For Serious Students of History Only - The Unusual Career of Mr. Mohammad Ali Bogra - writeup mine
A good though unusual career - Mohammed Ali of Bogra
From Constituent Assembly member to Ambassador, from Ambassador to Prime Minister, then back as Ambassador, after a few years Foreign Minister, dies in office. And when we dissect what he did in office the results are equally unique and facinating. So who was H. E. Mr. Mohammed Ali of Bogra?
Mohammad Ali Bogra was born in Barisal in 1909 to an aristocrat Nawabzada Altaf Ali with Muslim League connections, and grew up in his Bogra Estate. Bogra is a small city regarded as the nerve center of Northern Bangladesh. And so Bogra is not a surname but the name of a place. He is educated in the Presidency College in Calcutta University and is elected as a member of the Bengal legislative assembly in the 1937 election. In 1946, he joined the Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy's cabinet with the portfolios of finance, health. Upon the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. However, Mr. Jinnah's visit to Dhaka accompanied by his insistence on Urdu as the national language irks him and he requests Chief Minister Nazimuddin to argue on it with Jinnah with no success. Meanwhile, Jinnah hearing of this is annoyed but having regard for his family connections tells the foreign ministry headed by Sir Zafrulla Khan and Secretary Ikramullah to suggest a posting for him. They suggest Egypt but Mohammed Ali picks Myammar (which was not yet socialist then) and is posted as ambassador there. Apparently he made a mark in his brief stint in Rangoon, leading to his appointment to Canada in 1949 when the ambassador there died, and three years later in 1952 to the USA for which he is yet remembered.
Meanwhile at home Jinnah has passed away and the coterie which ostensibly led to Liaquat Ali Khan's assassination is in power led by Governor General Ghulam Mohammad with the support of Army Chief Ayub Khan and Finance Minister Ch. Mohammad Ali. Ghulam Muhammad is unhappy on his pious though ineffective Prime Minister Khwaja Nazimuddin who was also the second governor general after Jinnah and decides to send him home. A legal battle ensues and in their quest for a Bengali politician with a good track record, the eyes of the ruling junta, falls on Bogra who is called to take oath as prime minister. As has been explained above, he wasn't exactly a paratrooper in politics but had a good history behind him.
Things go smoothly for a while. Constitution making is his main priority and the bicameral legislature he proposed finally took shape in 1973. Anyway the glitch was that fearing that Ghulam Muhammad might dismiss him too, he hurriedly stripped the Governor General of this power through an Act of the Constitutional Assembly and went off to London and the USA. He was summoned back by the Governor General but he was anxious not to return as he may be arrested. However Gen Ayub Khan who happened to be near the scene of action at all times offered him his protection and he returned with him. There was immense security at Karachi airport and rumors were rife that the Prime Minister had been arrested.
A fuming Ghulam Muhammad who spent most of his time as a sick man in bed was hurling filthy abuses at everybody including Bogra, and he went out. As Ayub was leaving the room, the nurse caught him by the collar and he turned back seeing a smiling Governor General, who took out certain instruments from under his pillow and offered to make him head of Martial Law. Ayub refused only to take over a few years later. At least that was his version in Friends Not Masters. What actually transpired was a cabinet of talent including Gen Ayub Khan in uniform as Defence Minister - it would have been apparent to anyone as to which direction Pakistan was heading for ---
However, the cabinet of talent comprising of 14 personalities sounds like the who's who of Pakistan at that time. It included Pakistan's first and second presidents Maj Gen Syed Iskander Ali Mirza and General (not yet FM) Ayub Khan, Bogra's successor prime ministers Ch. Mohammad Ali and Suhrawardy (under whon he had served as minister in undivided Bengal), his predecessor in Washington M A H Ispahani, the last governor of East Pakistan Dr. A. M. Malik, future chief minister of West Pakistan Dr. Khan Sahib, a governor of Sindh Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, Mr. Ghayasuddin Pathan and Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur (from upper and lower Sindh, respectively), Syed Abid Hussain (made famous again by daughter Abida Hussain), Sardar Mumtaz Ali Khan and East Pakistan politician Mr. Abu Hussain Sarkar. Together with Bogra there were fourteen gentlemen, and though the latter had been stripped of some power he yet presided over possibly the strongest cabinet ever constituted in Pakistan.
