Constitutional Development in Pakistan: 1947-1956
Definition of Constitution
A constitution is a basic paper that sets up how a country or group is run. It says who has power, what the different parts of the government do, and how the government treats people. It's like the main rules for a country or group. The word comes from an old word that meant rules or orders. What goes into making a constitution comes from the culture, people, history, religion, and government of a place.
History of Constitution Making
Pakistan became its own country in 1947 when it split from British India. At first, Pakistan used an old law from 1935, with some changes made in 1945, as its constitution.
Measures Taken by Jinnah
Mohammad Ali Jinnah started the first group to write the constitution in August 1947. It had 69 people who were chosen in the elections of 1945-46, plus 10 people from royal states.
This group had two jobs: to make laws for the country and to write the constitution. The people in the group didn't have much experience. Jinnah's death in 1948 made things harder for the new government.
The Objectives Resolution (1949)
On March 12, 1949, the group writing the constitution made a plan called the Objectives Resolution. This plan was the base for Pakistan's constitution. Liaquat Ali Khan, who was the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, introduced it.
Main Features of Objective Resolution
God owns everything, and people are given the power to use things within certain limits.
The constitution will be for a free Pakistan, and people will choose their leaders.
The country will have democracy, freedom, fairness, and justice, as taught by Islam, so Muslims can live by its rules.
People who are not Muslim will be free to follow their religion and grow their culture. Their rights and the rights of those who are poor will be protected.
Pakistan will be a group of states with some power to rule themselves, but the country will stay strong and safe.
The people of Pakistan should do well, be respected around the world, and help make the world peaceful and happy.
Importance of Objective Resolution
Saying that God owns everything set a new idea for politics, different from the Western idea that people own everything. It put limits on how leaders can use their power, saying it comes from God.
People who were not Muslim were given rights and respect. The plan gave a base for future constitutions and made Islam important, staying as the start of all Pakistani constitutions.
Objections Raised by Non-Muslims
People who were not Muslim worried that the government was mixing religion and politics, which they thought was against democracy. They were afraid that saying God owns everything would cause unfairness and that Islamic law wouldn't fit in modern times and would create a religious country.
Constitutional Issues
How the country is divided into states
How people are chosen to represent others
Whether to have separate or mixed voting
What the national language should be
Whether to have a government run by a parliament or a president
Whether the country should be Islamic or not
Federalism
Everyone agreed on dividing the country into states, but it was hard to decide how to split power between the east and west sides of Pakistan and among the states. The states wanted more power to rule themselves, but the idea of a strong central government stayed until 1956.
Representation
The east and west sides of Pakistan had different numbers of people and were different sizes, which made it hard to decide how to represent them. People cared a lot about being represented fairly and about the states having power. A group called the Basic Principle Committee was formed on March 12, 1949, to find a fair way to decide.
The National Language Issue
Before Pakistan became independent, important Muslims throughout India used Urdu. In 1948, Jinnah said Urdu would be the national language. But people in East Pakistan didn't like this, and it got worse after Jinnah died. The Language Movement started in East Pakistan in February 1952, which led to the decision to have two languages in 1954.
Parliamentary or Presidential System
Most people wanted a government run by a parliament, but some wanted a president. Debates about this slowed down the process of making the constitution.
The Islamic or Secular State
Everyone mostly agreed that Islam should be closely tied to the government, with Muslims seeing their country as connected to Islamic history. But some members of Congress and people who didn't want religion in government disagreed. Deciding how exactly to connect the government and Islam took time. The Objectives Resolution said no to a religious government and set basic goals for Pakistan's future constitution.
Issues to be Addressed
How much power should the elected group have to make laws?
Who should decide if laws are Islamic? Should religious leaders have this power?
What should be the role of women, like voting and working?
What about people who are not religious minorities?
Discussions and Demands
Discussions continued inside and outside the group writing the constitution. Religious people strongly wanted an Islamic government, with religious leaders giving a 22-point plan to make the constitution based on religion.
Basic Principle Committee Reports
This group's main job was to figure out the basic rules for Pakistan's future constitution. The group had 24 people. Maulvi Tamiz-ud-din Khan led it, and Liaquat Ali Khan was the Vice President. The group gave its first report to the law-making group in 1950, which was a short paper with the main ideas for the future constitution of Pakistan.
Criticism
People from East Pakistan didn't like the report. The main problem was how they would be represented in the central government. Even though East Pakistan had more people, it had the same number of seats in the upper house as West Pakistan, which meant the people of East Pakistan had less say.
Second BPC Report
The leader of the country had to be Muslim, chosen by a vote in the central government for five years.
The Prime Minister was chosen by the leader of the country.
The central government had two parts: the House of Units with 120 people and the House of People with 400 people.
There were three lists of topics to divide power between the central government and the states.
Everyone could vote.
The courts were led by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, with a Chief Justice and other judges. The Chief Justice was chosen by the leader of the country.
Each state had its own High Court.
A group of religious leaders was set up to check if laws followed the Quran and Sunnah.
The Objectives Resolution was used as the start of the constitution.
Muhammad Ali Bogra Formula
The law-making group had two parts, with each state having the same number of people in the upper house.
The upper house had 50 seats.
The lower house had 300 seats, divided among the states based on how many people they had. 165 seats were for East Pakistan, 75 for Punjab, 19 for Sindh, 24 for N.W.F.P., and 17 for Baluchistan.
If the leader of the country was from West Pakistan, the Prime Minister had to be from East Pakistan.
The Supreme Court could decide if a law followed the Quran and Sunnah.
Dissolution of First Constitutional Assembly
In October 1954, the Governor General closed the group making the constitution. Someone named Maulvi Tamizuddin said this was wrong in court. The court said it was illegal, but the Federal Court said the Governor General was right but needed to start a new group to make the constitution.
2nd Constitutional Assembly
Ghulam Muhammad started a meeting on May 10, 1955, with people chosen by the states, creating the 2nd group to make the constitution.
One Unit Scheme, Oct 1955
The One Unit plan, started by Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra on November 22, 1954, was to fix problems caused by East and West Pakistan being far apart.
To fix these problems, the four states in West Pakistan were joined into one state, like East Pakistan.