It was almost 40 years ago that we lost major part of our country. Every year we write a few articles on that day and then forget it for the next year. We are not ready to learn the causes of this tragedy. East Pakistan was 54% of the total population of Pakistan, but was ruled by the minority. Why AK Fazal-e-Haq (Sher-e-Bengal) mover of 1940 Pakistan resolution at Lahore, was declared traitor? HS SUHRAWARDY, the mover of 1946 Delhi Resolution declared traitor, immediately after 14 August 1947. Many of the Books written about Fall of Dhaka do not give the whole truth. Lt Gen Kamal Matin in his Book ‘Tragedy of Errors’ and most of the books written after 1971 war in Pakistan could not write the truth firstly because the First Civilian CMLA himself was part of the conspiracy to dismember Pakistan. The so-called ISLAMIC writers/intellectuals always wrote negatively about the Culture and Language of Bengal. Everyone has ignored the fact that H S Suhrawardy as CM of Bengal negotiated for united Bengal with the Congress on the Instructions of Quaid e Azam. HS Suhrawardy, who had correctly remarked, “English, PIA and ‘He,’ were the only links between East and West Pakistan.” Those journalists or writers who sup-ported the transfer of Power to Sh Mujib were termed as Traitors. There is a need to study the life of this great Man of United Pakistan, Mr. H S SUHRAWARDY with an open mind.
5 Dec 2011 was the 48th death anniversary of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy; Not a single newspaper in Pakistan carried any news. I remember when I went to East Pakistan in 1966; every other shop in Dhaka, Commilla and Jessore displayed his pictures. He was very popular with People from all occupations in East Pakistan. In the West Pakistan, he was projected as Pro Congress links with Gandhi. No one ever bothered to learn the facts. No worthwhile written material was available about his life except in Government propaganda books, until the publication of his biography 24 years after his death in 1987.
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was Born in Medinipore in the west Bengal on September 8, 1892. After finishing his education at Calcutta Alia Madrasa, he attended St. Xavier’s College, wherefrom he received a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours in Sciences. To fulfill his mother’s earnest request, he did another M.A., in Arabic Language and Literature from Calcutta University before his departure for England in 1913. He studied Sciences at Oxford University and received a Bachelor degree with Honours in Science. He also studied Law and Jurisprudence at Oxford University. He completed his Bar-at-Law from Gray’s Inn in 1918. He started his law practice at Calcutta High Court immediately after his return from England.
Mr. Suhrawardy started his political career in 1920, with Khilafat movement. In 1924, he was elected as the Deputy Mayor of Calcutta Municipal Corporation (along with C.R. Das as the Mayor), and held that position until 1927. He worked tirelessly during the late spring and early summer months of 1926 to put an end to Hindu-Muslim riots in Calcutta. The leaders and newspapers of the Hindu community in Calcutta targeted him for his defense in the Courts of law for the falsely accused Muslim rioters.
By the year 1927, he emerged as the most vocal and articulate defender of Muslim rights in the city of Calcutta; Organized numerous associations, labor unions, and trade unions in Calcutta. He was instrumental in organizing the All-India Khilafat Conference and All-Bengal Muslim Conference in 1928. As one of the emerging Muslim leaders of India, H.S. Suhrawardy was very critical about the lopsided recommendations of the Simon Commission Report. He was ardent critic of the Nehru (Motilal) Commission Report. He was actively involved in holding of the Conferences of the All-India Muslim Volunteers in 1931-32.
With prominent Muslim leaders of Bengal, he formed Independent Muslim Party (IMP) in early 1936, and was elected its first general secretary. However, on the insistence of the provincial and All-India Muslim League leaders, he merged (IMP) in the later part of 1936 with the Bengal Provincial Muslim League (BPML). H.S. Suhrawardy became the first general secretary of the BPML in 1936. From the end of 1936 through the end of 1943, he performed a yeoman’s task in the process of popularizing the mori-bund Muslim League party and the concept of Pakistan among the Muslim masses throughout the nooks and corners of the then Bengal. He played a dominant role in the process of recruiting a group of dedicated and capable party workers and later in the formation of the Muslim National Guards under the sponsorship of the BPML.
