Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy[a] (8 September 1892 – 5 December 1963) was a Pakistani politician who served as the fifthprime minister of Pakistan from 1956 to 1957 and before that as theprime minister of Bengal from 1946 to 1947. In bothPakistan andBangladesh, he is regarded as a patron ofseparate homeland forSouth Asian Muslims, for which he is revered as one of theleading founding statesmen of Pakistan; and also as the pioneer of theBengali civil rights movement in Bangladesh.
Born in 1892 atMidnapore, Bengal, Suhrawardy was a scion of one of Bengal's most prominent Muslim families, theSuhrawardys. He studied law at theUniversity of Oxford, and joined theindependence movement during the 1920s as a trade union leader inCalcutta, initially associated with theSwaraj Party. He joined theAll-India Muslim League and became one of the leaders of itsBengal branch. Suhrawardy was elected to theBengal Legislative Assembly in 1937 and led the Muslim League to decisively win the1946 provincial general election in Bengal, serving as the last prime minister of Bengal until thepartition of India. His premiership was notable for his proposal to create aseparate and united Bengal — supported by the Muslim League but opposed by theIndian National Congress — and failing to prevent theGreat Calcutta Killings.[1][2][3][4] In 1947, the Bengal Assembly voted to partition the province. Suhrawardy briefly remained in India after partition to attend to his ailing father and manage his family's property. He eventually moved to Pakistan and divided his time betweenKarachi (Pakistan's federal capital) andDhaka (capital ofEast Pakistan).
In Dhaka, Suhrawardy emerged as the leader of theBengali-dominatedAwami League which became the principal opposition party to thePakistan Muslim League. In 1956, the Awami League formed acoalition government with theRepublican Party to unseat the Muslim League. Suhrawardy became prime minister in the coalition government, forging stronger ties with theUnited States by leading Pakistan's diplomacy inSEATO andCENTO. He also became the first Pakistani premier to travel toCommunist China. His pro-US foreign policy caused a split in the Awami League inEast Pakistan, withMaulana Bhashani forming the break-away pro-MaoistNational Awami Party. Suhrawardy's premiership lasted for a year. His central cabinet included figures likeFeroz Khan Noon asforeign minister andAbul Mansur Ahmad astrade minister.Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was considered Suhrawardy's chief political protégé.[5]
Suhrawardy was premier under Pakistan's firstrepublican constitution and also the mastermind of TheDirect Action Day of 16 August 1946. TheNoakhali riots also saw the genocide of Bengali Hindus during which Suhrawardy tried to keep the news of the atrocities from the media and for either planning the massacre or failing to take action to stop it.[6] During the1958 military coup, Suhrawardy was arrested by the military government, due to which he missed the wedding of his niece,Salma Sobhan, Pakistan's first woman barrister.[7] He founded theNational Democratic Front in 1962 as a political alliance to oppose the military regime ofAyub Khan but died one year later inBeirut due to a heart attack. After his death, the Awami League veered towardsBengali nationalism and launched the6-point movement, ultimately leading to acivil war in East Pakistan and secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971.
Suhrawardy is also remembered for his role as the Minister for Civil Supply during theBengal famine of 1943.[3][4][5][8] In India'sWest Bengal, he is seen as theButcher of Bengal and mastermind behind the Direct Action Day; directly responsible for the1946 Calcutta killings.[9][10][11][1] Suhrawardy's only daughterBegum Akhtar Sulaiman was a social worker and activist in Pakistan; his son,Rashid Suhrawardy, from his second marriage toVera Alexandrovna Tiscenko Calder, was a British actor known for his role in the filmJinnah. His brotherHasan Shaheed Suhrawardy was a diplomat, writer and art-critic. Many places in South Asia bear his name, including an avenue inIslamabad, alarge park near hismausoleum in Dhaka, and streets, dormitories and memorials across Bangladesh. The Suhrawardy family home inKolkata has been leased as a Library and Information Centre to theBangladesh High Commission in India by the city'swaqf board.
