About Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan

Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin, KCIE (Urdu: خواجہ ناظم الدین‎; Bengali: খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন; 19 July 1894 – 22 October 1964) was one of the notable Bengali Founding Fathers of the modern state of Pakistan, career statesman from East Pakistan, serving as the second Governor-General of Pakistan from 1948 until the assassination of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951. Afterwards, Nazimuddin took the office of Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the second prime minister and first Bengali prime minister of the country.

His government lasted only two years, but saw civil unrest and foreign challenges that led to their final dismissal. In response to the 1953 Lahore riots, Nazimuddin was the first to declare martial law in Punjab, under Major-General Azam Khan and Colonel Rahimuddin Khan, initiating a massive repression of the right-wing sphere in the country. His short tenure also saw the quick rise of socialism in West Pakistan after failing to enforce the reduced expenditure programme to alleviate poverty, and failed to counter communist influence in East Pakistan (his native province) after the successful demonstration of the Bengali Language Movement – in both states the Muslim league was diminished. Foreign relations with the United States, the Soviet Union and India gradually declined, and anti-Pakistan sentiment persisted in those countries.

On 17 April 1953, Nazimuddin was dismissed and forced out of the government, and conceded his defeat in the 1954 general elections, and was succeeded by another Bengali statesman, Muhammad Ali Bogra. After a long illness, Nazimuddin died in 1964 at the age of 70, and was given a state funeral. He is buried at Suhrawardy Udyan, in his hometown of Dhaka.