Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan (M. T. Khan; March 1889 – 19 August 1963)
was the Speaker of Pakistan's
Constituent Assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
from 1948 to 1954 and
National Assembly of Pakistan between 1962 and 1963.
Early life
Khan was born to a
farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...
with only three
acres of land.
He completed his master's in English from
presidency college in 1913 and LLB in 1915 from Rippon college and started his legal profession in
Faridpur.
[ making him the first Muslim from Faridpur district to complete master's degree.]
Career
Khan joined non-cooperation movement
The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance. led by Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
when he was a student. Later he joined the Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
and subsequently joined khilafat movement in 1921 and was arrested and sent to Faridpur jail and later was shifted to Central jail in Dhaka. At that time, he was an ardent follower of Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called ''Deshbandhu'' (Friend of the Nation), was an Indian freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian independence movement and founder-leader of the Swara ...
.
Khan was elected vice-chairman of Faridpur Municipality. In 1926, he got elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly from Faridpur. Khan left Congress in 1926 as he thought that the party was biased towards the Hindus
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
He later became the secretary of the Anjuman-i-Islamia and subsequently joined the Muslim League.
He competed on a Muslim League ticket in the 1937 election and defeated the Congressional candidate convincingly. Between 1937 and 1947, Khan served twice as Minister of Health, Agriculture, Industry and Education in Bengal.
Khan created history when the Constituent Assembly was dismissed by Governor General Ghulam Mohammad in 1954. Khan challenged the dismissal in the court and the case was filed in the morning of 7 November 1954, by Advocate Manzar-e-Alam. Although the High Court agreed and overturned it, the Federal Court under Justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
Muhammad Munir
Muhammad Munir (1895–1979) was the second Chief Justice of Pakistan serving from 1954 to 1960.
Background
Munir obtained his degree of master's in English Literature from Government College University Lahore, he joined Law College to earn his ...
upheld the dismissal. He had been president of the Basic Principles Committee
The Basic Principles Committee (BPC) was a specialized committee set up in March 1949 by Khawaja Nazimuddin on the advice of prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan. The committee's sole purpose was to determine the basic underlying principles that would ...
set up in 1949.
"Justice A. R. Cornelius was the sole dissenting judge in the landmark judgment handed down by the Supreme Court in the Maulvi Tamizuddin case. That judgment altered the course of politics in Pakistan forever and sealed the fate of democracy. The law had guided him as he had interpreted it and his conscience.".
The decision to uphold the dismissal of the constituent assembly was to mark the beginning of the overt role of Pakistan's military and civil establishment in Pakistani politics.
Personal life
Khan's daughters' were Razia Khan
Razia Khan Amin (1936 – 28 December 2011) was a Bangladeshi writer, poet and educationist. She was also a journalist, theatre actor and columnist for newspapers. She was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1997 for her contribution to education by the Gov ...
and Qulsum Huda Khan. Razia was an Ekushey Padak
Ekushey Padak ( bn, একুশে পদক; lit. "Twentyfirst Award") is the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, introduced in memory of the martyrs of the Bengali Language Movement of 1952. The award is given to recognize contribut ...
-winning writer and poet, and married to Anwarul Amin Makhon, the second-eldest son of former Prime Minister of Pakistan
The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Pa ...
Nurul Amin
Nurul Amin ( bn, নুরুল আমিন; ur, ; 15 July 1893 – 2 October 1974) was a prominent Pakistani leader, and a jurist who served as the eighth prime minister of Pakistan and as the first and only vice president of Pakistan. H ...
, and had two children: banker Kaiser Tamiz Amin and journalist Aasha Mehreen Amin
Aasha Mehreen Amin is a Bangladeshi journalist and writer, former editor of the weekly magazine ''Star'' and the former head of the Editorial team at The ''Daily Star''. She is currently joint editor at ''The Daily Star''.
Biography
Aasha Mehree ...
. Qulsum was one of the founders and vice-chancellors of Central Women's University.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Maulvi Tamizuddin
1889 births
1963 deaths
People from Faridpur District
Surendranath College alumni
University of Calcutta alumni
Bengali politicians
Krishak Sramik Party politicians
Speakers of the National Assembly of Pakistan
Pakistani MNAs 1947–1954
Bengal MLAs 1937–1945
Members of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan