Husein Shaheed Suhrawardy
Birth:1892
Death:1963
H. S. Suhrawardy was the fifth Prime Minister of Pakistan, appointed in September 12, 1956. He was born in Midnapore, West Bengal, graduating with honors in Science from St. Caviares College. In 1913, he obtained his Masters degree in Arabic from Calcutta University. He received a B. C. L. degree from Oxford University and was called to the Bar from Grey's Inn in 1918.
In 1921, he was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly. For a brief period, he served as Secretary, Calcutta Khilafat Committee. In 1923, he was appointed Deputy Leader of the Swaraj Party. The following year he was elected Deputy Mayor of Calcutta. In 1936, he became the General Secretary of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League. After the 1937 elections, Suhrawardy was appointed Minister for Labor and Commerce. After serving briefly in the Fazl-ul-Haq's Ministry, he joined Khawaja Nazimuddin's Ministry in 1943 as Minister for Civil Supplies.
Suhrawardy's political preference was for the emergence of a united, independent Bengal but this was anathema to the Congress Party and Indian interests. After the 1946 elections he led the Muslim League Government in Bengal - the only one of its type in the Sub-continent (Punjab was led by the pro-British Unionist Party of Sir Sikander Hayat Khan).
In 1949, he formed the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League. In 1953, Suhrawardy teamed up with A. K. Fazl-ul-Haq and Maulana Bhashani to establish the United Front in Dhaka. Their party won the 1954 general elections. The same year he joined Muhammad Ali Bogra's Ministry as Law Minister. His subsequent tenure as Prime Minister lasted 13 months.
Following the army coup led by General Ayub Khan in 1958 H.S. Suhrawardy was barred from political life and arrested in September 1962. On release he led the National Democratic Front but his fatal heart attack in 1963 paved the way for the re-assertion of the Awami League under Shaikh Mujibur Rahman.
Compiled by:M A Sherif