Time magazine in its issue of November 1, 1954, entitled 'Friend in Trouble' reveals how "in Washington last week, the U.S. Government showered $105 million in economic aid and $50 million in military aid on Pakistan's likable Prime Minister Mohammed Ali. In him the U.S. recognized a friend; in his country the U.S. recognized an Asian nation steadfast in its resistance to Communism. Unfortunately, just at the climactic moment, Ali had to cut short his trip and hurry home. In Karachi 70 hours later, Mohammed Ali was all but stripped of power. "The Governor General has with deep regret come to the conclusion," read the official Pakistan communique, "that the constitutional machinery has broken down . . . The Constituent Assembly has lost the confidence of the people and can no longer function . . . Elections will be held as early as possible."
Constitutional machinery broken down sounds so very similar to our infamous Article 58-2-b. Meanwhile, Ali would remain in office with a "reconstituted" Cabinet, but real power would reside with the Governor General, a financial wizard of 59 named Ghulam Mohammad."
Anyway Bogra continued in office until August 1955, when his finance minister Ch. Muhammad Ali succeeded him under the growing undercurrents of the One Unit in West Pakistan. Normally that should have been the end of his career but he returned to his position as Pakistan's Ambassador to the USA where he remained till March 1959. He had retained the foreign affairs portfolio as prime minister and brought Mr. J A Rahim as foreign secretary. By March 1959, the Secretary General and Deputy CMLA Aziz Ahmed had become so unpopular with fellow civil servants that Ayub thought it best to send him as ambassador. Aziz would turn out to be one of the two ambassadors most unpopular with John F Kennedy.
To return back to our main character, after a few years in retirement, Ayub Khan returned the favor by inviting Mr. Bogra to join as foreign minister. The president had been impressed by the highly sophisticated defence of the Rawalpindi conspiracy accused by Mr. Manzur Qadir in the early fifties. He made him his first foreign minister and also lifted martial law early on his insistence. After the constitution of 1962 was approved Mazur Qadir, its main author, wanted to go back to his first love. He was appointed Chief Justice of the West Pakistan High Court in 1962. And so Bogra became the foreign minister for a little less than a year until he literally worked himself to death on 23rd January 1963.
May his soul rest in eternal peace!
The picture shows him in the White House with President Kennedy and Ambassador Aziz Ahmed.
Copyright: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Kazi
For Serious Students of History Only - The Unusual Career of Mr. Mohammad Ali Bogra - writeup mine
A good though unusual career - Mohammed Ali of Bogra
From Constituent Assembly member to Ambassador, from Ambassador to Prime Minister, then back as Ambassador, after a few years Foreign Minister, dies in office. And when we dissect what he did in office the results are equally unique and facinating. So who was H. E. Mr. Mohammed Ali of Bogra?
Mohammad Ali Bogra was born in Barisal in 1909 to an aristocrat Nawabzada Altaf Ali with Muslim League connections, and grew up in his Bogra Estate. Bogra is a small city regarded as the nerve center of Northern Bangladesh. And so Bogra is not a surname but the name of a place. He is educated in the Presidency College in Calcutta University and is elected as a member of the Bengal legislative assembly in the 1937 election. In 1946, he joined the Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy's cabinet with the portfolios of finance, health. Upon the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. However, Mr. Jinnah's visit to Dhaka accompanied by his insistence on Urdu as the national language irks him and he requests Chief Minister Nazimuddin to argue on it with Jinnah with no success. Meanwhile, Jinnah hearing of this is annoyed but having regard for his family connections tells the foreign ministry headed by Sir Zafrulla Khan and Secretary Ikramullah to suggest a posting for him. They suggest Egypt but Mohammed Ali picks Myammar (which was not yet socialist then) and is posted as ambassador there. Apparently he made a mark in his brief stint in Rangoon, leading to his appointment to Canada in 1949 when the ambassador there died, and three years later in 1952 to the USA for which he is yet remembered.
Meanwhile at home Jinnah has passed away and the coterie which ostensibly led to Liaquat Ali Khan's assassination is in power led by Governor General Ghulam Mohammad with the support of Army Chief Ayub Khan and Finance Minister Ch. Mohammad Ali. Ghulam Muhammad is unhappy on his pious though ineffective Prime Minister Khwaja Nazimuddin who was also the second governor general after Jinnah and decides to send him home. A legal battle ensues and in their quest for a Bengali politician with a good track record, the eyes of the ruling junta, falls on Bogra who is called to take oath as prime minister. As has been explained above, he wasn't exactly a paratrooper in politics but had a good history behind him.
