Muhammad Ali Bogra

Muhammad Ali Bogra


3rd Prime Minister of Pakistan
In office17 April 1953 – 12 August 1955
Monarch
Elizabeth II (until March 1953)
President
Iskander Mirza (from March 1953)
Preceded by
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Succeeded by
Chaudhry Muhammad Ali
2nd Foreign Minister of Pakistan
In office14 September 1962 – 15 July 1963
Preceded by
Manzur Qadir
Succeeded by
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Born
12 August 1909Bogra, Bengal
Died
July 15, 1963 (aged 53)Bogra, East Pakistan
Political party
Muslim League
Religion
Shia Islam
Muhammad Ali Bogra (1909 - 1963) (Bengali: মোহাম্মদ আলী বগুড়া محمد علی بوگرہ Urdu) was a Pakistani statesman of Bengali origin, who served as Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1953 until 1955.
Contents[hide]
1 Early life
2 Prime Minister
3 Resignation and Death
4 See also


Early life
Born at Bogra to a family descended from the Nawabs of Bengal, he attended the University of Calcutta and followed his education with a career in politics. In 1937 he began to receive prominence when he was elected to the assembly of Bengal. He would move up within the government of Bengal, serving under Khawaja Nazimuddin as the Health Minister.
Upon the formation of Pakistan in 1947, Bogra was put into the foreign service, and served in Burma, Canada, and eventually as ambassador to the United States.

Prime Minister
In 1953, he was selected by Governor General of Pakistan Ghulam Muhammad to replace Khawaja Nazimuddin as the Prime Minister. Bogra was a relatively unknown personality to the national political scene of that time. He was serving as Ambassador to the US when he was recalled to take the office of Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, he set out to form a constitution.

Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru talks to PM Bogra in his 1953 visit to Karachi.
In order to complete this, he outlined his famous "Bogra Formula" that sought to form a bicameral legislature. An Upper House would have contained 50 seats, 10 from each province, i.e. with 10 from East Pakistan and 40 from West Pakistan. A Lower House would have contained 300 seats. The lower house seats would be determined by population of province, and East Pakistan would have 165 seats, while the four provinces of West Pakistan would have a combined 135 seats, but would be split among the provinces. A provision was also put in place that stated that if the President of Pakistan were from West Pakistan, then the Prime Minister would have to be from East Pakistan, and vice-versa. The plan was very popular, but was killed when Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the Pakistani Assembly later in 1953.

[edit] Resignation and Death
Bogra was forced to resign in 1955 by the new Governor General, Iskander Mirza. He returned to his post as ambassador to the United States. In 1962 he became the foreign minister of Pakistan, until his death in 1963. He was buried in his hometown of Bogra in present day Bangladesh.