Khan, Year Mohammad
Khan, Mohammad Year (1920-1981) Inhabitant of old Dhaka, born of a wealthy family, very good friend of Bangabandhu, founder- Treasurer of Awami Muslim League (Awami League in 1955), United Front MPA, believer in progressive politics. Year Mohammad Khan was born in 1920 at 18, Karkunbari Lane in old Dhaka. His father’s name was Saleh Mohammad Khan. He was an established contractor. His family made a great contribution to the growth and development of opposition politics in the initial period of Pakistan State.
Year Mohammad Khan passed Seniour Cambridge from Dhaka Saint Gregory School. Thereafter he got actively involved in politics. He was closely associated with the founding of Awami Muslim League on 23 June 1949, himself becoming its treasurer. At that time, it was a very challenging task to exercise opposition politics including founding a party in the face of stern opposition from the Pakistan government as well as the Dhaka Nawab family. In the backdrop, the contributions of Year Mohammad Khan and another brave son of old Dhaka, Shwakat Ali alias Shwakat Mia (1918-1975) towards the building up of the Awami League at the initial stage have been duly acknowledged by Bangabandhu on several pages of his recently published book "Asampa Atmajiboni" (The Unfinished Memoirs), UPL 2012.
After the foundation of the Awami Muslim League, its founder-President Maulana Bhasani used to stay with Year Mohammad Khan’s family. Once the office of the Awami League was in the ground floor of their house. Party meetings were held in the Hall Room there. Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy also attended those meetings. When Maulana Bhasani started publishing Weekly Ittefaq in 1949, Year Mohammad Khan provided funding.
In 1951, Year Mohammad Khan was one of founder Vice-Presidents of East Pakistan Jubo [Youth] League. In the 1954 elections, he was elected Member of the East Bengal Provincial Legislative Assembly from the United Front as an Awami League nominee.
Following the abrupt dismissal of Fazlul Huq’s United Front Ministry by the central government, when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the only former Minister, was put in to jail by the government, Year Mohammad Khan came up with a helping hand towards Bangabandhu's family including arranging a new residence for the family members. However, he also got arrested in the jail gate while going there along with Bangabandhu’s wife Begum Fazilatun Nesa for a visit to him.
As already mentioned, Year Mohammad Khan firmly believed in progressive politics. He was co-Treasurer of Awami League’s historic Kagmari (Tangail) cultural conference held in 1957. On that occasion, there marked an open difference between Suhrawardy and Maulana Bhasani over Pakistan’s foreign policy- alignment with the western powers vis-à-vis policy of non-alignment. As a result, 9 members of the Executive Committee including 8 MPAs resigned from the Awami League in protest against and support for Bhasani’s non-aligned policy. Year Mohammad Khan was one among those who resigned. In the same year (1957) in July, when an anti-imperialist pro-socialist National Awami Party was founded at a two-day workers conference in Dhaka with Maulana Bhasani as President, Year Mohammad Khan was its founder-Treasurer. As already mentioned, he was the founder-Treasurer of Awami League, too, and President of its Dhaka City Committee. However, gradually he became disenchanted with politics. In 1981, this illustrious son of the Dhaka city passed away. The name of his wife was Begum Jahanara Khanam. She has also expired. This couple left behind 5 daughters and 1 son. [Harun-or-Rashid]
Source Harun-or-Rashid, Bangabandhur Asamapta Atmajiboni Punorpaht (in Bengali) [Bangabandhu’s The Unfinished Memoirs Revisited], (UPL 2013)
