Huq joined the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and would go on to work for A.K. Fazlul Huq as his private secretary. He then joined the Industrial Museum in Kolkata. While he worked he finished his law degree. He was also involved with the Krishak Praja Party and was member of its working committee. In 1951 he retired from government service. He was elected from Jhalakathi-Wazirpur, Barisal in 1954 as an candidate of the United Front. He served the provincial government of A.K. Fazlul Huq as the Minister for Education. In 1955, he was made the Minister of Commerce and Industry in the government of Abu Hossain Sarkar. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly and helped frame the Constitution of Pakistan in 1956.

Huq was involved in the movement against military dictator Ayub Khan in 1969. He founded the National Democratic Front and subsequently the Pakistan Democratic Party. He boycotted the 1970 Pakistan General elections in protest against the central governments failure to respond to the Bhola Cyclone in East Pakistan. During the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971, he stayed on the sidelines. He returned to politics after 1975. He was elected to Parliament in 1986 from Barisal-2 on a Jatiya Party nomination. In 1988 he was reelected to parliament. He served in the Dhaka District Lawyers' Association as the president, for four terms. He served the chairman of Anjuman Mufidul Islam and Rahmat E Alam Islam Mission.