Nawab Khwaja Habibullah Bahadur (26 April 1895 – 21 November 1958) was the fifth

Nawab of Dhaka The Nawab of Dhaka (Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of ''na ...

. He was the son of Nawab Sir

Khwaja Salimullah Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur (7 June 1871 – 16 January 1915) was the fourth Nawab of Dhaka and one of the leading Muslim politicians during the British rule in India. In 1906, the Muslim League was officially founded at the educationa ...

Bahadur. Under Habibullah's rule, the

Dhaka Nawab Estate The Nawab of Dhaka ( Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of ''n ...

went into decline until its actual relinquishment in 1952 by the East Pakistan Estates Acquisition Act.

Biography

Habibullah was born on 26 April 1895 in Dhaka. His father was Nawab Sir

Bahadur of the

Dhaka Nawab family The Nawab of Dhaka ( Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of ''n ...

. The Nawab family traced its ancestry to

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...

merchants who settled in Bengal for trade. Habibullah went to school at St. Paul's School in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nep ...

, and later continued his education in England. In 1915, at the death of his father, he succeeded as the Nawab of Dhaka. In 1918, Habibullah joined the Bengali Platoon of the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which cou ...

. He served in the British mandate of Mesopotamia as an honorary lieutenant. He served in Dhaka district board and Dhaka municipality board. He took part in the

Khilafat Movement The Khilafat Movement (1919–24), also known as the Caliphate movement or the Indian Muslim movement, was a pan-Islamist political protest campaign launched by Muslims of British India led by Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Hakim ...

. He was the representative of Dhaka in the Bengal legislative council from 1924 till 1932. Habibullah had supported the 1932 communal award proposal of the British Raj. In 1935 he was the president of the Bengal Muslim League and member of the executive of the All India Muslim league. From 1937 to 1941 he was a minister in the cabinet of

A. K. Fazlul Huq Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq ( bn, আবুল কাশেম ফজলুল হক, ur, ; 26October 1873 — 27 April 1962), popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla (''Lion of Bengal''), was a British Indian and Pakistani lawyer and writer who present ...

. He joined the second cabinet of Haq against the wishes of the Muslim League for which he was suspended from the league till 1946. In 1946, he stood in the assembly election of Bengal as an independent candidate but suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of his relative, Khwaja Khairuddin who was on a

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

ticket. Habibullah presided over the committee that organized the Pakistan Independence Day celebrations in Dhaka, and, on 15 August 1947, raised the flag of Pakistan at

Lalbagh Fort Lalbagh Fort ( bn, লালবাগ কেল্লা) is a fort in the old city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its name is derived from its neighborhood Lalbagh, which means Red Garden. The term Lalbagh refers to reddish and pinkish architecture from ...

. After the partition of India he held the position of vice-president in East Pakistan Muslim League. During his reign as the Nawab of Dhaka, the estate continued the decline that had begun under his father.

Personal life and death

Habibullah was married to Ajmiri Begum, Shahriar Khanam (d. 1931), Khurshidi Begum, Amirun Bibi and Ayesha Begum (d. 2008). He had a total of five sons and two daughters. Habibullah's cousin,

Khwaja Nazimuddin Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin ( bn, খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন; ur, ; 19 July 1894 – 22 October 1964) was a Pakistani politician and one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan. He is noted as being the first Bengali to ha ...

, was the Prime Minister of Pakistan during 1951–1953. In later days, he retired from politics because of health related reasons. He left the

Ahsan Manzil Ahsan Manzil is the erstwhile official residential palace and seat of the Nawab of Dhaka. The building is situated at Kumartoli along the banks of the Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Construction was started in 1859 and was completed in ...

Palace and resided in another of the royal residences, Green House, in Dhaka's Paribagh area. He died on 21 November 1958 and was buried alongside his father at the Nawab family graveyard in Begumbazar in Dhaka.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Habibullah, Khwaja 1895 births 1958 deaths 20th-century Indian Muslims Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India Nawabs of Dhaka Pakistani people of Kashmiri descent All India Muslim League members 20th-century Bengalis British Indian Army personnel Indian independence activists from Bangladesh Bengal MLAs 1937–1945