A BIOGRAPHY OF MOHAMMAD MOHAMMADULLAH

After completing graduation, Mohammadullah began practicing law in Dhaka. He quickly became one of the city’s leading lawyers. In 1950, Mohammadullah joined the Dhaka Bar. He registered as an advocate at the Dhaka High Court Bar in the year 1964. In 1950, Mohammadullah joined as an activist in the Awami Muslim League, a political party that was founded to promote Bengali nationalism.

He entered the Awami League office, which was then situated in Nawabpur, and said to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman his desire to volunteer for the organization. He then began working in the post of office management. Mohammadullah quickly rose through the ranks of the party and became a close associate of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League.

He was chosen by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to serve as the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League’s office secretary in 1953, and he did so for 20 years until 1972. In 1966, Mohammadullah was a key figure in the Six Point Movement, a campaign for greater sovereignty in East Pakistan.

The movement was successful in forcing the Pakistani government to make some concessions to East Pakistan, but it also led to the imprisonment of many Awami League leaders, including Mohammadullah. After being imprisoned for a long period, he got released and continued to be active in politics. He was selected as a member of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly in 1970.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, Mohammadullah was the political adviser of Syed Nazrul Islam who was the acting President of the Mujibnagar government, the government-in-exile of Bangladesh. After the war, he was chosen to serve as the Bangladesh Constituent Assembly’s (Ganoparishad) Deputy Speaker on April 10, 1972.

He was appointed acting Speaker in the same year when Speaker Shah Abdul Hamid passed away. Later, on November 12, 1972, he was chosen as the Speaker. From the constituency of Raipur-Lakshmipur, Mohammadullah was chosen as a member of the national parliament of Bangladesh (Jatiya Sangsad), and in 1973, he was chosen once more as the Speaker of the parliament.

On December 24, 1973, he was appointed interim President, and on January 24, 1974, he was elected President. On January 24, 1974, Bangladesh held its first-ever indirect Presidential election. Prior to the introduction of the Presidential system in January 1975, this was the first and final Presidential election held under a parliamentary system.

As there were no other contenders, the parliament elected Mohammad Mohammadullah as President without any voting. On January 27, 1974, Mohammadullah took the oath of office as the country’s President. The oath of office was administered in Bangabhaban by Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem, Chief Justice of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court.

The fourth amendment was passed on January 25, 1975, removing Mohammadullah from the presidency and appointing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as president of Bangladesh for a five-year tenure. After that, on January 26, 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman appointed him as a minister in the Land Administration and Land Reforms Ministry.

Mohammadullah was chosen by those people involved in the August 1975 assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to serve as Vice President. In 1980, he entered into the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) after quitting the politics of the Awami League. On March 23, 1982, President Abdus Sattar named him Vice President.

However, the position was only held by him for about a year before Lieutenant General Ershad gained control of the nation’s governance. In 1991, Mohammadullah was again selected as a Jatiya Sangsad member as a candidate for the BNP. However, prior to the parliamentary elections in 1996, he resigned from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and joined the Awami League.