This article is about the fourth prime minister of Pakistan. Not to be confused with the third prime minister of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Bogra.For other people with similar names, see Mohammad Ali (disambiguation).
Chaudhry Muhammad Ali[a] (15 July 1905 – 2 December 1982) was a Pakistani politician and statesman who served as the fourth prime minister of Pakistan from 1955 until his resignation in 1956. His government transitioned Pakistan from a British Dominion to an Islamic Republic.
He resigned from the position of Prime Minister in 1958, and from the Muslim League as well, when he failed at healing rifts with Muslim League, and a new party, named as Republican Party. His credibility is noted for promulgating the first set of the Constitution of Pakistan lost political endorsement from his party when failing to investigate the allegations on vote rigging and the secret defections in favour of the Republican Party.[1]
In July 1956, Muhammad Ali met with the Indian Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru of India in an attempt to settle the key issue that was preventing the normalization of relations between Pakistan and India. This was the issue of Kashmir that had been divided between India and Pakistan in 1948. That issue remains unsettled to this day.
Despite his feat, Prime Minister Muhammad Ali proved to be a poor politician who failed to maintain control over his party when he reached a compromise to dismissed the cabinet members of his own party in favor of appointing the cabinet composing of Republican Party and Awami League in 1955–56.[1] After appointing Abdul Jabbar Khan as the Chief minister of West-Pakistan who subsequently helped in secret trading in favor of Republican Party that made the Republicans in majority in the National Assembly, the Muslim League demanded its president to investigate the matter but Prime Minister Ali refused to support the parliamentary resolution in the National Assembly by believing that "he was responsible only to the Cabinet and the Parliament, not the party."[1]
On 8 September 1956, the parliamentary leaders of the Muslim League under A.Q. Khan, successfully brought the motion of no confidence at the National Assembly that effectively removed him from the party's presidency.[1] Despite support from President Mirza, Prime Minister Ali eventually resigned when Huseyn S. Suhrawardy gained support from the Muslim League for the premiership.[9]
^Blattner, Elwyn James; Blattner, James Elwyn (1955). Who's who in U.A.R. and the Near East (in French). Paul Barbey Press. p. 294. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
^ abcLyon, Peter (2008). Conflict Between India and Pakistan: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 9. ISBN978-1-57607-712-2. In 1947 he became secretary-general to the government [of Pakistan] ... Mirza did not want Suhrawardy to replace him [Choudhury Muhammad Ali] as prime minister and tried energetically but unsuccessfully to dissuade Choudhury Muhammad Ali from resigning. But Suhrawardy's appointment as prime minister was nonetheless forthcoming ... During the early years of the Mohammed Ayub Khan regime, Ali acted as an adviser to the National Bank of Pakistan. In 1962 he joined the opposition, but soon increasing frailty prevented him from playing an active or formal role.
^"The Constitution of 1956". storyofpakistan.com. Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust. 1 June 2003. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
^Asian Recorder. K. K. Thomas at Recorder Press. 1981. Retrieved 29 January 2018.