Мохаммад Али Богра: Пакістанның экс-премьер-министрі және дипломаты

Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1953 to 1955
the third prime minister of Pakistan

After his education at the Presidency College at the University of Calcutta, he started his political career on Muslim League's platform and joined the Bengal's provincial cabinet of then Prime Minister H. S. Suhrawardy in the 1940s. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, he joined the foreign ministry as a diplomat and briefly tenured as Pakistan's ambassador to Burma (1948), High Commissioner to Canada (1949–1952), twice as ambassador to the United States, and as ambassador to Japan (1959–1962). After he was recalled in 1953 from his services to Pakistan from the United States, he replaced Sir Khwaja Nazimuddin as Prime Minister in an appointment approved by then Governor General Sir Malik Ghulam. His foreign policy strongly pursued the strengthening of bilateral relations between Pakistan and the United States, while downplaying relations with the Soviet Union. He also pushed for a stronger military to achieve peace with India and took personal initiatives to prioritize relations with China. At home front, he successfully proposed the popular political formula that laid the foundation of the constitution in 1956 which made Pakistan a federal parliamentary republic. Despite his popular initiatives, he lost his support to then acting governor general Iskandar Ali Mirza who re appointed him as Pakistani Ambassador to the United States which he served until 1959. In 1962, he joined President Muhammad Ayub Khan's administration as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan until his death in 1963.

Mohammad Ali was born in Backerganj (now Barisal), East Bengal, British India, on 19 October 1909. He was born into an elite and wealthy aristocrat family who were known as the Nawabs of Dhanbari, traditionally very close to the British monarchy. The prefix, Sahibzada (lit. Prince) is added before his name to represent the Bengali royalty which is customary to give to individuals in India. His father, Altaf Ali Chowdhury, was fond of Derby horse race, dog show, and physical sports. Mohammad Ali Bogra grew up in Bogra, having studied first at the local Hastings House and then educated at the local madrassa in Calcutta. His second marriage led to widespread protests against polygamy by women organizations in the country.

Before his entrance in the politics, the Bogra family were influential Nawabs active in Bengali politics and Muslim League as a party worker in 1930. He contested in the general elections on a Muslim League's platform held in 1937 from Bogra constituency and sat in the Opposition in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. In 1946, he was asked by Husyn Suhrawardy to join his cabinet and subsequently held ministerial portfolio of health, finance, and local government. In 1949, he left Burma when he was appointed as High Commissioner of Pakistan to Canada which he headed the diplomatic mission until 1952. Watching the campaign for the 1952 United States presidency, Bogra conjectured, according to Husain Haqqani, that Pakistan could obtain economic and military aid from the United States by casting itself as a front line state in the battle to contain Soviet communism. He vigorously lobbied anticommunists in Washington, D. C. to that end. In Pakistan's political circle, he was seen as extremely having pro American views and had fondness of the country, the United States. He also helped negotiated the United States' officer assistance advisory to be dispatch to Pakistan, in an agreement he signed with the United States government in 1952. In the Foreign Service society of Pakistan, Bogra gained a reputation of "a man who was known for his excessive praise of everything American." He served as Pakistan's ambassador until 1953 but he had become disconcern of the real situation in Pakistan when the leftwing influence began to grow and the public support for the Soviet Union was visible. Pakistani historians held him widely responsibly as one of the principle personalities putting Pakistan in the alliance of the United States against the Soviet Union. Bogra was recalled to Karachi (then Federal capital) from Washington DC for further consultation but Governor General Ghulam Muhammad moved to appointed him as a new Prime Minister and the President of Pakistan Muslim League (PML), which the party had accepted. Under pressure and reluctant, he accepted the new appointment from the Governor General Ghulam Muhammad but he was more of a diplomat than politician who was unknown to the general public. Initially, he kept the federal ministries of foreign affairs and defence until appointing a new cabinet. He had appointed then defence secretary Iskander Mirza as the governor, but this appointment only lasted a couple of months. which included General Ayub Khan, the Army Commander in Chief, as the Defence Minister and Major General (retired) Iskander Ali Mirza as Interior Minister. Bogra was eager to strengthen military ties with the United States, however, the Americans moved cautiously to not damage their strong relations with India. His tenure saw him signing multiple treaties with the United States and brought the two countries closer. In 1955, Prime Minister Bogra led Pakistan to attend the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in 1955, which saw the first high level contact between China and Pakistan. Bogra addressed the Kashmir conflict with India. In 1953, he met with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the sidelines of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London. Mohammad Ali Bogra well received Prime Minister Nehru when he paid an official visit to Karachi, and Prime Minister Bogra reciprocated the visit in New Delhi soon after.

The Bogra Formula was a political compromise presented and proposed by Prime Minister Bogra on 7 October 1953 before the Constituent Assembly. Upon taking the control of the Prime Minister's Secretariat, Bogra announced that drafting of the codified Constitution was his primary target, and within six months, he announced a proposal that leads to the drafting of the constitution writ.]] The compromise did not settled to its ground when Governor General Ghulam Muhammad, threatened by curbing of his powers, dissolved the Constituent Assembly in 1954 with the support of Pakistan military and civil bureaucracy.

On 4 August 1955, the Cabinet accepted Governor General Sir Malik Ghulam Muhammad's request for a leave of absence due to ill health. They chose Interior Minister Iskander Mirza to replace him, and he was sworn in as Acting Governor General on 7 August. Soon after the appointment, Acting Governor General Mirza began having confrontation with Prime Minister Bogra on regional disparity though both were Bengali and were from Bengal, and forced the Prime Minister Bogra to resign that ended Bogra's administration. Acting Governor General Mirza also dismissed Malik Ghulam Muhammad and sent a letter of notification in the United Kingdom to remind him of the political developments. Governor General Mirza, instead appointment Bogra as Pakistani Ambassador to the United States when he recalled Amjad Ali who was appointed as Finance Minister. As foreign minister, he guided a pro Western policy but made efforts to improve relations with the Soviet Union after witnessing the Western and American support India during the Chinese Indian War in 1962. During this time, his health became a serious issue and illness caused him to miss out the meeting over Kashmir but his deputy Zulfikar Ali Bhutto attended in the United States on 26 December 1962.

Bogra died on 23 January 1963 in Dacca. Politician Ajmal Ali Choudhury offered condolences and felt "deep sorrow" for the sudden death.