The Pakistan Awami League (officially the All-Pakistan Awami League, and before 1955 the All-Pakistan Awami Muslim League and simply Awami League) was a Pakistani political party founded by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in February 1950. Pir of Manki Sharif and Khan Ghulam Mohammad Khan from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) joined it soon afterwards.[1][2]
In 1949, Suhrawardy left Muslim League saying that the party became the party of elites and the party distanced itself from people.[5] In the same year, Iftikhar Mamdot was dismissed from the premiership of Punjab and formed a party called Jinnah Muslim League.[5] In 1950, Suhrawardy established All-Pakistan Awami Muslim League in West Pakistan.[3] The two parties merged to form Jinnah Awami Muslim League prior to the provincial elections in 1951.[6] In the Punjab provincial election in 1951, the Jinnah Awami Muslim League polled 18.3 percent votes and won 32 seats.[6] In the NWFP, it won four seats.[1] It was also established in Sindh.[3]
Subsequently, the East Pakistani party merged with All-Pakistan Awami Muslim League in 1952[3] and used the name All Pakistan Awami Muslim League.[7] In the 1954 provincial election in Bengal, the party won 143 seats. The United Front of East Pakistan led by Haq, Bhasani and Surahwardhy the party won a total of 223 seats, soundly defeating the Muslim League with 10 seats.[8] The party later dropped All Pakistan and named the party Awami Muslim League in East Pakistan. Later, the party evolved under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (himself a former aide to Suharwardy) and was named the Awami League .[4] After long arduous consultations and negotiations by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with the West Pakistan establishment of remaining united as a single nation without bloodshed eventually led the forces of Bangladesh nationalism in the struggle against West Pakistan's military, socio economic and political control, and the civil establishment.[4]
After Operation Searchlight, in a radio address on the evening of March 26, Yahya Khan, the then president of Pakistan, declared the Awami League treasonous and banned the party. In addition to this, the government seized the bank accounts of the Awami League.[9]
Chowdhury, Afsan (2021). ১৯৭১: অসহযোগ আন্দোলন ও প্রতিরোধ [1971: Non-Cooperation Movement and Resistance] (in Bengali). Dhaka: Kothaprokash. ISBN9789845101332.
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