Nurul Amin

Early life

Amin was born on 15 July 1893 in Shahbazpur, in what was then undivided Bengal's Comilla District. Amin grew up in Nandail Upazila at the Mymensingh District In 1915, Amin passed college entrance examination from Mymensingh Zilla School, to attend the college. In 1917, Amin attended the Mymensingh Ananda Mohan College, obtaining the Intermediate in Arts (I.A); he earned the BA in English literature in 1919.

After graduating, Amin took the position of teaching at the local school in Calcutta, but decided to pursue his career in law. In 1920, Amin began at the University of Calcutta; he gained the LLB in Law and Justice in 1924, and passed the Bar exam the same year. Amin started his career in law after joining the Mymensingh Judge Court Bar.

Public service

In 1929, Amin was appointed as a member of Mymensingh Local Board, and later became a member of Mymensingh District Board in 1930. In 1932, the British Indian Government appointed Amin as commissioner of Mymensingh Municipality. In 1937, Amin was appointed as the Chairman of Mymensingh District Board, an assignment he continued until 1945.

During this time, Amin's interest in politics increased. He became an early member of the Muslim League led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah. During this time, Amin was appointed as President of the Muslim League's Mymensingh district unit. In 1944, he was elected as the vice-president of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League.

In 1945, Amin participated in Indian general elections, securing a landslide victory. He became a Member, and the following year was elected as the Speaker General of the Bengal Legislative Assembly.

Pakistan Movement

Amin became a trusted lieutenant of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in East Bengal, fighting for the rights of Bengali Muslims in British India. Amin took an active part in the Pakistan Movement, organising the Bengali Muslims, while he continued to strengthen the Muslim League in Bengal.

In 1946, Jinnah came to visit Bengal, where Amin assisted him. He promised the Bengali nation to build a democratic country. In East Bengal, Amin promoted the unity of Muslims. By the time of creation of Pakistan, Amin had become one of the leading advocates and activists of the Pakistan Movement; he had wide approval ratings by the Bengali population.

Chief Minister

Jinnah appointed Amin as the Chief Minister of East Bengal. Amin worked for the Muslim League in East Bengal, while continuing his relief programme for the population. As Chief Minister, his relations were significantly strained with Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan and Governor-General Khawaja Nazimuddin. Soon after the Assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, Amin was appointed as Minister of Supply. He was elected as a member of the Pakistan National Assembly from 1947 until 1954.

After the death of Jinnah, Amin was nominated as the Chief Minister of East Bengal in September 1948 by Khawaja Nazimuddin; who succeeded Jinnah as Governor General. Amin assumed the office of Chief Minister in a few weeks.

Historians have noted that Nurul Amin's government was not strong enough to administer the provincial state; it was completely under the control of the central government of Nazimuddin. His government did not enjoy enough power, and lacked vision, imagination, and initiatives. Amin failed to counter the Communist Party's influence in the region, which widely took the credit for turning the language movement in 1952 into large unified mass protest.

Language Movement

During Amin's term as Chief Minister, Governor General Nazimuddin, who was also from Bengali but an Urdu speaker, reiterated the federal government's position that Bengali, although the language of the overwhelming majority of East Pakistanis in addition to the majority of Pakistanis as a whole, was not to be considered a national official language on a par with Urdu.

In response, the Bengali Language Movement developed, and the ruling Muslim League lost popularity in East Pakistan. Both Nazimuddin and Amin failed to integrate the East population into Pakistan. The East Pakistan Muslim League significantly lost administrative control of the provisional state. Amin on other hand, held Communist Party responsible for this failure, accusing them as provoking the language movement. Problems within the Muslim League arose after Nazimuddin became Prime Minister, and he strongly opposed Amin as Chief Minister. Amin stressed the importance of Pakistan's survival depending on the strength of the Muslim League, but Nazimuddin did not seem to understand.

When his government failed to restore law and order in East Pakistan, Amin called on the military police for help. During the unrest, the civilian East-Pakistan police shot four student activists, leading to a mass protest that turned violent; this raised more opposition in the region to the Muslim League. Leading politicians in West and East Pakistan called for Amin's resignation, and the new elections were soon held.

1954 elections

In the 1954 provisional elections, the Muslim League was fully defeated by the United Front, an alliance between the Awami League, led by one of the Founding Father of Pakistan, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. After the elections, he became Prime Minister. The Krishak Sramik Party, chaired by A. K. Fazlul Huq, the Nizam Islam Party headed by Maulana Athar Ali, and the Ganatantri Dal, led by Haji Mohammad Danesh and Mahmud Ali became more influential.

Amin lost his assembly seat to a veteran student leader of East Pakistan, Khaleque Nawaz Khan, who had also been active in the language movement. The Muslim League was effectively eliminated from the provincial political landscape.

Amin served as the President of the East Pakistan Muslim League, and worked to improve its standing. But Army Commander General Ayub Khan imposed martial law after a successful military coup d'état against the government of President Iskander Mirza.

Amin's political career was over when Ayub Khan disbanded all of the political parties in the country.

Leader of the opposition

Amin ran as a candidate in the 1965 presidential elections, in East Pakistan, winning the majority vote in the Parliament of Pakistan. He declined to work with Ayub Khan. The same year, after the death of Fatima Jinnah, Amin succeeded Jinnah as Leader of Opposition, which he held until 1969, after General Yahya Khan imposed martial law again.

1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh

In the 1970 elections, Amin was elected to the National Assembly as one of only two non-Awami League members from East Pakistan. During this time, the Pakistani authority had already become highly unpopular, as the Bengali language movement was suppressed. Civil unrest was sparked by the Language Movement and fuelled by alleged discriminatory practices against the Bengali people; this led to East Pakistan's declaration of independence.

The Bangladesh Liberation War, as it is now known, escalated as India and Pakistan formally acknowledged the "existence of a state of war between the two countries", even though neither government had formally issued a declaration of war. As the situation in his home district of East Pakistan worsened, Amin was appointed Prime Minister by President General Yahya Khan on 6 December 1971. On 20 December 1971, however, Yahya Khan resigned, leaving the Deputy Prime Minister (and Foreign Minister) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to be sworn in as the new President. Two days later, Amin was appointed as Vice President of Pakistan, the only person to have held this post. He continued to hold this post until martial law was lifted on 21 April 1972.

Postwar and emotions of Pakistan

Amin is a controversial figure, considered by many Pakistanis to be a patriot for supporting unity of the country, but thought by many Bangladeshis to be a collaborator with an occupation force accused of genocide and other war crimes.

Amin is reported to have remarked to President Yahya and his military advisers, "So Dhaka has fallen, and East Pakistan is gone, and you are enjoying yourselves..."

Death and state funeral

Amin stayed in West Pakistan, while his home region achieved independence as the People's Republic of Bangladesh; Amin died in Rawalpindi on 2 October 1974, less than three years after the dissolution of the united Pakistan.

Legacy and honours

Nurul Amin was a trusted lieutenant of Quaid-i-Azam and a valiant fighter for the Pakistan Movement, and for Pakistan. He proved himself to be a crusader of (Pakistan's) solidarity and earned for himself the highest pedestal by dint of his efforts, intelligence, and his struggle...