TheSuhrawardy family are regarded as one of the illustrious families of theIndian subcontinent. Claiming themselves as descendants of thefirst caliph of Islam,[12]: 81 [13] the Suhrawardy lineage is traced toShihab al-Din 'Umar al-Suhrawardi, aSufi who lived inBaghdad during the 12th century. TheSuhrawardiyya order is one of the majorSunni orders ofSufism. His grandfather,Ubaidullah Al-Ubaidi Suhrawardy, was aDhaka-based Sufi leader of theBengali Renaissance and is buried besideLalbagh Fort.[14] His father Justice SirZahid Suhrawardy was a Judge of theCalcutta High Court. His brotherHasan Shaheed Suhrawardy was a linguist, poet, art-critic and diplomat. His uncles included Lieutenant ColonelHassan Suhrawardy and SirAbdullah Al-Mamun Suhrawardy. His cousinShaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah was one of South Asia's pioneering women in public service. His first wife was Begum Niaz Fatima, the daughter ofJustice Sir Abdur Rahim, a member of the Governor's Executive Council and Speaker of theCentral Legislative Assembly. Begum Niaz Fatima died in 1922.[15] His second wife was BegumVera Suhrawardy, a Russian actress of Polish descent.
A young Huseyn studied inCalcutta Madrasa and attendedSt. Xavier's College, Kolkata where he earned aBachelor of Science degree.[16][17] Both Huseyn and his elder brother Hasan studied inSt Catherine's College, Oxford. They entertained themselves withD. H. Lawrence, Robert Trevelyn,Bertrand Russell,Hugh Kingsmill,Basanta Kumar Mullick, Kiran Shankar Roy, Apurba Chanda, Sri Prakash, S K Gupta, Surendra Kumar Sen, andSyud Hossain.[14] The elder Suhrawardy (Hasan) was in Oxford when Bengali poetRabindranath Tagore became the first Asian to win aNobel Prize in 1913. His brother Hasan later recounted that "it is difficult now for me to recapture the elation and the ecstasy of those days, but I remember distinctly that look of awe which was in my landlady's eyes when she brought in the breakfast with the morning newspaper containing the scoop".[14] Suhrawardy obtained further degrees, including aBachelor of Civil Law from Oxford and aMaster of Arts in Arabic from Calcutta. Suhrawardy became abarrister. He was called to theBar of England and Wales throughGray's Inn in 1922–23.[18]
His first son Shahab died of pneumonia.[15] His second sonRashid Suhrawardy was a British theatre actor. Rashid starred in the filmJinnah along withChristopher Lee.[19] His granddaughterShahida Jamil served as Pakistan's law minister. His nieces includePrincess Sarvath al-Hassan of theHashemite Kingdom of Jordan; the late Bangladeshi barristerSalma Sobhan; and the film-maker Naz Ikramullah.
Suhrawardy was credited as a pioneering modern political organizer in Bengal. He created 36trade unions among sailors, railway employees, jute and cotton mills workers, rickshaw pullers, cart drivers and other working class groups dominated byBengali Muslims.[20]
Suhrawardy joined theSwaraj Party led byBengali Hindu secularistC. R. Das in 1923. He became the Deputy Mayor of Calcutta in 1924.[20] After the death of Das, Suhrawardy turned toIndian Muslim nationalism.[15] He emerged as a leader of theBengal Provincial Muslim League (BPML), the provincial wing of theMuslim League which his father Zahid had earlier helped create in 1912.
Suhrawardy formed several Bengali Muslim political groups, including theCalcutta Khilafat Committee during the 1920s amid the dissolution of theOttoman caliphate and theTurkish War of Independence;[21] the Bengal Muslim Election Board; the United Muslim Party; and the Independent Muslim Party.[20]
In 1937, Suhrawardy was elected to the newly formedBengal Legislative Assembly. He was appointed Minister of Commerce and Labor in the cabinet of the 1stPrime Minister of BengalA. K. Fazlul Huq. In 1940, theLahore Resolution was adopted by Indian Muslim leaders calling for the creation of independent states in eastern and northwestern India; it was unclear if the resolution implied a single state covering the two Muslim-majority regions of India or multiple states. Suhrawardy served as Minister of Civil Supplies in the cabinet of the 2nd Prime Minister of Bengal SirKhawaja Nazimuddin. According to authorThomas Keneally, Suhrawardy blamed black marketers and the central government in New Delhi for theBengal famine of 1943 duringWorld War II, and claimed he worked tirelessly on relief. ViceroyLord Wavell, however, believed that Suhrawardy was corrupt, that he "siphoned money from every project that was undertaken to ease the famine, and awarded to his associates contracts for warehousing, the sale of grain to governments, and transportation."[22] On the other hand, Indian author, Madhushree Mukherjee, laid major responsibility of this famine to British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill who wanted the ration for war efforts only and had refrained theU.S. aid to Bengal.[23] Suhrawardy was further accused of practising aScorched-Earth Policy to counter theJapanese Army'sadvances in the East and supervised to burn thousand fishing boats to block any potential movement of invading Japanese Army troops.[24]: 533–535 These measures aggravated starvation and famine and the relief was only ordered whenLord Wavell became theViceroy, using theIndian Army to organise relief.[24] However, by that time, the winter crop had arrived and famine conditions had already eased, after millions had earlier perished.[24]: 534 Calcutta's Hindu-owned newspapers had become very critical of his role and the Bengali Hindus held him directly responsible for the famine.[25]
