The Government of East Pakistan or formerly Government of East Bengal governed the province East Bengal (later East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) and was centered in its provincial capital Dhaka. The head of the province was the Governor, who was nominated by the President of Pakistan. While the head of the province of East Pakistan was the Chief Minister who was elected by the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly.

The East Pakistani government was dominated by the Awami League.^[1] It was succeeded by the Government of Bangladesh following the province's secession in 1971.

Awami League accepted A.K. Fazlul Haque of Krishak Sramik Party as the Chief Minister of the province in the Parliamentary meeting on 2 April 1954, forced by Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman, the then governor of East Bengal, to form the provincial government. However, on the same day, without consulting the provincial council meeting, Haque announced three persons as ministers of the province according to his own wish. Awami League, the majority party of the United Front, could not accept this.^[2]

On the 30th of the same month, Haque's speech in Calcutta, India highlighted the similarity between the two Bengals, which drew criticism in Pakistan.^[3] Under the pressure of criticism, Haque announced the names of 10 more ministers to improve relations with Awami League, 7 of whom were members of Awami League. However, on May 30, the central government dissolved the United Front cabinet and imposed Governor's rule in East Bengal.^[4]

After the removal of Governor's rule on 5 June 1955, the Krishak Sramik Party and the Awami League formed the next cabinet.^[5] Although he announced his retirement from politics on 24 July 1954, on 11 August 1955 A.K. Fazlul Haque became the Home Minister^[6] and Abu Hussain Sarkar was the Chief Minister of the new cabinet.^[7] In the session of the Provincial Council dated 13 August 1956, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman moved a motion of no confidence against the Second United Front Cabinet. However, on August 14, when A.K. Fazlul Haque, Governor of East Pakistan, announced the suspension of the session of the Provincial Council for an indefinite period, the Awami League started a movement against the governor.

On August 15, three cabinet ministers resigned.^[8] In the face of strong protests, the Governor convened a session of the East Pakistan Provincial Council on 26 August. On 4 September 1956, after East Pakistan Rifles fired at an Awami League rally, killing 4 people and injuring several others, protests broke out in Dhaka in response. In such a situation, Section 144 was issued and the leaders of Krishak Sramik Party went into hiding.^[9]

In view of the events of September 1956, the governor ordered the Awami League to form a cabinet.^[9] On 5 September 1956, the Awami League in East Pakistan formed the second ministry in the province. This ministry, which lasted for about two years, was abolished on 24 September 1958.^[2] At that time, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was simultaneously a member of the working committee of Awami League and the Minister of Industries of East Pakistan, which was against the constitution of Awami League. So he resigned from the post of Minister of Industry. As Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani resigned from Awami League and formed the National Awami Party, a section of Awami League members joined Bhasani's party. In March 1957, Governor Haque amended the law to reduce the no confidence vote from 130 to 104.^[10]

On March 21, 1958, two days after 11 Awami League leaders left the party, the Abu Hossain government moved a motion of no confidence against the Khan cabinet. However, the no-confidence motion was rejected due to lack of sufficient votes.^[11] AK Fazlul Haque dismissed the Khan cabinet and installed a new cabinet of the Abu Hussain Sarker on 31 March, but the Khan cabinet was reinstated on the same day after Haque was dismissed by Feroz Khan Noon's administration.^[12] On 19 June 1958, Ataur Rahman Khan's cabinet fell due to a no-confidence motion.^[12] Abu Hussain Sarker's ministry was ousted by a no-confidence vote on the day it formed the ministry on June 20.^[12] After Ataur Rahman Khan's cabinet came to power, governor's rule was imposed in the province on June 25 for 2 months.^[13]

After absorption into the Dominion of Pakistan, the province of East Pakistan (former East Bengal) was administered by a ceremonial Governor and an indirectly elected Chief Minister. During the year from May 1954 to August 1955, executive powers were exercised by the Governor and there was no Chief Minister.

Political Party

Legend

Governor of East Bengal

#	Portrait	Governor	Term of office			Political Party	Governor General/ President
			Term Start	Term End	Time in Office
1		Sir Frederick Chalmers Bourne (1891-1977)	August 15, 1947[14]	April 5, 1950[14][15]	2 years, 233 days	Independent (British Administrator)	Muhammad Ali Jinnah Khawaja Nazimuddin
[-]		Justice A.S.M. Akram (Acting)[A] (1888-1968)	March 16, 1949[16]	April 25, 1949[16]	40 days	Independent	Khawaja Nazimuddin
2		Sir Feroz Khan Noon (1893-1970)	April 5, 1950[17][18]	March 26, 1953[17]	2 years, 355 days	Muslim League	Khawaja Nazimuddin Malik Ghulam Muhammad
[-]		Abdur Rahman Siddiqui (Acting)[B] (1887-1953)	July 25, 1952[19]	November 10, 1952[19]	108 days	Muslim League	Malik Ghulam Muhammad
3		Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman (1889-1973)	April 4, 1953[20]	May 30, 1954[a][20]	1 year, 56 days	Muslim League
4		Iskander Mirza (1899-1969)	May 30, 1954[a][21]	September 21, 1954[21]	114 days	Muslim League
[-]		Justice Sir Thomas Hobart Ellis (Acting)[C] (1894-1981)	Appointment:[22] September 21, 1954 Sworn in:[22] October 25, 1954	December 22, 1954[22]	92 days	Independent
[-]		Justice Muhammad Shahabuddin (Acting)[D] (1895-1971)	December 22, 1954[23]	June 14, 1955[b][23]	174 days	Independent
[-]		Justice Amiruddin Ahmad (Acting)[E] (1895-1965)	June 14, 1955[24]	As Governor of East Bengal: October 14, 1955 As Governor of East Pakistan: March 9, 1956[24]	As Governor of East Bengal: 122 days As Governor of East Pakistan: 269 days	Independent	Malik Ghulam Muhammad Iskander Mirza

