27/07/2013
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy ( হোসেন শহীদ সোহ্রাওয়ার্দী ; September 8, 1892 - December 5, 1963, Beirut) was a 20th-century Bengali leftist liberal politician and statesman in British India and Pakistan. He served as the third Premier of Bengal under British rule and was appointed as the fifth Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1956, serving until 1957, when he resigned under pressure from the Pakistani establishment.[1] Suhrawardy worked closely with C R Das, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian independence movement, and was the political mentor of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.[1][2]
Born into a prominent Bengali Muslim family, Suhrawardy was educated in Calcutta and Oxford, and returned to India in 1921 to join active politics. He headed the Government of Bengal in 1946 and proposed the creation of an independent, united Bengal as opposed to partition, but was vetoed by the Muslim League, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Congress party.[1] A close associate of Jinnah, he became a leading populist leader of East Pakistan after the partition of India. Suhrawardy left the ruling Muslim League in 1949, shortly after the death of Jinnah, to join the newly established centre-left Awami League. Along with A K Fazlul Huq and Maulana Bhashani, he led the United Front to a resounding victory in the 1954 East Bengal elections, which witnessed a crushing defeat of the Muslim League in East Pakistan.[1][3]
In 1956, the Awami League formed an alliance with the Republican Party to lead a coalition federal government in Pakistan. Suhrawardy became prime minister and pledged to resolve the energy crises, address economic disparities between East and West Pakistan, and strengthen the armed forces. His initiatives included supply side economic policies, planning nuclear power and energy and reorganizing and reforming the Pakistani military. In foreign policy, he was a close ally of the United States and made Pakistan a member of the SEATO and CENTO alliances in Asia. He also pioneered relations with the People's Republic of China and was the first Pakistani leader to visit China in 1957. Faced with pressure from the bureaucracy and business community, he was forced to resign on October 10, 1957, under threat of dismissal by President Iskandar Mirza.[3] Under the military rule of Ayub Khan, he formed the opposition National Democratic Front along with other leading politicians of West and East Pakistan. Suhrawardy died from a massive heart attack whilst in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 5, 1963. He is buried at a mausoleum in Dhaka alongside A K Fazlul Huq and Khwaja Nazimuddin.