PAKISTAN
CONSTITUTION 1956, 1962, 1973 SALIENT FEATURES
WHAT IS A
CONSTITUTION
A
constitution is a body, or a written document containing basic principles,
legal & political rules; power-sharing formulas to guide the governments,
establishment, judiciary and common people to govern and run the system.
Pakistan has
experimented on three constitutions 1956, 1962 and 1973 (present constitution)
until now. Here we’ll tell you the salient features of all constitutions of
Pakistan.
Pakistan
came into being on 14th August 1947 as a Dominion within the British
Commonwealth. According to Indian Act 1947, British monarch was a head of state
in Pakistan. The representative of British monarch was called Governed General.
The time was given to newly established countries Pakistan & India to
establish constitution & sound government systems in the state. Pakistan
Muslim League PML was a representative political party that acquired power from
British and first President: Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Prime Minister: Liaquat
Ali Khan was selected from PML. A assembly started working to frame the
constitution. Pakistan’s first three governor Generals Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
Khawaja Nizamudin and Ghulam Muhammad were from Muslim League. The party
leaders started to work on making constitution keeping in view the
parliamentary election systems like Govt of India act 1935. According to Indian
act 1935 elections were conducted in 1936-37 in 11 provinces and elected
representatives joined the assembly. The political party with majority
representatives/seats made the government.
Prime Minister is a representative of people. He has supreme powers and
president has de facto status.
India was
successful to pass its constitution on 26th January 1950 and the same
constitution is still in force. Contrary, Pakistan fell into political
instability after the death of Quaid e Azam. There started a tug of war between
politicians to seek power position. Military interference in civilian decisions
was another significant reason of creating chaos. The administrative issues
started to simmer in East Pakistan and West Pakistan. To deal with
administrative matters, the scheme of ONE UNIT was introduced.
READ MORE
ABOUT ONE-UNIT SCHEME
It took
around 9 years for Pakistan to pass its first constitution. The 1956
constitution was passed on 23rd March 1956. British Monarch was ended. The status
of dominion was changed to Islamic republic and title of governor general and
monarch were replaced by a President. Military Chief Sikandar Mirza title
shifted from governor General to President.
CONSTITUTION 1956
Pakistan
assembly adopted the constitution on 29 February 1956 and it was enforced on
23rd March 1956. Constitution 1956 was enforced when 4th Prime Minister was
Chaudhary Muhammad Ali and military chief Sikander Mirza was President. The constitution
was opposed from many members of Awami league (an emerging political party from
East Pakistan)
The 1956
constitution was an extended document with 234 articles divided into thirteen
parts and six schedules.
The 1956 constitution salient
features:
Country’s
official name was declared as “Islamic Republic of Pakistan” & Pakistan
became republic after it.
ALSO READ:
What is a Republic
Objective
resolution was an introduction of the constitution.
(Objective
resolution also remains introductory of successive constitution in Pakistan)
The Constitution of 1956 provided system
based on equivalence between East Pakistan and West Pakistan.
There will
be one house of parliament known as the National Assembly.
Parliamentary system as of India act 1935 was
adopted where a prime minister was head of government.
National
Assembly comprised 300 members; 150 members from each East Pakistan and West
Pakistan as a ONE UNIT.
President,
will be elected by the Electoral College of Pakistan composed of members of the
National Assembly and Provincial Assembly.
Ten
additional seats were reserved for women. Punjab was given 40% seats in the
West Pakistan Assembly.
Pr Members of the Assembly were to be elected
based on Direct Elections where adults of age 21 and above can poll the
opinion.
President
was given lesser powers and was declared ceremonial head of state.
(President was given power to declare
emergency getting any internal or external danger.)
• Asides Islamic laws, independent
Judiciary, freedom of speech were also defined in the constitution.
• Bengali & Urdu became national
languages.
Right after
the constitution 1956 enforced, four prime ministers were changed in two years.