He remained elected member of the Bengal Legislative Council ever since 1921. During the 1937 and 1946 elections, he won from two constituencies. He got Kh Nazimuddin elected from the second seat, which he vacated after the 1937 elections. He was a seasoned parliamentarian in the true sense of the term. His speeches in the legislative assemblies both before and after the partition are considered as classics in legislative debates.
His relentless fight throughout his post-partition political life for establishing a federally anchored parliamentary form of government in Pakistan owed much to the robust legislative training and experience that he had gained during his pre-partition political years from 1921 to 1947 in the Bengal Legislative Council and the Bengal Legislative Assembly. After the formation of the Muslim League and Proja Party coalition ministry in Bengal under the leadership A.K. Fazlul Huq, H.S. Suhrawardy became, minister for labour. He was the most active member in Khwaja Nazimuddin cabinet, which was formed after the collapse of Sher e Bengal cabinet in 1943.
H.S. Suhrawardy personally enlisted the support of industrial workers of Bengal in favour of the Pakistan movement. His popularity among the students and younger generation had motivated many to be the most vocal supporters of the Pakistan movement. Both H.S. Suhrawardy and Abul Hashim were in the forefront for a landslide victory of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League during the 1946 elections.
As the Chief Minister of Bengal in 1946, H.S. Suhrawardy shouldered the responsibility of lending logistic support to the Pakistan Movement. He was personally requested by Quaid E Azam, to move the controversial Amendment to the original version of the historic 1940 Lahore Resolution at the Delhi Convention of the Muslim League Legislators in 1946.
H.S. Suhrawardy, proposal for “Sovereign Bengal” did not gain much ground with the HINDUS because his reputation as a staunch defender of the Muslim rights in Bengal. His role before, during, and after the 1946 riots in Calcutta to safeguard the interest and welfare of common Muslims, had seriously eroded his credibility among the leaders and masses of the Hindu community and Congress. With the exception of S C Bose, his idea of “Sovereign United Bengal” as a last minute effort to stop the partition of Bengal in 1947 was not well received by the religiously imbued Congress leaders. By that time, the Hindu Mahashabha leaders and the Congress leadership in Bengal were already committed to the division of Bengal on communal lines. Therefore, there is little wonder that the Congress-led champions of “Akhanda Bharat” and Hindu Mahashabha-led exponents of the “divided” Bengal were not at all-ing to lend any support to his proposal for sovereign Bengal.
Unfortunately, the concept of a separate sovereign Bengal, which was aimed to save the lives of thou-sands of Muslims in Calcutta, was not appreciated by both the top leadership of Congress and Muslim league, who were bent upon Partition of Bengal. Few realize that at the risk of his political Career he took the bold decision to leave the Muslim League meeting in Karachi on 8 August 1947 to rush to Calcutta, as he was still the CM of united Bengal to the call of GANDHI to save the lives of Muslims. As against the Punjab leaders, who failed to come forward and save mil-lions of valuable lives lost.
Instead of recognizing his popularity, political stature, commitment, and organizational skills, and his contribution to the Pakistan movement at a critical juncture, The Muslim League leadership consciously patronized un popular leader Khwaja Nazimuddin. Kh Nazimuddin was nominated the parliamentary leader of the Muslim League legislators in East Bengal on August 5, 1947 (only 9 days before Pakistan was born!). HS Suhrawardy was still popular CM of United Bengal. The Muslim League Leadership feared his popularity with the masses. With the selection of a conservative and dis-credited leader of the BPML for assuming the role of the Chief Minister of East Bengal (East Pakistan) over a progressive and dynamic leader of H.S. Suhrawardy caliber and stature, the leadership of the new nation of Pakistan had tacitly sealed the political fate of the last prime minister of undivided Bengal.
Once Pakistan was a reality on August 14, 1947, the goal of Khwaja Nazimuddin and his coterie in the provincial Muslim League was to keep the doors of the party closed to the most progressive and dynamic members of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League. The followers of both H.S. Suhrawardy and Abul Hashim were singled out to be excluded even from the primary membership of the Muslim League. H.S. Suhrawardy was literally banished from the political scene of Pakistan by the leadership both at the center in Karachi and in the province of East Bengal. As the Chief Minister of East Bengal, Khwaja Nazimuddin lost no time in characterizing him as an “Indian agent” and an “enemy of Pakistan.” He was quickly removed from the membership of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. The East Bengal Government had also prohibited him from entering or addressing public meetings in any place of East Bengal.
Despite persistent attacks from the reactionary forces of the ruling Muslim League, H.S. Suhrawardy re-emerged in Pakistan’s political scene as a champion of liberal democracy. He was one of the builders of opposition politics in the early years of Pakistan. Many of his followers took an active role in the formation of both the East Pakistan Student League (EPSL) in early 1948 and East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (EPAML) in mid-June-1949. These pro-democracy organizations were in the vanguard of all of the phases (1948-52) of the Bengali Language Movement. In 1953, H.S. Suhrawardy, in collabo-ration with A.K. Fazlul Huq and Maulana Bhasani, was responsible for forming Jugtu Front (United Front). His organizational skills and personal charisma significantly contributed to the landslide victory of the United Front over the ruling Muslim League in the 1954 general election in East Bengal. The Ruling Muslim League was wiped out and got only 9 seats. Gen Sikander Mirza an ICS officer was appointed Governor East Bengal to undo this Election Victory.
In spite of all these high handed tactics by the Ruling Muslim League, H.S. Suhrawardy emerged as the most credible voice in sup-port of framing a Constitution with the provisions for civil liberties and a full-blown parliamentary model of liberal democracy in Pakistan. He managed to get a foothold in the Punjabi and Mohajir dominated decision-making process of the central government, when he became the Law Minister in Mohammad All Bogra’s Cabinet, and he held that position from December 20, 1954, through August, 1955.
He was the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly of Pakistan from August 11, 1955 through September 1, 1956. His contribution to the making of the 1956 Constitution of Pakistan was substantial. He is the one who convinced the people and leaders of East Pakistan for the Parity Formula. He became Prime Minister of Pakistan from September 12, 1956 through October 11,1957.
The 1956 Constitution of Pakistan was suspended and Martial Law was promulgated by President Iskander Mirza (a descendent of Mir Jaffer Ali Khan) on October 7,1958. The newly installed dictator of Pakistan knew well that H.S. Suhrawardy was an obstacle in the design and implementation of his tailor-made Constitution. Ayub Khan quietly approached him to cooper-ate with the Constitution making process of the military regime. Although the constitution making and democracy building were his chief concerns during his political career in Pakistan, he bluntly refused to lend any stamp of legitimacy to the illegitimate dictatorial regime of Ayub Khan. As a dedicated champion of genuine parliamentary democracy in Pakistan, he refused to endorse Ayub Khan’s illegal seizure of state power. This was HS Suhrawardy a true democrate.
Mr. Qayyum served six rulers of Pakistan as PRO, speechwriter and adviser on sensitive correspondence. He wrote a book “Three prime ministers and three Presidents. “His chapter on Mr. Suhrawardy tenure as Prime Minister makes a very interesting study. To quote from his book.
“Suhrawardy commitment to Pakistan as a single, united nation was an article of faith with him. His patriotism could never be questioned. “While addressing a mam-moth public meeting at Paltan Maidan in Dhaka on 26 March 1957, Suhrawardy said, “There is no difference between East and West Pakistan. We are Pakistanis first and Pakistanis last. It is wrong to say that West Pakistan has been oppressing East Pakistan. The same set of people who have oppressed you, have oppressed West Pakistan. We are one. Our prestige is founded on the sense of unity. My one success has been that I have removed mutual hatred from Pakistan’.”
Mr. Qayyum further adds, “It is my firm conviction, that had Suhrawardy not got caught up in Pakistan’s ‘political phenomenon,’ and been allowed to pursue his cardinal objective of holding a general election, as he stated on assuming the office of prime minister, the nation would have been spared the ordeal of successive military regimes and the separation of East Pakistan. Mr. Suhrawardy was a great leader with qualities of head and heart, with an informal and human approach to life, complete indifference to vanity and pomp. He could talk with ease to the lowliest in his country and the highest in world councils. Mr. Qayyum cites two instances, which showed dauntless courage in the face of physical danger:-
Mr. Suhrawardy decided to address a public meeting in Lahore’s Mochi Gate where the atmosphere was very hostile and the crowd (according to intelligence reports) ready for violence because of his avowed advocacy of joint electorates. Governor M.A. Gurmani advised him against going there, as he could not guarantee the PM’s safety and would not like to be held responsible for physical harm to his person. Mr. Suhrawardy asked for pen and paper and wrote a signed note: “Despite the Governor’s advice to the contrary I am attending the Mochi Gate meeting. Should any harm come to me, including losing my life, he should not be held responsible.” Then, handing this note to an Aghast Gurmani, he drove off. At Mochi Gate, the air rang with shouts and abuses. Ignoring the hail of stones and invective, the PM took his stand firmly at the microphone and said that in a democracy every citizen had the right to express his views. If anyone in the crowd wanted to speak, first he was welcome to take the microphone. When no one came up, he began to speak and soon the shouting subsided. Miraculously, when he ended his speech after 40 minutes, he was greeted with “Suhrawardy zindabad!”
