pronounced pro-
western policy, supporting a strong support to United States.
[5] Suhrawardy is considered to be one of the pioneers of Pakistan’s pro-United States stand, a policy that is presently continued by the present government.
[5] He was also the first Pakistani Prime Minister to visit China in 1956 and the delegation included Professor Ahmed Ali, Pakistan’s First Envoy to China (1951–52) who had established the Pakistani embassy in Peking and formed Pak-China friendship and strengthened the official diplomatic friendship between Pakistan and China
[6] (a friendship that
Henry Kissinger would later use to make his now-famous secret trip to China in July 1971).
His tenure saw the enhancement of the relations with the United States in July 1957, when
President Dwight Eisenhower kindly requested the prime minister for the
U.S. to establish a secret intelligence facility in Pakistan and for the
U-2 spyplane to fly from Pakistan. A facility established in
Badaber (
Peshawar Air Station), 10 miles (16 km) from
Peshawar, was a cover for a major communications intercept operation run by the United States
National Security Agency (NSA). The base was finally closed by the military government in 1970, later by
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who installed the
ISI as in charge of the base in 1971.
His pro-western policy dismantle the socialist alliance in Pakistan, most notable of them were
Maulana Bhashani who challenged him for the party’s chairmanship.
[5] Although, Maulana Bhashani managed to consolidate the Awami League, but failed to carry the party mass with him, leading to left the party to junior leadership.
[5] Nuclear power
During 1950s,
Pakistan was suffering from severe
energy crises, although the East did not suffered the energy crises as severe as West.
[7] Amid protest and civil disobedience by West-Pakistan’s population demanding to resolve the electricity issue, force Suhrawardy to take the approach to resolve the issue to harness the electricity.
[7] In 1956, Suhrawardy announced the nation’s first ever nuclear policy, but only benefiting the West-Pakistan, and adpoted the parliamentary act of 1956.
[7]It was Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy’s premiership when
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) was established by a Parliamentary Act of 1956 in West-Pakistan only.
[7] Suhrawardy renounced to develop the nuclear weapons, and disassociated scientific research on the nuclear weapons, after signing the
Atoms for Peace programme. Suhrawardy approved the appointment of Dr.
Nazir Ahmad, a experimental physicist, as the first Chairman.
[7] Suhrawardy asked the PAEC to survey the site to establish the commercial nuclear power plants.
[7] Suhrawardy upgraded the government rank, and extended the appointment of
Salimuzzaman Siddiqui as his government’s
Science Advisor.
Under Dr. Nazir Ahmad’s scientific direction, Pakistan started its nuclear energy programme and Prime Minister Suhrawardy also allotted PAEC to set up its new pilot-nuclear labs.
[7] As Prime minister, he played an important role in establishing of
Nuclear research institutes in
West-Pakistan, working to build the nuclear power infrastructure.
[7] The PAEC brought the role of
Raziuddin Siddiqui, a theoretical physicist, but refrained him to work on the atomic bombs, instead asking him to constitute research on theoretical physics and alternative use of nuclear energy.
[7] Suhrawardy made extremely critical decision on nuclear power expansion, and denied the request of PAEC Chairman dr. Nazir Ahmad to acquiring the
NRX reactor from
Canada.
[7] Instead approved the recommendation of Raziuddin Siddiqui after authorizing an agreement to acquire the
Pool-type reactor from the
United States in 1956.
[7]He also laid foundation of the first nuclear power plant in Karachi, when it was recommended by the PAEC.
[7] After addressing the West population, Suhrawardy planned to provide country’s first nuclear power plant in near future to end the energy crises.
[7] However, after his removal from office, the proposal went into cold storage and severely undermined by a political turmoil in the country.
[7] Furthermore, Ayub Khan had also froze the further programmes as he thought Pakistan was too poor to work on this programme.
[7] Thus, the nuclear energy programme and academic research was halted by
Ayub Khan‘s military regime for more than a decade.
[7] Resignation
The
Awami League‘s close interaction with
Pakistan Muslim League, who at that time was re-organizing itself, threatened another Bengali President
Iskandar Mirza.
[8] President Mirza wanted to control the democracy in the country, which Suhrawardy had always resisted.
[9] President Mirza refused Prime minister Suhrawardy’s request to convene a meeting of
Parliament for seeking a vote of confidenc movement.
[9] Amid pressure to resigned from his position and given vital threats to be removed by the President Mirza, Prime minister Suhrawardy submitted his resignation letter after losing the considerable party support from the junior leadership.
[9]
Inspiring Pakistan 