During the1946 general election, Suhrawardy led the Bengal Provincial Muslim League (BPML) to a decisive victory. The Muslim League's biggest success was in Bengal where out of 119 seats for Muslims, the BPML won 113. Suhrawardy was supported by the League's chiefMuhammad Ali Jinnah to assume the premiership of Bengal.Suhrawardy's cabinet included himself as home minister;Mohammad Ali of Bogra as finance, health and local government minister; Syed Muazzemuddin Hossain as education minister;Ahmed Hossain as agriculture, forest and fisheries minister; Nagendra Nath Roy as judicial and legislative minister; Abul Fazal Muhammad Abdur Rahman as cooperatives and irrigation Minister; Abul Gofran as civil supplies minister; Tarak Nath Mukherjee as waterways minister; Fazlur Rahman as land minister; and Dwarka Nath Barury as works minister.
Suhrawardy's tenure as premier saw theGreat Calcutta Killings in 1946. The Muslim League called a strike to press its demand for thecreation of Pakistan. The strike degenerated into brutal and widespread Hindu-Muslim riots in which thousands were killed on both sides. The riots were seen by some as the last nail in the coffin forHindu-Muslim unity in British India.
Troubles started on the morning of 16 August. Even before 10 o'clock Police Headquarters at Lalbazar had reported that there was excitement throughout the city, that shops were being forced to close, and that there were many reports of brawls, stabbing and throwing of stones and brickbats. These were mainly concentrated in the North-central parts of the city like Rajabazar, Kelabagan, College Street, Harrison Road, Colootolla and Burrabazar. In these areas the Hindus were in a majority and were also in a superior and powerful economic position. The trouble had assumed the communal character which it was to retain throughout.[26]
The meeting began around 2 pm though processions of Muslims from all parts of Calcutta had started assembling since themidday prayers. A large number of the participants were reported to have been armed with iron bars andlathis (bamboo sticks). The numbers attending were estimated by a Central Intelligence Officer's reporter at 30,000 and by a Special Branch Inspector of Calcutta Police at 500,000. The latter figure is impossibly high and theStar of India reporter put it at about 100,000. The main speakers were SirKhawaja Nazimuddin and Chief Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.Khwaja Nazimuddin in his speech preached peacefulness and restraint but spoilt the effect and flared up the tensions by stating that till 11 o'clock that morning all the injured persons were Muslims, and the Muslim community had only retaliated in self-defence.[26]
The Special Branch ofCalcutta Police had sent only one shorthand reporter to the meeting, with the result that no transcript of the Chief Minister's speech is available. But the Central Intelligence Officer and a reporter, who Frederick Burrows believed was reliable, deputed by the military authorities agree on one statement (not reported at all by the Calcutta Police). The version in the former's report was—"He [the Chief Minister] had seen to police and military arrangements who would not interfere".[26] The version of the latter's was—"He had been able to restrain the military and the police".[26] However, the police did not receive any specific order to "hold back". So, whatever Suhrawardy may have meant to convey by this, the impression of such a statement on a largely uneducated audience is construed by some to be an open invitation to disorder[26] indeed, many of the listeners are reported to have started attacking Hindus and looting Hindu shops as soon as they left the meeting.[26][27] Subsequently, there were reports of lorries (trucks) that came downHarrison Road in Calcutta, carrying hardlineMuslim gangsters armed with brickbats and bottles as weapons and attacking Hindu-owned shops.[28]
A 6 pm curfew was imposed in the parts of the city where there had been rioting. At 8 pm forces were deployed to secure main routes and conduct patrols from those arteries, thereby freeing up police for work in the slums and the other underdeveloped sections.[29]
