Khawaja Nazimuddin

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"Nazimuddin" redirects here. For other uses, see Nazimuddin (disambiguation).

KCIE
খাজা নাজিমুদ্দিন
خواجہ ناظِمُ الدّین
Nazimuddin in 1948
2nd Governor-General of Pakistan
In office
14 September 1948 – 17 October 1951
MonarchGeorge VI
Prime MinisterLiaquat Ali Khan
Preceded byMuhammad Ali Jinnah
Succeeded byMalik Ghulam Muhammad
2nd Prime Minister of Pakistan
In office
17 October 1951 – 17 April 1953
MonarchsGeorge VI
Elizabeth II
Governor GeneralSir Malik Ghulam Muhammad
Preceded byLiaquat Ali Khan
Succeeded byMohammad Ali Bogra
Chief Minister of East Bengal
In office
15 August 1947 – 14 September 1948
MonarchGeorge VI
Governor GeneralMuhammad Ali Jinnah
Prime MinisterLiaquat Ali Khan
GovernorSir Fredrick Chalmers Bourne
Preceded byHuseyn Suhrawardy (as Prime minister of Bengal)
Succeeded byNurul Amin
Prime Minister of Bengal
In office
29 April 1943 – 31 March 1945
MonarchGeorge VI
Governors General
Governor
Mohammad Ali of Bogra
Personal details
Born(1894-07-19)19 July 1894
Khwaja Shahabuddin (brother)
Alma materCambridge University (MA)
Aligarh Muslim University (BA)
ProfessionBarrister, politician

Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin

KCIE (19 July 1894 – 22 October 1964) was a Pakistani politician and statesman who served as the second governor-general of Pakistan from 1948 to 1951, and later as the second prime minister of Pakistan
from 1951 to 1953.

Born into an

British India from 1943 to 1945, and later as the 1st Chief Minister of East Bengal
in independent Pakistan.

Nazimuddin ascended to Governor-General in 1948 after the death of Jinnah, before becoming Prime Minister in 1951 following the

Bengali language movement and protests in his native Dhaka in 1952, and religious riots in Lahore a year later. The latter crisis saw the first instance of martial law, limited to the city, and led to Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad
dismissing Nazimuddin on 17 April 1953.

Nazimuddin's ministry was the first federal government to be dismissed in Pakistan's history, though his former ministers

Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, Abdul Sattar Pirzada, and Mahmud Husain refused to take the oath of office in the new cabinet.[2] He retired from national politics, passing away after a brief illness in 1964. He is buried at the Mausoleum of Three Leaders in Dhaka.[3] He was one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan
and the first Bengali to have governed Pakistan.

Biography

Family background, early life and education

Khawaja Nazimuddin was born into a wealthy

Muslim League in 1906.[11][12][13][14] He grew up speaking Urdu.[15]

He was educated at the

Uttar Pradesh, India.[16] Nazimuddin secured his graduation with a bachelor's degree in sociology from AMU[citation needed] and returned to England to pursue higher education.[17]

After AMU, Nazimuddin went to England. He attended

Barrister-at-Law in England.[16]
He was knighted in 1934.[19] In 1947–49, Nazimuddin was granted the degree of Doctor of Laws by the vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, Dr. Mahmud Hasan.[20]: 161 

Politics

Public service and independence movement

Main article: Prime Minister of Bengal

Nazimuddin returned to India to join his brother

Muslim League, and Nazimuddin successfully ran for the municipality election and elected as Chairman of Dhaka Municipality from 1922 until 1929.[6] During this time, he was appointed as Education minister of Bengal. He remained minister of Education till 1934. Later he was appointed in Viceroy's Executive Council in 1934 which he served until 1937.[22] In the former capacity he successfully piloted the Compulsory Primary Education Bill; removing disparity that existed in education between the Hindus and the Muslims. As Minister for Agriculture in 1935, he piloted the Agriculture Debtors Bill and the Bengal Rural Development Bill which freed poor Muslim cultivators from the clutches of Hindu moneylenders.[23]

