Shah Azizur Rahman ( bn, শাহ আজিজুর রহমান; 23 November 1925 – 1 September 1989) was a Bangladeshi politician who served as the
Prime Minister of Bangladesh
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের প্রধানমন্ত্রী, translit=Bangladesher Prodhanmontri), officially Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজা ...
. However, he was the subject of considerable controversy for his collaboration with the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
against the struggle to Independence of Bangladesh.
Early life
Shah Azizur Rahman was born in
Kushtia
Kushtia ( bn, কুষ্টিয়া) is a city in the Khulna Division of southwestern Bangladesh. Kushtia is the second largest municipality in Bangladesh and the eleventh largest city in the country. The second largest city in Khulna div ...
, Bengal (now in Bangladesh) on 23 November 1925.
He received his Bachelor of arts degree in English Language and Literature from Calcutta University and went on to study at Dhaka University.
He held the position of general secretary in All Bengal Muslim Student League from 1945 to 1947.
As a student political leader, Rahman participated in the
Bengal Provincial Muslim League and the
Pakistan movement
The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the pe ...
. After the partition of India he served as joint secretary of East Pakistan Muslim League. He was opposed to the
Bengali Language movement of 1952.
He would remain active in Bengali and national politics in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, becoming a vocal opponent of Bengali leader
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengalis, Beng ...
and his
Awami League In Urdu language, Awami is the adjectival form for '' Awam'', the Urdu language word for common people.
The adjective appears in the following proper names:
*Awami Colony, a neighbourhood of Landhi Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
*Awami Front, wa ...
, which advocated greater autonomy for
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
.
Political career
Rahman was the general secretary of the East Pakistan Muslim League from 1952 to 1958.
In 1962 he participated in the Pakistan National Assembly elections from Kushtia but lost.
He joined the National Democratic Front led by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in 1962. In March 1964 he joined the Awami League and was subsequently elected vice-president of the Pakistan Awami League. In 1965 he was elected to the National Assembly from Kushtia and served as the deputy leader of the opposition from 1965 to 1969. He was one of the defense lawyers in the
Agartala conspiracy case
The Agartala Conspiracy Case was a sedition case in Pakistan during the rule of Ayub Khan against Awami League, brought by the government of Pakistan in 1968 against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then leader of the Awami League and East Pakista ...
.
At the outbreak of the
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...
, Rahman supported the Pakistani state forces and denounced the Bengali nationalist struggle. He led the Pakistani delegation to the United Nations in November 1971, where he would emphatically deny that the Pakistan Army's
Operation Searchlight
Operation Searchlight was the codename for a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the opera ...
had degenerated into
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
. In 1971, following the defeat of Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War, Rahman was arrested under the collaborators act but was released in 1973 under a general amnesty by President Sheikh Mujib.
In the post-war period, authorities estimated that over a million people had been killed in Bangladesh by Pakistani state forces and collaborating militias. Rahman would continue to lobby Muslim nations in the Middle East to decline diplomatic recognition to Bangladesh.
After the assassination of Sheikh Mujib, he joined the revived Muslim League in Bangladesh in 1976. He then joined the newly founded
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...
of President
Ziaur Rahman
Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d' ...
in 1978 and was made the minister of labor and industry in Rahmans cabinet.
When Ziaur Rahman had become the President of Bangladesh, he initially decided to appoint
Mashiur Rahman Jadu Mia
Mashiur Rahman (9 July 1924 12 March 1979), also known as Jadu Mia (Man of Magic), was a senior minister, with the rank and status of prime minister in charge of the Ministry of Railways, Roads and Highways of Bangladesh from 29 June 1978 to 12 ...
as prime minister, but after Mashiur's sudden death on 12 March 1979, Shah Azizur Rahman was appointed to the office on 15 April 1979.
It is believed that Ziaur Rahman preferred candidates such as
Badruddoza Chowdhury or
Saifur Rahman {{Short description, Male name
Saifur Rahman (Saudi Arabia ar, سيف الرحمن }) is a male Muslim given name, meaning ''sword of the Most Gracious''.
سيفور meaning Saifur in arabic.
This may refer to:
*Akhundzada Saif-ur-Rahman Mubara ...
for the job.
However, he also wanted the party's
parliamentarians to choose their leader through a secret ballot, which the Shah Aziz managed to win so that Ziaur Rahman could not ignore him.
As prime minister, Shah Azizur Rahman helped ratify the infamous
Indemnity Act promulgated by
Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed. Shah Azizur Rahman also helped Zia organize the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which won the 1979 parliamentary elections. After the
assassination of Ziaur Rahman
Ziaur Rahman, the 7th president of Bangladesh, was assassinated by a faction of officers of Bangladesh Army, on 30 May 1981, in the south-eastern port city of Chittagong. Rahman went to Chittagong to arbitrate in a clash between the local leader ...
in 1981, Shah Azizur Rahman continued to serve as prime minister. Although he was retained in that post by the new President
Abdus Sattar ʻAbd al-Sattār (ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الستّار) is an Arabic Muslim male given name, built on the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Sattār''. The name means "servant of the Veiler (of sins)".
Because the letter s is a sun lett ...
, both Sattar and Rahman were overthrown in a military coup led by army chief
Hossain Mohammad Ershad
Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad ( bn, হুসেইন মুহাম্মদ এরশাদ; 1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi Army Chief politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990, a time ma ...
in 1982.
Death
Rahman died in Dhaka on 1 September 1989 at the age of 63.
References
See also
*
Azizur Rahman ministry
External links
*
Bangladesh Observer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahman, Shah Azizur
1925 births
1989 deaths
Bangladesh Nationalist Party politicians
Prime Ministers of Bangladesh
2nd Jatiya Sangsad members
Pakistani MNAs 1965–1969
20th-century Bengalis
People from Kushtia District