InNew Delhi on 27 April 1947, Suhrawardy called a press conference to demand anundivided, independent Bengal. Suhrawardy made an impassioned plea for setting aside religious differences in order to create an "independent, undivided, and sovereign Bengal".[30] He opposed the British government's plan to partition India's most populous province; he was supported by theGovernor of BengalFrederick Burrows,Sarat Chandra Bose of theIndian National Congress,Kiran Shankar Roy of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Satya Ranjan Bakshi, Secretary of the Bengal Provincial Muslim LeagueAbul Hashim, Bengal Finance Minister Mohammad Ali Chaudhury, Bengal Revenue Minister Fazlur Rahman and Tippera politician Ashrafuddin Chowdhury. Suhrawardy stated the following:-
Let us pause for a moment to consider what Bengal can be if it remains united. It will be a great country, indeed the richest and the most prosperous in India capable of giving to its people a high standard of living, where a great people will be able to rise to the fullest height of their stature, a land that will truly be plentiful. It will be rich in agriculture, rich in industry and commerce and in course of time it will be one of the powerful and progressive states of the world. If Bengal remains united this will be no dream, no fantasy.[30]
On 20 May 1947, a five-point plan was outlined for a "Free State of Bengal", echoing the legacy of the name of theIrish Free State. The plan was based on a confessionalist structure with power-sharing between Hindus and Muslims. It mirrored some of theconfessionalist practices adopted inFrench Lebanon in 1926, where the positions of President and Prime Minister rotated among Muslims and Christians. The five-point plan stated that "On the announcement byHis Majesty's Government that the proposal of the Free State of Bengal had been accepted and that Bengal would not be partitioned, the present Bengal Ministry would be dissolved. A new interim Ministry would be brought into being, consisting of an equal number of Muslims and Hindus (including Scheduled Caste Hindus) but excluding the Prime Minister. In this Ministry, the Prime Minister would be a Muslim and the Home Minister a Hindu. Pending the final emergence of a Legislature and a Ministry under the new constitutions, Hindus (including Scheduled Caste Hindus) and Muslims would have an equal share in the Services, including military and police. The Services would be manned by Bengalis. A Constituent Assembly composed of 30 persons, 16 Muslims and 14 non-Muslims, would be elected by Muslim and non-Muslim members of the Legislature respectively, excluding Europeans".[31] TheBritish government seriously considered of the option of an independent Bengal. British commercial interests in Bengal required safeguards. TheUnited States was also briefed on the possibility of three countries emerging out of partition, including Pakistan, India, and Bengal. On 2 June 1947,British Prime MinisterClement Attlee informed theUS Ambassador to the United KingdomLewis Williams Douglas that there was a "distinct possibility Bengal might decide against partition and against joining either Hindustan or Pakistan".[32] Douglas cabled theState Department about the matter.[32]
On 20 June 1947, theBengal Legislative Assembly met to vote on the partition of Bengal. At the preliminary joint session, the assembly decided by 126 votes to 90 that if it remained united it should join theConstituent Assembly of Pakistan. Later, a separate meeting of legislators from West Bengal decided by 58 votes to 21 that the province should be partitioned and that West Bengal should join theConstituent Assembly of India. In another separate meeting of legislators from East Bengal, it was decided by 106 votes to 35 that the province should not be partitioned and 107 votes to 34 that East Bengal should join Pakistan in the event of partition.[33] Communal violence broke out across India, especially inthe Punjab and Bengal'sNoakhali district. Suhrawardy traveled to Noakhali withMahatma Gandhi to restore order; Gandhi and Suhrawardy also had deliberations in Calcutta. After the transfer of power on 14–15 August 1947, Suhrawardy continued to remain in India for a few years where he attended to ailing members of his family. He eventually settled down in theDominion of Pakistan, with residences in the federal capitalKarachi and the provincial capitalDhaka. His cousin BegumShaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah called forPakistan's constituent assembly to convene in Dacca asEast Bengal was home to the majority of Pakistan's population.[34]
Suhrawardy joined theAwami League, a party formed in 1949 to counter the erstwhile ruling Muslim League. Suhrawardy emerged as thecentrist leader of the Awami League; whileMaulana Bhashani represented more radical leftist factions. The Awami League was often allied with the centre-leftKrishak Praja Party of A. K. Fazlul Huq. Suhrawardy's chief protégé in East Bengal wasSheikh Mujibur Rahman, to whom Suhrawardy delegated political responsibilities.