The second instance was when public opinion in the country was against the invasion of the Suez Canal by Britain, France and Israel. A violent crowd of Karachi University students marched to the PM House and wanted to go inside, and refused to go back. On hearing their shouts, Mr. Suhrawardy came to the gate and asked for a police van fitted with a loudspeaker. He climbed on to the roof of the van, microphone in hand. The guards did not want to open the gate for him but he ordered them to step aside. On seeing him come out like this there was a stunned silence. He spoke to the students for nearly half an hour and explained the situation to them in logical words. So persuasive and impressive was his speech that the boys dispersed peacefully.
H.S. Suhrawardy was banned from politics through the imposition of the infamous Elective Bodies Disqualification Order (EBDO) on August 7,1959. He was arrested on January 30, 1962 and put in a solitary confinement in the Central jail of Karachi without any trial on concocted charges of “anti-state activities” under the 1952 Security of Pakistan Act. Instead of bowing down to Ayub Khan’s smearing and torturing tactics, he decided to challenge the legality of the patently false and baseless allegations. H.S. Suhrawardy was thus released from jail on August 19,1962.
After his release from jail, he launched an anti-Ayub movement in both wings of Pakistan for the restoration of democracy. To him, Ayub Khan’s Basic Democracy was nothing but a mockery in the name of democracy. Instead of becoming a collaborator of a military dictator, he decided to be the most authentic dissenting voice against the then diabolical regime. He successfully enlisted support from all pro-democratic forces of Pakistan, and he formed the National Democratic Front (NDF) in October 1962 to dislodge the undemocratic regime of a military dictator. His immediate goal was to re-establish parliamentary democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan through the restoration of the 1956 Constitution. He worked round the clock, which adversely affected his health, suffered a severe Heart Attack for which had to go abroad for treatment.
While recovering from his heart ailment, he died on December 5, 1963 in a hotel room in Beirut under mysterious circumstances. He was buried in Dhaka on December 8, 1963 beside Sher-e-Bengal A.K. Fazlul Huq’s grave, adjacent to the then Race Course Maidan. At his funeral in the grounds of Dhaka high court, there was literally a sea of humanity present to pay their homage. Many glowing tributes were paid for his qualities as a person and a political leader, but what his famous and trusted colleague Abul Hashim said about him was the most striking. “He died a magnificent pauper, receiving the burial of an emperor.”
He died at a time when the dissenting political forces in Pakistan were gaining ground toward building-up an effective opposition against the military dictatorship of Ayub Khan. The passing away of this political doyen at that critical moment created a void in the core leadership of the resistance movement against the autocratic dictator-ship in Pakistan. He was the most articulate voice for introduction of adult franchise and restoration of parliamentary democracy in Pakistan in an era when a military dictator was in the process of consolidating his grip over the political process through the introduction of the so-called basic democracy.
Many questions arise in one’s mind, which convinces the patriotic Pakistanis that right from the early days of our independence the leaders at the helm of affairs wanted only yes men under them to rule the new country. Separation of East Pakistan and now the situation in Balochistan confirms that any dissenting voice is to be treated as traitor? How we can justify that a person due to whose untiring efforts ML won 115 seats in 1946 elections in Bengal. This enabled Muslim League to become the majority party in the Bengal Assembly thus strengthening the case for creation of Pakistan. HS Suhrawardy became the Chief Minister of United Bengal (54% of the entire Muslim population) after the 1946 elections. He was the author and mover of the Delhi Resolution of 1946 that made the amendment for a United Pakistan.