He participated in regional elections held in 1937 on a Muslim League's platform but conceded his defeat in favour of

Krishak Praja Part (KPP) who was appointed as Prime Minister of Bengal, while assuming his personal role as member of the legislative assembly.[24][25]
: 69 

Home and Prime Minister of Bengal and Chief Minister of East Bengal

Upon the formation of the coalition government in an agreement facilitated between Muslim League and the Krishak Praja Party, Nazimuddin was appointed as the home minister under Haq's premiership., which he continued until 1943.[26]: 331 

Due to his conservative elite position, he became close associate of

cause for the separate Muslim homeland, Pakistan.[26]
: 332 

His premiership lasted until 1945 when a motion of no confidence and faced with defeat in the assembly hall by 160 to 97 votes that effectively ended his premiership.[29]: 106  He relinquished the office to Nausher Ali, an Indian nationalist Muslim and a prominent member of Congress Party who the speaker of the assembly, but the administration was taken over by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.[29]: 106 

From 1945 to 1947, Nazimuddin continued to be served as the chairman of the Muslim League in Bengal, ardently supporting the political cause for Pakistan against the Congress Party.[26]: 333  This despite Nazimuddin and other Muslim League leaders not having thought through the consequences of the Pakistan Movement. As late as February 1947, Governor of Punjab Sir Evan Jenkins reported that Nazimuddin said "he did not know what Pakistan means and that nobody in the Muslim League knew."[30] During this time, Nazimuddin had been in conflict with Premier Suhrawardy and strongly opposed the United Bengal Movement. The conflict between two men mainly existed because Suhrawardy represented the middle class while Nazimuddin was representing the aristocracy.[31]

In 1947, he again contested in the party elections in the Muslim League against Suhrawardy's platform and securing his nomination as the party chairman for the Muslim League's East Bengal chapter.[32]: 49–50  His success in the party election eventually led him to the appointed as the first Chief Minister of East Bengal after the Partition of India in 1947 and effectively gained controlled of the Muslim League in the province.[32]: 50 

As the Chief Minister, he led the motion of confidence that ultimately voted in favour of joining the Federation of Pakistan and reorganized the Government of East Pakistan by delegating conservative members in his administration.[32]: 49–50 

Governor-General of Pakistan (1948–51)

On

Abdul Rashid of the Federal Court of Pakistan, with Liaquat Ali Khan in attendance.[6]

As Governor-General, Nazimuddin set a precedent of neutrality and non-interference in the government, and provided his political support to Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan's government, which was seen as essential to the working of the responsible government at that time.[34]

In 1949, Governor-General Nazimuddin established the parliamentary committee, the Basic Principles Committee, on the advice of Prime Minister Ali Khan to underlying basic principles that would lay foundation of Constitution of Pakistan.[35]

Prime Ministership (1951–53)

Khawaja Nazimuddin, with M.G. Muhammad in New York City, 1946.

After the

Crown
.

Nazimuddin's administration took place during a poor economy and the rise of

four provinces and East Bengal which made him unable to run the country's affairs effectively.[38]: 121–122  By 1951–52, the Muslim League had split into two different factions dominated by the Bengali chapter and Punjab-Sindh chapter, as those were the two largest ethnic demographics, but were separated by India.[36]
: 235 

In 1951, Prime Minister Nazimuddin's government conducted the country's first nationwide census where it was noted that 57% of the population of Karachi were refugees from India, which further complicated the situation in the country.[39]

In January 1952, Prime Minister Nazimuddin publicly announced in

Bengali Language movement demanding equal and official status to the Bengali language turned bloody, with many fatalities caused by police firings.[41] This demonstration was held when he declared Urdu the National Language of Pakistan, following the previous statement of Muhammad Ali Jinnah that Urdu shall be 'one and only' language of Pakistan.[42]

