Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan (M. T. Khan; March 1889 – 19 August 1963) was the Speaker of Pakistan's

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

from 1948 to 1954 and

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly of Pakistan, also referred to as ''Aiwān-ē-Zairīñ'', is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate of Pakistan, Senate. As of 2023, the National Assem ...

between 1962 and 1963.

Early life

Khan was born in March 1889 to the

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

Khan Khan may refer to: * Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name * Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by various ethnicities Art and entertainment * Khan (band), an English progressiv ...

family of Khankhanapur in Rajbari, then part of the

Faridpur district Faridpur District () is a district in south-central Bangladesh. It is a part of Dhaka Division. It is bounded by the Padma River to the northeast. The district was named for its headquarters, the city of Faridpur, Bangladesh, Faridpur, which its ...

of the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

. His father was a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

with only three

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s of land. After completing his education at the Khankhanapur High School, he got enrolled at the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. He completed his master's in English from the

Presidency College, Calcutta Presidency University, formerly Presidency College, is a public state university located in College Street, Kolkata. Established in 1817 as the ''Hindoo College'', it was later renamed ''Presidency College'' in 1855 and functioned as a leadi ...

in 1913 and LLB in 1915 from Rippon College and started his legal profession in Faridpur. making him the first

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

from

to complete master's degree.

Career

Khan joined

non-cooperation movement Non-cooperation movement may refer to: * Non-cooperation movement (1919–1922), during the Indian independence movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi against British rule * Non-cooperation movement (1971), a movement in East Pakistan * Non-cooperatio ...

led by

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

when he was a student. Later he joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and subsequently joined

khilafat movement The Khilafat movement (1919–22) was a political campaign launched by Indian Muslims in British India over British policy against Turkey and the planned dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire after World War I by Allied forces. Leaders particip ...

in 1921 and was arrested and sent to Faridpur jail and later was shifted to Central jail in Dhaka. At that time, he was an ardent follower of

Chittaranjan Das Chittaranjan Das (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called ''Deshbandhu'' (friend of the country), was a Bengali freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian Independence Movement and the political guru of Indi ...

. Khan was elected vice-chairman of Faridpur Municipality. In 1926, he got elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly from Faridpur. Khan left Congress in 1926 as he thought that the party was biased towards the

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

He later became the secretary of the Anjuman-i-Islamia and subsequently joined the Muslim League. He competed on a Muslim League ticket in the 1937 election and defeated the Congressional candidate convincingly. Between 1937 and 1947, Khan served twice as Minister of Health, Agriculture, Industry and Education in Bengal. Khan created history when the Constituent Assembly was dismissed by Governor General Ghulam Mohammad in 1954. Khan challenged the dismissal in the court and the case was filed in the morning of 7 November 1954, by Advocate Manzar-e-Alam. Although the High Court agreed and overturned it, the Federal Court under

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Muhammad Munir Muhammad Munir (; 1895–1979) was the second Chief Justice of Pakistan serving from 1954 to 1960. Background Munir was born into a Kakkyzai Pashtun family and obtained his degree of master's in English Literature from Government College Univer ...

upheld the dismissal. He had been president of the Basic Principles Committee set up in 1949. "Justice A. R. Cornelius was the sole dissenting judge in the landmark judgment handed down by the Supreme Court in the Maulvi Tamizuddin case. That judgment altered the course of politics in Pakistan forever and sealed the fate of democracy. The law had guided him as he had interpreted it and his conscience." The decision to uphold the dismissal of the constituent assembly was to mark the beginning of the overt role of Pakistan's military and civil establishment in Pakistani politics.

Personal life

Khan's daughters were

Razia Khan Razia Khan Amin (1936 – 28 December 2011) was a Bangladeshi writer, poet and educationist. She was also a journalist, theatre actor and columnist for newspapers. She was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1997 for her contribution to education by the G ...

and Qulsum Huda Khan. Razia was an

Ekushey Padak Ekushey Padak () is the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, introduced in memory of martyrs of the Bengali language movement of 1952. The award is given to recognize contributions in a number of fields, including culture, education, and e ...

winning writer and poet, and married to Anwarul Amin Makhon, the youngest son of former

Prime Minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Cabinet of Pakistan, cabinet, desp ...

Nurul Amin Nurul Amin (15 July 1893 – 2 October 1974) was a Pakistani politician and jurist who served as the eighth prime minister of Pakistan from 7 December to 20 December 1971. His premiership term of only 13 days was the shortest served in Pakista ...

. They have a son named Kaiser Tamiz Amin and a daughter named

Aasha Mehreen Amin Aasha Mehreen Amin is a Bangladeshi journalist and writer. She is currently joint editor at ''The Daily Star''. Biography Aasha Mehreen Amin was born in Dhaka to a Bengali Muslim family. Her father, Anwarul Amin Makhon, was the second-eldest son ...

. On the other hand, Qulsum was one of the founders and vice-chancellors of

Central Women's University Central Women's University (CWU) is one of the first private universities in Bangladesh, established in 1993. It was the first university in Bangladesh established exclusively for the purpose of female education. Beggzadi Mahmuda Nasir served ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Maulvi Tamizuddin 1889 births 1963 deaths People from Rajbari District Politicians from Dhaka Division Surendranath College alumni University of Calcutta alumni Bengali politicians Krishak Sramik Party politicians Speakers of the National Assembly of Pakistan Pakistani MNAs 1947–1954 Bengal MLAs 1937–1945 Members of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India 20th-century Bengalis