Military didn’t seem happy on the authority of civilian government by the
constitution. The charges of incompetence & corruption were imposed on
prime ministers. Asides, a continuous tussle and security threats to Pakistan’s
existence from India fabricated the chance for the military to intervene the
authority of independent civilian government. These elected Prime Ministers
were Chaudhary Muhammad Ali resigned on Sept 1956, Prime Minister Hussain
Shaheed resigned on Oct 1957, Prime Minister Ibrahim Chudrigarh resigned Dec
1957, & Prime Minister Malik Feroz Noon was dismissed on Oct 1958. At last,
President Sikandar Mirza suspended constitution in 7th Oct, 1958.
He appointed General Muhammad Ayub Khan as the
Chief Martial Law Administrator. On 28th October, Ayub Khan deposed Sikandar Mirza
and became President. First Martial Law was imposed in the country. The
constitution of 1956 was abolished.
ALSO READ:
What is Martial Law?
Constitution 1962:
The constitution
was presented by President Ayub on 1 March 1962 and finally came into effect on
8 June 1962.
Ayub Khan
enforced 2nd constitution in Pakistan on 8th June 1962 after 3 years of his
Martial Law imposition.
Salient features of constitution
1962
The 1962
Constitution constitutes more powers for the president.
The
Constitution contained 250 articles divided into twelve parts and three
schedules.
Apparently,
it ended Martial Law which in fact was working.
The
constitution was enforced without consent of assembly.
All the
judges of the High courts had to be selected and appointed by the president
with the advice of the chief justice. But president was not bound to the
opinion or wishes of the Chief Justice.
It was
intended to huddle all powers for a single man: President Ayub Khan.
All other
parts of constitution 1962 were remained same as of 1956 which included
objective resolution, concept of one-unit, National assembly, freedom of speech
& judiciary etc.
To meet the
pressure from public and political parties, Ayub Khan resigned and gave charge
to Military Chief Yahya Khan, who promised to hold general elections in the
country. Yahya Khan declared Martial Law and abrogated constitution 1962 on
March 25, 1969.
He also
ended one unit scheme and four provinces of west Pakistan came back to their
positions as per 1947.
Constitution 1973
The
constitution of 1973 was framed after losing East Pakistan. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
who was elected president in result of general elections of 1970, drafted the
constitution. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto also consulted the opposition parties while
framing a new constitution. The constitution had adopted new and brief
definitions of system, power sharing, definitions of Senate, National assembly,
guidelines for Elections, including objective resolution from 1958 constitution.
This constitution is still enforced in Pakistan with many amendments.
Salient features of constitution
1973
The
constitution was approved by parliament in 10th April 1973
It become
effected on 14th August 1973
It consists
of 280 articles and 7 schedules
Objective
resolution was an introduction of the constitution.
The
Constitution recognized a "Bicameral Parliament" as a legislative
authority.
The house will consist of the Senate as Upper
house (providing equal provincial representation).
National Assembly will work as Lower house
will comprise representatives of public.
• Only a "Muslim" (The
Constitution of Pakistan defined a Muslim as a person who believes in the unity
and oneness of Allah, in the absolute and unqualified finality of the Prophet
hood of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and does not believe in, or recognize as
a prophet or religious reformer, any person who claimed or claims to be a
prophet, in any sense of the word or of any description whatsoever, after
Muhammad) of not less than forty-five years of age is qualified for becoming
the president and Prime Minister.
• All existing laws shall be brought in
conformity with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah.
• Teachings on Arabic, Quran, and Islamyat
to be compulsory in country's institutions and
• A secure, correct and exact printing
and publishing of the Quran was made sure.
• Proper organizations of Zakat, Waqf, and
mosques were made sure.
• A National Finance Commission (NFC)
consisting of the Provincial and Finance Minister was established.
• Prostitution, gambling and consumption
of alcohol, printing, publication, circulation, pornography, and display of
obscene literature and advertisements was banned.
· Urdu was declared national language. Official
language is Urdu and English
The
constitution 1973 is called supreme law is still enforced in Pakistan with
about 20 amendments.