Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin

Sir Khwaja Nazimuddin ‎ (19 July 1894 – 22 October 1964) , was a Bengali conservative politician and one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan. He is noted as being the first Bengali leader of Pakistan who ruled the country first as the Governor-General (1948–51), and later as the Prime Minister (1951–53).Born into an aristocratic Nawab family in Bengal in 1894, he was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University before pursuing his post-graduation studies at the Cambridge University. Upon returning, he emabarked on his journey as a politician on the platform of All-India Muslim League. Initially, his political career revolved around advocating for reforms and development regarding education in Bengal. However, later on he started supporting the cause for a separate Muslim homeland under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
He held the office of Prime Minister of Bengal from 1943 to 1945. After Partition he became the first Chief Minister of East Bengal, an office he held until his ascension to Governor-General in 1948, following the death of Jinnah. In 1951, he relinquished the post of Governor-General to Sir Malik Ghulam and took control of the Federal Government as Prime Minister after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan.As prime minister, he struggled to run the government effectively on the internal and foreign fronts, and thus his tenure was short-lived. On the home front, he struggled to maintain law and order in the country and instructed the military to impose martial law in Lahore due to religious riots and stagnation. He also faced a populist language movement in his native Bengal that eventually led to the shutdown of its provincial government. On the foreign front, diplomatic relations with the United States, Soviet Union, Afghanistan, and India soured as republicanism and socialism gained popularity at home. Eventually, he was forced to step down in favor of diplomat Mohammad Ali Bogra by his own appointed Governor-General Sir Malik Ghulam in 1953 and conceded defeat in elections held in 1954. Shortly after retirement from national politics, he suffered a brief illness and died in 1964. He was buried at a Mausoleum in Dhaka.