Suhrawardy was appointed law minister in 1953 in the cabinet of Prime MinisterMohammad Ali Bogra. He was in charge of drafting Pakistan's constitution.[35]
One of the highlights of Suhrawardy's political career was leading the United Front campaign during the 1954 East Bengali election which booted the Muslim League out of power.
At the federal level, Suhrawardy served asLeader of the Opposition in theparliament of Pakistan in 1955. His position was bolstered by the landslide victory in East Bengal in 1954.
In 1956, the Awami League formed a coalition with Pakistan'sRepublican Party to unseat the previous government. Suhrawardy became the fifthPrime Minister of Pakistan and the second premier under the1956 Constitution of Pakistan. Suhrawardy was known as a pro-American politician. He also cultivated pragmatic ties withCommunist China. Suhrawardy supported the American-ledSoutheast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and theCentral Treaty Organization (CENTO). He was not keen onnonalignment which was strongly pursued by neighboring India. Suhrawardy toured the United States, was hosted byPresident Eisenhower at theWhite House, and met with American movie stars inHollywood. In domestic policy, Suhrawardy addressed issues ofnuclear energy, foreign aid utilization, food policy, the One Unit framework, and building up the military. His staunchly pro-Western foreign policy was opposed by Bengali radicals led by Maulana Bhashani who caused a split in the Awami League. However, Suhrawardy was elected as President of the Awami League. His cabinet includedFeroz Khan Noon andAbul Mansur Ahmed among others.
Initially promising to review theOne Unit framework in the 1956 constitution, Prime Minister Suhrwardy later backtracked.[36] At theNational Assembly, Prime Minister Suhrawardy faced pressure from provincialists over the One Unit.[37]West Pakistani provincialists wanted to restore the previousfour provinces ofSind,Balochistan,Punjab and theNorth West Frontier Province. Large rallies were held in West Pakistan against the One Unit.[38][37] Prime Minister Suhrawardy, however, did not pay attention to the issue.[36] While East Pakistanis also objected to the One Unit for renaming East Bengal as East Pakistan, opposition among ethnic groups to the One Unit was stronger inWest Pakistan.[36][37]
Suhrawardy's one-year tenure was unable to introduce the joint electorate. Since 1932, elections in Pakistan's provinces were held under the "separate electorate" system of dividing seats in parliament among religious groups in accordance with the colonial-eraCommunal Award. Abolishing the joint electorate was a key demand of the Awami League.At theNational Assembly, the Awami League initiated constitutional reforms to restore thejoint electorate system but faced opposition from theMuslim League.[38]
Suhrawardy established thePakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). He appointed Dr.Nazir Ahmad as its chairman.[39] Suhrawardy supported theAtoms for Peace initiative.[39] Suhrawardy also released funds to import a nuclearswimming pool reactor from America in 1956.[39]
In 1956, Prime Minister Suhrawardy halted theNational Finance Commission (NFC) programme to allocatetaxed revenue equally betweenEast andWest Pakistan.[citation needed] A poor harvest led to heavy imports that year, mostly in the form of foreign aid, to meet food shortages. The United States agreed to sell $46.4 million in rice, wheat, and other farm products, about 80% of which was covered by aid grants or loans.[40]
Thecentral government led by Suhrawardy focused on the implementation of theplanned economy.[38] His relations with thestock exchange and thebusiness community deteriorated when he announced distribution of theUS$10 millionICA aid between West and East, and establishing the shipping corporation at the expense of West Pakistan's revenues.[41]: 149 Massive labour strikes broke out in West Pakistan against his economic policy in major cities of Pakistan. Eventually leaders of the stock exchange met with PresidentMirza to address their concerns and issues.[38]
Suhrawardy in 1957 describedPakistan's foreign policy as "friendship towards all and malice towards none", a phrase which was later adopted as Bangladesh's foreign policy.[42][43] Suhrawardy is also considered to be one of the pioneers of Pakistan's foreign policy aimed, directed, and set towards excessively supporting the United States and theircause, a policy that was pursued by the successive administrations.[44] On 10 July 1957, Prime Minister Suhrawardy paid an official visit to the United States where he met with PresidentDwight Eisenhower. Suhrawardy accepted Eisenhower's request tolease a base in Pakistan from which the United States Air Force could gather intelligence about theSoviet Union. In return, the United States distributed $2.142 billion in aid to Pakistan, including supersonicF-104 Starfighters andM48 Patton tanks.[45] Suhrawardy's party, the Awami League, split over his signing of the US-Pakistan military pact, withMaulana Bhasani leaving to form theNational Awami Party (NAP).[46] The1960 U-2 incident severely compromised thenational security of Pakistan when Soviet Union eventually discovered the base through interrogatingits pilot.