In 1953, a violent religious movement led by far-right

Ahmadi religious minority from power positions, and demanded a declaration of this minority as non-Muslims.[43]
: 60 

Nazimuddin was held morally responsible for riots being spread and resisted such pressures;

martial law in Punjab.[44] Major General Azam Khan was made Chief Martial Law Administrator and brought Lahore under control within a couple of days.[45] Nazimuddin forced out the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mumtaz Daultana, and replaced him with Feroz Khan Noon.[46]

Dismissal

The agitations and violence spread through the successful Bengali language movement and the riots in Lahore proved the inability of Nazimuddin's government as he was widely seen as weak in running the government administration.[47]: 288 

In a view of attempting to improve the

internal security, Malik Ghulam asked Prime Minister Nazimuddin to step down in the wider interest of the country.[47]: 289  Nazimuddin refused to oblige and Malik Ghulam used reserve powers granted in the Government of India Act 1935, dismissed Nazimuddin.[47]
: 289 

Nazimuddin then requested the

Pakistan ambassador to the United States, as the new prime minister until the new elections to be held in 1954.[47]
: 289 

Death and legacy

Later life and death

Mausoleum of three leaders at Dhaka

Even after his dismissal, he and his family remained active in parliamentary politics; his nephew,

GOC-in-C II Corps and later repatriated to Bangladesh
in 1974.

His younger brother,

Ayub Khan's administration.[49]
: 559 

Sir Khwaja died in 1964, aged 70. He was buried in the

Mausoleum of three leaders in his hometown of Dhaka.[50]

Wealth and honours

Nazimuddin and his brother, Shahabuddin, belonged to an aristocratic family who were known for their wealth. In a thesis written by Joya Chatterji, Nazimuddin was described for unquestionable loyalty to the

India
:

Short statured with a bulging pear-like figure, he was known for his insatiable appetite and his unfailing submission to the ... Britishers ... Dressed in British-styled Sherwani and breechers-like Churidar pajamas with a Fez cap and wearing little shoes, he carried a... cane of knob and represented an age and tradition.

— Joya Chatterji, Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition [22]: 80 

By 1934, the family had estates that covered almost 200,000 acres and was well spread over different districts of

$2,736,497.94 in 2017).[22]: 80  By the 1960s, the majority of estate was relocated from East Pakistan to the different areas of Pakistan, leaving very little of his estate in East.[22]
: 80 

He was appointed a Companion of the

George V, when he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE).[51]

In 1958, he was awarded the highest civilian award titled Nishan-e-Pakistan. Later by the Government of Pakistan, Nazimuddin has been honoured from time to time after his death. In Karachi, the residential areas, Nazimabad and North Nazimabad in suburbs of Karachi, had been named after his name. In Islamabad, there is a road intersection, Nazimuddin Road, that has been named in his honour; while in Dhaka, there is also a road after his namesake.[citation needed]

Commemorative postage stamp

In his honour, the Pakistan Post issued a commemorative stamp in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series in 1990.[52][53]