Things go smoothly for a while. Constitution making is his main priority and the bicameral legislature he proposed finally took shape in 1973. Anyway the glitch was that fearing that Ghulam Muhammad might dismiss him too, he hurriedly stripped the Governor General of this power through an Act of the Constitutional Assembly and went off to London and the USA. He was summoned back by the Governor General but he was anxious not to return as he may be arrested. However Gen Ayub Khan who happened to be near the scene of action at all times offered him his protection and he returned with him. There was immense security at Karachi airport and rumors were rife that the Prime Minister had been arrested.
A fuming Ghulam Muhammad who spent most of his time as a sick man in bed was hurling filthy abuses at everybody including Bogra, and he went out. As Ayub was leaving the room, the nurse caught him by the collar and he turned back seeing a smiling Governor General, who took out certain instruments from under his pillow and offered to make him head of Martial Law. Ayub refused only to take over a few years later. At least that was his version in Friends Not Masters. What actually transpired was a cabinet of talent including Gen Ayub Khan in uniform as Defence Minister - it would have been apparent to anyone as to which direction Pakistan was heading for ---
However, the cabinet of talent comprising of 14 personalities sounds like the who's who of Pakistan at that time. It included Pakistan's first and second presidents Maj Gen Syed Iskander Ali Mirza and General (not yet FM) Ayub Khan, Bogra's successor prime ministers Ch. Mohammad Ali and Suhrawardy (under whon he had served as minister in undivided Bengal), his predecessor in Washington M A H Ispahani, the last governor of East Pakistan Dr. A. M. Malik, future chief minister of West Pakistan Dr. Khan Sahib, a governor of Sindh Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, Mr. Ghayasuddin Pathan and Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur (from upper and lower Sindh, respectively), Syed Abid Hussain (made famous again by daughter Abida Hussain), Sardar Mumtaz Ali Khan and East Pakistan politician Mr. Abu Hussain Sarkar. Together with Bogra there were fourteen gentlemen, and though the latter had been stripped of some power he yet presided over possibly the strongest cabinet ever constituted in Pakistan.
Time magazine in its issue of November 1, 1954, entitled 'Friend in Trouble' reveals how "in Washington last week, the U.S. Government showered $105 million in economic aid and $50 million in military aid on Pakistan's likable Prime Minister Mohammed Ali. In him the U.S. recognized a friend; in his country the U.S. recognized an Asian nation steadfast in its resistance to Communism. Unfortunately, just at the climactic moment, Ali had to cut short his trip and hurry home. In Karachi 70 hours later, Mohammed Ali was all but stripped of power. "The Governor General has with deep regret come to the conclusion," read the official Pakistan communique, "that the constitutional machinery has broken down . . . The Constituent Assembly has lost the confidence of the people and can no longer function . . . Elections will be held as early as possible."
Constitutional machinery broken down sounds so very similar to our infamous Article 58-2-b. Meanwhile, Ali would remain in office with a "reconstituted" Cabinet, but real power would reside with the Governor General, a financial wizard of 59 named Ghulam Mohammad."
Anyway Bogra continued in office until August 1955, when his finance minister Ch. Muhammad Ali succeeded him under the growing undercurrents of the One Unit in West Pakistan. Normally that should have been the end of his career but he returned to his position as Pakistan's Ambassador to the USA where he remained till March 1959. He had retained the foreign affairs portfolio as prime minister and brought Mr. J A Rahim as foreign secretary. By March 1959, the Secretary General and Deputy CMLA Aziz Ahmed had become so unpopular with fellow civil servants that Ayub thought it best to send him as ambassador. Aziz would turn out to be one of the two ambassadors most unpopular with John F Kennedy.
To return back to our main character, after a few years in retirement, Ayub Khan returned the favor by inviting Mr. Bogra to join as foreign minister. The president had been impressed by the highly sophisticated defence of the Rawalpindi conspiracy accused by Mr. Manzur Qadir in the early fifties. He made him his first foreign minister and also lifted martial law early on his insistence. After the constitution of 1962 was approved Mazur Qadir, its main author, wanted to go back to his first love. He was appointed Chief Justice of the West Pakistan High Court in 1962. And so Bogra became the foreign minister for a little less than a year until he literally worked himself to death on 23rd January 1963.
May his soul rest in eternal peace!
The picture shows him in the White House with President Kennedy and Ambassador Aziz Ahmed.
Copyright: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Kazi