Prime Minister Suhrawardy was invited by the Soviet Union for an informal visit but he declined.[47] In 1956, Prime Minister Suhrawardy became the Pakistan's first Prime Minister to visitChina.[48] Suhrawardy's India policy was at times critical.[49] He demanded a fair share of water sharing on transboundary rivers.[50] Suhrawardy visitedAfghanistan and pledged to work for regional peace, decolonization and stability. Suhrawardy also visitedJapan and felt the East Asian country was model to emulate in development. He addressed a joint sitting of thePhilippines Congress during which he expressed support forSEATO and continued to call for decolonization.[50]
Suhrawardy's short-lived premiership came to an end when he resigned under pressure from PresidentIskander Mirza in 1957.[51]
Suhrawardy was arrested by the martial law government after the1958 military coup in Pakistan. While in jail, he wrote to his nieceSalma Sobhan on the occasion of her wedding toRehman Sobhan, calling Salma "preternaturally transcendentally intelligent".[7]
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Suhrawardy was responsible for Great Calcutta Killings. According to them, Suhrawardy and other Muslim League leaders reportedly delivered provocative speeches reminding the Bengali Muslims of the historical Islamic victory and urged them to follow the same way on 16 August. The historian Devendra Panigrahi, in his bookIndia's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat,[52] quotes from 13 August 1946 issue of Muslim League mouthpieceThe Star of India, "Muslims must remember that ... it was inRamazan that the permission forjehad was granted by Allah. It was inRamazan that the Battle of Badr, the first open conflict between Islam and Heathenism, was fought and won by 313 Muslims and again it was inRamazan that 10,000 Muslims under the Holy Prophet conquered Mecca and established the kingdom of Heaven and the commonwealth of Islam in Arabia. The Muslim League is fortunate that it is starting its action in this holy month". On 16 August 1946, themassive bloody riots erupted inCalcutta, killings scores of Hindus at the hands of rioters.[53] However, there is no other claim or evidence have been found. Suhrawardy attempted to control the situation by unsuccessfully calling for peace and deployment of theIndian Army in Calcutta with no success.[53] The riots ended with thousand deaths and theIndian press blaming Suhrawardy of obstructing the police work, which is well documented by several authors and eyewitnesses.[54][55] According to authorities, the riots were instigated by members of the Muslim League and its affiliate Volunteer Corps after listening to the speeches made byKhwaja Nazimuddin and Suhrawardy,[26][56][57][58] in the city in order to enforce the declaration by the Muslim League that Muslims were to 'suspend all business' to support their demand for an independent Pakistan.[26][56][59][60] However, supporters of the Muslim League believed that the Congress Party was behind the violence[61] in an effort to weaken the fragile Muslim League government in Bengal, further generating the controversy about the real culprits.[26] Historian Joya Chatterji allocates much of the responsibility to Suhrawardy, for setting up the confrontation and failing to stop the rioting, but points out that Hindu leaders were also culpable.[62] A senior intelligence operative wrote to a senior British officer based at Fort William after the 'Great Calcutta Killings' after theCalcutta riots: "There is hardly a person in Calcutta who has a good word for Suhrawardy, respectable Muslims included. For years he has been known as "The king of the goondas" and my own private opinion is that he fully anticipated what was going to happen, and allowed it to work itself up, and probably organised the disturbance with his goonda gangs as this type of individual has to receive compensation every now and again."[63] According toTathagata Roy, Suhrawardy had pre-planned the riot long back, evident from the fact that demographic changes were being made in the Calcutta Police constabulary.[64] Recently, Polish scholar Tomasz Flasiński expressed another opinion about Suhrawardy. His research proved, inter alia, that Suhrawardy's famous speech during the first day of Calcutta Riot urged Muslims to come back to their homes instead of (as it was often suggested) encouraging them to riot, and in fact the Prime Minister asked the British Army to intervene against hooligans even before that speech. Making use of recently disclosed or hitherto unused sources, he also revealed that Suhrawardy was at odds with Muslim League's radical fraction also after Noakhali riots; however, in some other cases of the Hindu-Muslim armed fights (primarily in Calcutta during Spring 1947) he did less to stop the acts of violence than he could, what made him - according to Flasiński - guilty by negligence.[65]