See also

Notes

  1. Urdu
    : خواجہ ناظِمُ الدّین

References

  1. ^ "Khawaja Nazimuddin profile". PakistanHerald.com website. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  2. OCLC 16879711
    .
  3. ^ "In Memory of the Three Leaders". 12 August 2016. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  4. ^ "The Official website of the Dhaka Nawab Family: Biographies". Archived from the original on 7 March 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  5. ISBN 978-1-134-26497-1
    . Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Khwaja Nazimuddin". Story of Pakistan website. June 2003. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  7. ISBN 978-0-8133-4880-3
    . Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  8. ISBN 978-0-8133-7905-0
    . Nazimuddin, a member of the wealthy landed nawab of Dhaka family, was related to an earlier nawab whose palace was the site of the founding of the Muslim League in 1906. The family is Kashmiri in origin, often associated with British rule, Urdu-speaking at home, rarely politically fluent in Bengali, and part of the national elite.
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-93-5150-320-0
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-85052-396-6
    . Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  11. ISBN 978-0-521-52328-8
    .
  12. ISBN 978-81-7835-808-6
    .
  13. ^ "দিল্লির সিংহাসনে প্রথম বাঙালি এবং তাঁর ভূমিকা | মতামত". 22 August 2015. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  14. ^ "Khawaja Nazimuddin - Former Governor General of Pakistan". 1 June 2003. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  15. ISBN 978-0-7146-4988-7
    .
  16. ^ a b Excerpts I. 1949. Archived from the original on 17 February 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  17. ISBN 978-1-317-36652-2
    . Retrieved 17 March 2017. Khawaja Nazimuddin ... was educated at a British Grammar School before attending first Aligarh Muslim University and then Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
  18. OCLC 03851870
    .
  19. ^ Watt, Andrew. "9 celebrities you might not know have a connection with Dunstable". Luton on Sunday. Archived from the original on 13 October 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  20. ^ Dacca, University of (1966). Report. Report. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  21. ISBN 978-81-7156-374-6
    .
  22. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-52328-8
    .
  23. ^ Pakistan: industry, agriculture, commerce. London: British Industries Fair. 1949. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  24. ISBN 978-0-8108-7453-4
    . Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  25. ISBN 978-984-33-2323-1
    .
  26. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8108-8024-5
    . Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  27. ISBN 978-0-19023-518-5
    . Khawaja Nazimuddin ... was Jinnah's main lieutenant in the province [Bengal] ... This loyal follower of Jinnah was a member of the [Muslim] League's executive body for ten year 1937–47).
  28. ISBN 978-1-909424-00-5
    . Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  29. ^ a b Indo-iranica (1991). Indo-iranica. Iran Society. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  30. ISBN 978-1-61039-317-1
    .
  31. ISBN 978-1-134-33274-8
    .
  32. ^
    ISBN 978-81-85119-79-3
    . Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  33. ^ "Khwaja Nazimuddin Appointed Acting Governor-General". Pakistan Affairs. Vol. 11, no. 7. 22 September 1948. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  34. ISBN 978-81-7099-674-3
    .
  35. ^ "Basic Principles Committee". Story of Pakistan. June 2003. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  36. ^ a b Noon, Feroze Khan (1966). From Memory. Karachi, Pakistan: Ferozsons, Noon. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  37. ISBN 978-0-19-062167-4. Archived
    from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  38. ISBN 978-81-207-0885-3. Archived
    from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  39. ISBN 978-1-84885-079-8
    .
  40. ISBN 0-300-10147-3
    . Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  41. ISBN 978-0-275-96832-8
    .
  42. ^ Wali Janjua, Raashid. "Secession of East Pakistan". The News International. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  43. ^
    ISBN 978-1-85168-327-7
    . Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  44. ISBN 978-1-85109-801-9. Archived
    from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  45. ISBN 978-0-19-547334-6
    .
  46. S2CID 155123002
    .
  47. ^
    ISBN 978-1-107-09111-5. Archived
    from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  48. ISBN 978-1-317-65794-1
    . Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  49. ISBN 978-0-19-547442-8
    . Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  50. ^ Qasmi, Ali Usman (16 December 2015). "1971 war: Witness to history". herald.dawn.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  51. ^ "No. 34056". The London Gazette. 1 June 1934. p. 3560.
  52. ^ "Postage Stamp of Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  53. ^ "The official web site of the Dhaka Nawab Family: Things You Should Know..." Dhaka Nawab Family (Official Web Site).
  • Current Events Biography, 1949

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
A.K. Fazlul Haque
 Prime Minister of Bengal
1943–1945 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief Minister of East Bengal
1947–1948 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor-General of Pakistan
1948–1951 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Pakistan
1951–1953 		Succeeded by
Muhammad Ali Bogra
Minister of Defence

1951–1953
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