HIS-103
Lecture-8
Foundation of East Pakistan Awami Muslim League in 1949
Introduction
• The Bangladesh Awami League is a major political party
in Bangladesh
• Previously, named as East Pakistan Awami Muslim League, it
was founded in Rose Garden Palace, Dhaka, on 23 June 1949
by Bengali nationalists Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Shawkat
Ali, Yar Mohammad Khan, Shamsul Huq, Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman and joined later by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Introduction
• The East Pakistan Awami Muslim League was established as
the Bengali alternative to the domination of the Muslim
League in Pakistan and over centralization of the government
• The party gained massive popular support in East Pakistan
• It led the forces of Bengali nationalism in the struggle
against West Pakistan’s military and political establishment
• The party under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the
founding father of Bangladesh, led the struggle for
independence, first through massive populist and civil
disobedience movements, such as the Six Point Movement and
1971 Non-Cooperation Movement, and then during
the Bangladesh Liberation War
History
• During the post Mughal era no political parties
existed in the area known as Bangla or Banga
• After the British arrived and established government,
the system of political representation (though much
later) was adopted in the area of Bangla (Bengal) or
introduced in Bengal
• After the official departure of the British in 1947, the
area known as East Bengal became a part of Pakistan,
and the Muslims were led by its founder Muhammad
Ali Jinnah and his Muslim League party
History
• In 1948, there was rising agitation in East Pakistan against the
omission of Bengali script from coins, stamps and government
exams
• Thousands of students, mainly from the University of Dhaka,
protested in Dhaka and clashed with security forces
• In March, senior Bengali political leaders were attacked whilst
leading protests demanding that Bengali be declared an
official language in Pakistan
• Amidst the rising discontent in East Pakistan, Jinnah visited
Dhaka and announced that Urdu would be sole state language
of Pakistan given its significance to Islamic nationalism in
South Asia
• The announcement caused an emotional uproar in East
Pakistan
History
• The resentment was fuelled by rising discrimination against
Bengalis in government, industry, bureaucracy and the armed
forces and the dominance of the Muslim League
• The Bengalis constituted the ethnic majority of Pakistan’s
population and Urdu was unknown to them
• The rich literary heritage of the Bengali language and the deep
rooted secular culture of Bengali society led to a strong sense
of linguistic and cultural nationalism amongst the people of
East Pakistan
• The only significant language in Pakistan not written in
the Persian-Arabic script was Bengali
• Bengali nationalism began to take root within the Muslim
League and the party’s Bengali members began to take a stand
for recognition
Formation of East Pakistan Awami Muslim League
• On 23 June 1949, Bengali nationalists from East Pakistan broke away from
the Muslim League and established the East Pakistan Awami Muslim
League
• The goal was democracy.
• The objective was to reassure the people of Pakistan, in both wings of the
country, that they had a political alternative to fall back on in their yearning
for pluralistic politics.
• Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Shamsul Huq were elected the
first President and General Secretary of the party respectively
• Ataur Rahman Khan was elected the Vice-President, Yar Mohammad
Khan was elected as the treasurer, while Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, Khondokar Mushtaque Ahmed and A. K. Rafiqul Hussain were
elected the party’s first Joint Secretaries
Formation of East Pakistan Awami Muslim
League
• The party was formed to champion the rights of the masses in Pakistan
against the powerful feudal establishment led by the Muslim League
• However, due to its strength stemming from the discriminated Bengali
population of Pakistan’s eastern wing, the party eventually became
associated and identified with East Pakistan
Suhrawardy and Awami League
• Suhrawardy initiated the thought that the ideal of political representation
under religious identity was no longer prudent after independence and the
Muslim League might be named as Pakistan League
• He claimed that Muslim League’s objective of struggling to form a nation
state had been achieved therefore political representation should continue
focusing on nationalism based on Pakistani sovereignty
• Suhrawardy’s suggestion was not accepted
• He parted ways with the party to be reestablished as the Awami League in
1949.
• This was to serve the first shock to the country’s political structure.
• In 1953, the party’s council meeting voted to drop the word “Muslim” to
accommodate the other minorities and show that it was a non-religious
party and attract wider support from the secular middle class.
Events of 1952
• In 1952, the Awami Muslim League and its student wing
played an instrumental role in the Bengali Language
Movement, during which Pakistani security forces fired
upon thousands of protesting students demanding Bengali
be declared an official language of Pakistan and famously
killing a number of students including Abdus Salam, Rafiq
Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar
• The events of 1952 are widely seen by historians today as a
turning point in the history of Pakistan and the Bengali
people, as it was the starting point of the Bengali nationalist
struggle that eventually culminated in the creation of
Bangladesh in 1971
Events of 1954
• In the run-up to the East Bengal Legislative
Assembly Elections in 1954, the Awami League
took the lead in negotiations in forming a pan-
Bangla political alliance including the Krishak
Praja Party, Nizam-e-Islam and Ganatantrik Dal.
• The party also took the historic decision to adopt
the traditional Bengali boat, which signified the
attachment to rural Bengal, as its election
symbol
Events of 1956
• In September 1956, the Awami League formed a coalition
with the Republican Party to secure a majority in the
new National Assembly of Pakistan and took over the
central government.
• Awami League President Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
became the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
• Suhrawardy pursued a reform agenda to reduce the long-
standing economic disparity between East and West
Pakistan, greater representation of Bengalis in the
Pakistani civil and armed services and he unsuccessfully
attempted to alleviate the food shortage in the country
Conclusion
• The All Pakistan Awami Muslim League or the East Pakistan Awami
Muslim League was formed as a breakaway faction of the “All Pakistan
Muslim League” in 1949, within two years of the formation of Pakistan
• The word Muslim was dropped in 1953 and it became the secular Awami
League.
• Christopher Jaffrelot, author of A History of Pakistan and its Origins, writes
“This (Awami League) party went on to unite all the nationalists, whether
they came from the left, the centre or the right, on a common platform”.
• During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, most of the Awami League
members joined the Provisional Government of Bangladesh and Mukti
Bahini guerrillas to fight against the Pakistani army and the name
“Bangladesh Awami League” was eventually settled upon
• The most common mascot and electoral symbol for the party has been the
boat, which signified the attachment to rural Bengal