On 5th August 1947, Khwaja Nazim ud din an unpopular leader was nominated as new CM of East Pakistan at Karachi. HS SUHRAWARDY being a popular CM of United Bengal was ignored? Why it is a mystery? Earlier Quaid e Azam had personally given task to Suhrawardy to negotiate for a united Bengal / Assam as well as retaining CALCUTTA as part of EAST Bengal. Suhrawardy left Karachi on 9 August 1947, after learning about a scheme for Massacre of Muslims in Calcutta, to meet Mr. Gandhi to save the Muslim Lives irrespective of threat to his personal and Political life. The Leadership of AIML took arbitral action against him by banning his entry to Pakistan and enacted an order that any one not having residence in Pakistan would lose his seat in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.
He came to Dhaka in March 1948 to take residence there. The federal government directed the CM East Pakistan Khawaja Nazimuddin to ban his entry into East Pakistan and extradite him. The orders were issued by none other than Kh Nazimuddin who him-self got elected to Bengal Assembly in 1937 through H S Suhrawardy, who had won on two seats and sur-rendered his second seat. IG East Pakistan Zakir Hussain himself delivered the orders. Zakir Hussain was against him because he did not give him out of turn promotion as CM of United Bengal. ( Mr. Zakir Hussain was rescued by 3 com-mando battalion of Pakistan Army in Chittagong during April 1971, ALLAH has his own ways ).
After the Death of his father, Mr. HS Suhrawardy came to Karachi in 1949. The Federal Government directed the Karachi Bar not to enroll him as lawyer. The Bureaucracy led by Ch Muhammad Ali implemented the order. He went to Punjab and got himself enrolled as a lawyer in the then Montgomery district Bar and stayed in the house of Nawab Iftikhar Hussain Mamdot at Lahore to start his practice. His first case in Pakistan was to Defend Nawab Iftikhar Mamdot. Later he was one of the Main defence Lawyers in 1951 Conspiracy case. (Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote a poem in Praise of Mr. HS Suhrawardy, the only one in his life.) These and other such reasons laid the foundation of Bangladesh. H S Suhrawardy was appointed neither the Prime Minister nor CM of East Pakistan, in spite of being the leader of 54% Muslim population of Pakistan and sitting Chief Minister of United Bengal. The Government knew about the independent mind-set of H S Suhrawardy, who was not acceptable to the then Establishment. The next nail in the coffin of United Pakistan was declaring Urdu as National Language at Dhaka, a proposal not acceptable to the people of East Pakistan, who were proud of their language and rich culture.
There is another incident, which speaks of West Pakistan Bureaucracy attitude towards an independent-minded East Bengal Prime Minister. Mr. Altaf Gohar in his interview to Javed Chaudary confessed that as DC/DM Karachi he did not allow Mr. Suhrawardy the Prime Minister to address a public meeting of Awami League on 14th August but instead gave the same ground to Muslim League on the same day. The Prime Minister left for Dhaka a day earlier to address /hold the public meeting in East Pakistan. At the Airport before his departure, he only informed Mr. Altaf Gohar that he was going to Dhaka because the DC/DM Karachi would not allow the Prime Minister of Pakistan to hold a public meeting on the Pakistan’s Independence Day. In spite of this affront, the Prime Minister did not take any action against the DC/DM! He fought for democracy and the cause of united Pakistan until his death in Beirut.
Now is the time for us in Pakistan to give him his due recognition by celebrating his 50 years of death in 2013. The government should name a major road in the main Blue Area in Islamabad as H S Suhrawardy Avenue. Punjab, Karachi, Peshawar, Baluchistan and Quaid e Azam universities should institute a chair after him and carry out research about his life, his achievements, and his works.
References
Humood ur Rehman commis-sion report; Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy by Shaista lkramullah; Memoirs of HS Suhrawardy by Talukdar ,oxford; The great divide, HV HODSON; Pakistan in search Of Identity by Mubarik ali; Gai Dinnoy kay SOORAJ by Javed Ch; East Pakistan to Bangla desh, Days Decisive by Serajuddin hussain; Three Presidents, three prime min-ister by Abdul Qayyum; The separation of East Pakistan by Hassan zaheer; Hum Nafus by masud mufti; Quaid e Azam as I knew him by MAH Isphani; Divide and quit by Penderel Moon; Transfer of power papers; Alama Mashriqi’s speech at Nasir Bagh Lahore in 1954/56.
