Shamsul Huq (1918–1965) was a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

Bengali politician who led a parliamentary committee in the

Constituent Assembly of Pakistan The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was the supreme federal legislature of the Dominion of Pakistan. It was established in August 1947 with the primary tasks of framing Constitution of Pakistan of 1956, a constitution; and serving as an interim ...

to advocate for the recognition of the

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

during the Language movement of the 1950s. He was also the first and third general secretary of the

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

, which played a key role in Bengali nationalist movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

Political career

The

was formed on 23 June 1949 and Shamsul Huq became its first general secretary, and

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani (12 December 1880 – 17 November 1976), also known reverentially as Maulana Bhashani, was a Bangladeshi politician and statesman who was one of the founder of the Awami League, the oldest and main political party in B ...

became its first president. He wrote a pamphlet on this occasion titled "''Main Demands.''" The pamphlet reads

Personal life

Shamsul Huq was married to Afia Khatun, whose childhood friend Begum Jahanara was the wife of

Yar Mohammad Khan Yar Mohammad Khan (September 9, 1920 – August 29, 1981) was a Bangladeshi politician and statesman. He was the co-founder and first treasurer of the Bangladesh Awami League, the main political party that eventually led Bangladesh's struggle fo ...

who was a founder (treasurer) of the Awami League and the founder (publisher) of ''

The Daily Ittefaq ''The Daily Ittefaq'' (, Bangla pronunciation: ) is a Bengali-language daily newspaper. Founded in 1949 by Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Yar Mohammad Khan, it is the oldest and one of the most circulated newspapers in Bangladesh. The newspape ...

''. Afia Khatun lived and worked in the United States later in her life. She authored a book – ''Bengali Language Movement and the Creation of Bangladesh'' (2011) – with her husband Anwar S. Dil.

References

1918 births 1965 deaths People from Tangail District Politicians from Dhaka Division Awami League politicians General secretaries of Awami League Pakistani politicians 20th-century Bengalis {{Dhaka-AL-politician-stub