According to historian Sam Dalrymple, Huseyn Suhrawardy had a large aristocratic figure with pursed lips and was frequently seen in silk pyjamas. He had a taste for loud jazz, and a lifestyle that included eating ham, drinking Scotch, and marrying a Russian actress, all of which were considered un-Islamic. He was seen by many as highly shrewd and entirely unprincipled, though not motivated by communal or religious sentiment. Before his political career, he was a renowned lawyer who eagerly took up cases for those in need, while also making little effort to distance himself from alleged ties to the criminal underworld, which earned him the nickname “king of the goondas[thugs].” In a provocative article in the Statesman, he asserted that bloodshed and disorder could be acceptable if undertaken for a noble cause. Later, he formed a ministry composed almost entirely of Muslims, with Hindus dominating the opposition, and his announcement of Direct Action Day as a public holiday across Bengal made the worst fears of Hindus a reality.[66]
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Suhrawardy died inBeirut,Lebanon in 1963 due to a heart attack.[67] Many Bangladeshis were - and some still are - convinced that he was killed on Ayub Khan's order, as his popularity may have made him a powerful rival to Ayub in the upcoming presidential elections.[68] He was buried in Dhaka beside Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin and A. K. Fazlul Huq, signifying his towering stature in Bengali politics as one of the three leading Bengali statesmen of the early 20th century.
The Hindu Mahasabha's demand for partition ... Suhrawardy's only hope was ... asking for an united and independent Bengal. Paradoxically he had a greater chance of getting Jinnah's endorsement for this scheme than of getting it ratified by the Congress High Command ... Jinnah told Mountbatten ... 'What is the use of Bengal without Calcutta; they had better remain united and independent.'
Later he entered the Calcutta Aliya Madrasah and graduated with honours in science from St Xavier's College.
Suhrawardy ... proclaimed a public holiday. The police too, he implied, would take the day off. Muslims, rallyingen masse for speeches and processions, saw this as an invitation; they began looting and burning such Hindu shops as remained open. Arson gave way to murder, and the victims struck back ... In October the riots spread to parts of East Bengal and also to UP and Bihar ... Nehru wrung his hands in horror ... Gandhi rushed to the scene, heroically progressing through the devastated communities to preach reconciliation.
... Seven lorries that came thundering down Harrison Road. Men armed with brickbats and bottles began leaping out of the lorries—Muslim 'goondas,' or gangsters, Nanda Lal decided, since they immediately fell to tearing up Hindu shops.
At 6 p.m. curfew was clamped down all over the riot-affected districts. At 8 p.m. the Area Commander ... brought in the 7th Worcesters and the Green Howards from their barracks ... [troops] cleared the main routes ... and threw out patrols to free the police for work in thebustees.
Bengalis were not above factional battles motivated by personal interest. Suhrawardy thus backed the One-Unit Scheme to ... become prime minister at the expense of his province's [East Pakistan's] interests ... Suhrawardy thus tried to break free from Mirza's control by seeking a vote of confidence from the Assembly. Mirza, unwilling to acknowledge the Assembly's power to approve and dismiss governments, refused to convoke it.
Hindu culpability was never acknowledged. The Hindu press laid the blame for the violence upon the Suhrawardy Government and the Muslim League.
The immediate provocation of a mass scale riot was certainly the afternoon League meeting at the Ochterlony Monument ... Major J. Sim of the Eastern Command wrote, 'there must have [been] 100,000 of them ... with green uniform of the Muslim National Guard' ... Suhrawardy appeared to have incited the mob ... As the Governor also mentioned, 'the violence on a wider scale broke out as soon as the meeting was over', and most of those who indulged in attacking Hindus ... were returning from [it].
Moslem League Boss Mohamed Ali Jinnah had picked the 18th day of Ramadan for "Direct Action Day" against Britain's plan for Indian independence (which does not satisfy the Moslems' old demand for a separate Pakistan).
Having seen the reports from his own sources, he [Jinnah] was persuaded later, however, to accept that the 'communal riots in Calcutta were mainly started by Hindus and ... were of Hindu origin.'
Both sides in the confrontation came well-prepared for it ... Suhrawardy himself bears much of the responsibility for this blood-letting since he issued an open challenge to the Hindus and was grossly negligent ... in his failure to quell the rioting ... But Hindu leaders were also deeply implicated.
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