Governor of East Pakistan

#	Portrait	Governor	Term of office			Political Party	President
			Term Start	Term End	Time in Office
[-]		Justice Amiruddin Ahmad (Acting)[F] (1895-1965)	As Governor of East Bengal: June 14, 1955 As Governor of East Pakistan: October 14, 1955[25]	March 9, 1956[25]	As Governor of East Bengal: 122 days As Governor of East Pakistan: 269 days	Independent	Malik Ghulam Muhammad Iskander Mirza
1		Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq (1873 - 1962)	March 9, 1956[26]	March 31, 1958[c][26][27]	2 years, 22 days	Krishak Sramik Party	Iskander Mirza
[-]		Muhammad Hamid Ali (Acting)[G] (1906-1972)	April 1, 1958[28][27]	May 3, 1958[28][29]	32 days	Independent
2		Sultanuddin Ahmad (1902-1977)	Appointment:[30] April 26, 1958 Sworn in:[30][29] May 3, 1958	October 10, 1958[d][30][31]	160 days	Independent
3		Zakir Husain (1898-1971)	Appointment:[32] October 10, 1958 Sworn in:[32][31] October 11, 1958	April 14, 1960[32]	1 year, 186 days	Independent	Iskander Mirza Ayub Khan
4		Lieutenant general Azam Khan, PA (1908-1994)	April 15, 1960[33]	May 10, 1962[33]	2 years, 25 days	Military	Ayub Khan
[-]		Syed Hashim Raza (Acting)[H] (1910-2003)	July 1, 1961[34]	August 5, 1961[34]	35 days	Independent
5		Ghulam Faruque Khan (1899-1992)	May 11, 1962[35]	October 25, 1962[e][35]	167 days	Independent
6		Abdul Monem Khan (1899-1971)	October 28, 1962[36]	March 23, 1969[36]	6 years, 146 days(Longest Serving)	Muslim League
7		Mirza Nurul Huda (1919-1991)	March 23, 1969[37]	March 25, 1969[f][37]	2 days	Independent
8		Major general Muzaffaruddin, PA[g] (Martial Law Administrator)	March 25, 1969[38]	August 23, 1969[38]	151 days	Military	Yahya Khan
9		Lieutenant general Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, PA[I] (1920-2016) (Martial Law Administrator)	August 23, 1969[39]	September 1, 1969[h][39]	9 days	Military
10		Vice admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan, PN (1921-1989)	September 1, 1969[40]	March 1, 1971[40]	1 year, 181 days	Military
(11)		Lieutenant general Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, PA[J] (1920-2016) (Head of Civil Administration )	March 1, 1971[39]	March 7, 1971[39]	6 days	Military
12		Lieutenant general Tikka Khan, PA (1915-2002)	Appointment:[41] March 6, 1971 Sworn in:[41] March 7, 1971 Officially announced:[41] March 9, 1971	September 3, 1971[41]	180 days	Military
13		Abdul Motaleb Malik (1905-1977)	Appointment:[42] August 31, 1971 Sworn in:[42] September 3, 1971	December 14, 1971[i][42]	102 days	Muslim League
14		Lieutenant general A. A. K. Niazi, PA[K] (1915-2004) (Supreme Authority of East Pakistan)	December 14, 1971[43]	December 16, 1971[43]	2 days	Military

No	Image	Name	Term(s)	Party
1		Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin	15 August 1947 – 14 September 1948	Muslim League
2		Nurul Amin	14 September 1948 – 3 April 1954	Muslim League
3		Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq	3 April 1954 – 29 May 1954	Krishak Sramik Party (with the support of Awami League)
4		Abu Hussain Sarkar	20 June 1955 – 30 August 1956	Krishak Sramik Party
5		Ataur Rahman Khan	1 September 1956 – March 1958	Awami League

No	Image	Name	Term		Party
		Khawaja Nazimuddin	August 15, 1947	September 4, 1948	Muslim League
		Nurul Amin	September 14, 1948	April 3, 1954	Muslim League
		A. K. Fazlul Huq	April 3, 1954	May 29, 1954	United Front
		Abu Hussain Sarkar	June 20, 1955	August 30, 1956	Awami League
		Ataur Rahman Khan	September 1, 1956	March 1958
		Abu Hussain Sarkar	March 1958
		Ataur Rahman Khan	March 1958	June 18, 1958
		Abu Hussain Sarkar	June 18, 1958	June 22, 1958
		Ataur Rahman Khan	August 25, 1958	October 7, 1958

East Pakistan's provincial assembly consisted of 300 members. It was known as the East Bengal Assembly from 1947 to 1955 when the provincial name was changed. The legislature was a successor to the Bengal Legislative Council and the Bengal Legislative Assembly, which were divided between East Bengal and West Bengal during the partition of Bengal in 1947. It was the largest provincial legislature in Pakistan.

The High Court of judicature for East Bengal commonly known as the Dhaka High Court was established in 1947 under Pakistan (Provisional Constitutional) Order 1947 as a separate High Court with all Appellate, Civil and Original jurisdictions.^[44][45] In 1955 the Dhaka High Court became the High Court of East Pakistan and the Supreme Court of Pakistan was established as the apex Court with the appellate jurisdiction to hear the decisions of the High Courts established in the East and West Pakistan.^[46] Until 1967 the High Court was held in the building that now known as the Old High Court Building on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, opposite the curzon hall, Dhaka. With the construction of a larger facility in the 1960s nearby that now houses the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and Attorney General's office, the High Court was shifted from Old House on 10 July 1967.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).