Mohammed Ali Bogra October 19, 1909—January 23, 1963) was a well-known and notable Pakistani Foreign service officer of Bengali origin, serving as the third Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1953 until 1955, and prior to that, was also the Foreign Minister of Pakistan from 1954 to 1955.
Grew up in East-Pakistan and educated at the Calcutta University of India, Bogra was one of the core and principle Founding Fathers of current and modern state of Pakistan, responsible for leading the Muslim League in East Pakistan, in charge of party's foreign directorate. Bogra was the second Pakistan Ambassador to the United States, serving in two non-consecutive terms, and was also the second Bengali to have became the prime minister. His government too saw the civil unrest, problems with India, foreign challenges, economical distress, and Kashmir issue. His government also suffered with internal violence and threat of communism in East Pakistan and socialism in West Pakistan, that shrunk his credibility, leading the dismissal of his government.
Early life and Family
Born at Bogra to a Muslim family descended from the Nawabs of Bengal, he was a grandson of Nawab Bahadur Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury and attended the University of Calcutta and followed his education with a career in politics. Ali was married twice. He first married Hamide with who he had two sons. In 1955, he married again to Aliya Saddy.
Political career
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 Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy as the Health Minister and later Finance Minister.
Upon the formation of Pakistan in 1947, Bogra was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan but after disagreement with Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the Governor-General, over the issue of the Bengali Language, he was sent abroad as an Ambassador and served in Burma, Canada, and eventually as a two-time 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.
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.
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 the family grave of Nawab Palace in his hometown of Bogra in present day Bangladesh.
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