United Front (East Pakistan)

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Events
Partition of Bengal Bengali language movement Six point movement Agartala Conspiracy Case Eleven Points Programme East Pakistan mass uprising Pakistani general election Non-cooperation movement 7 March Speech Operation Searchlight Proclamation of Independence
Organisations
East Pakistan Renaissance Society Awami League United Front East Pakistan Communist Party Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Parishad Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra
Key persons
Abul Kalam Shamsuddin Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury Mujibur Rahman Khan Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Serajul Alam Khan Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani Ataur Rahman Khan
Related
Lahore Resolution United Bengal Bangladesh Liberation War International recognition
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The United Front was a coalition of political parties in East Bengal which contested and won Pakistan's first provincial general election to the East Bengal Legislative Assembly. The coalition consisted of the Awami Muslim League, the Krishak Praja Party, the Ganatantri Dal (Democratic Party) and Nizam-e-Islam. The coalition was led by three major Bengali populist leaders- A. K. Fazlul Huq, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Maulana Bhashani. The election resulted in a crushing defeat for the Muslim League. Veteran student leader of East Pakistan Khaleque Nawaz Khan defeated sitting Prime Minister of East Pakistan Mr. Nurul Amin in Nandail Constituency of Mymensingh district and created history in political arena. Nurul Amin's crushing defeat to a 27 years old young Turk of United Front effectively eliminated the Muslim League from political landscape of the then East Pakistan with United Front parties securing a landslide victory and gaining 223 seats in the 309-member assembly. The Awami League emerged as the majority party, with 143 seats.^[1][2]

A. K. Fazlul Huq of the Krishak Praja Party became Chief Minister of East Pakistan upon the victory of the United Front. The election propelled popular Bengali leaders into the Pakistani federal government, with leaders such as Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy and Abul Mansur Ahmed becoming key federal ministers. In the provincial government, young leaders such as Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Yusuf Ali Chowdhury and Khaleque Nawaz Khan rose to prominence. The United Front demanded greater provincial autonomy for East Pakistan. It passed a landmark order for the establishment of the Bangla Academy in Dhaka.^{[citation needed]}