Brief Summary
This video provides a background of the 1956 Constitution of Pakistan, highlighting the challenges and political instability that marked its creation. It covers the period after the death of Quaid-e-Azam, the initial problems faced by Pakistan, and the efforts to frame a constitution. The video discusses the Objectives Resolution of 1949, the Basic Principles Committee, and the various obstacles, including the death of Liaquat Ali Khan, that hindered the constitution-making process. It also explains how the second Constituent Assembly eventually adopted the constitution in 1956 after resolving issues between East and West Pakistan.
- The 1956 Constitution was created amidst political instability and challenges.
- The Objectives Resolution of 1949 laid the foundation for constitution making.
- The death of Liaquat Ali Khan and disagreements between different groups delayed the process.
- The second Constituent Assembly successfully adopted the constitution after resolving key issues between East and West Pakistan.
The presentation aims to provide a background of the 1956 Constitution of Pakistan, acknowledging it as a period marked by political instability and challenges. The speaker clarifies that this part of Pakistan's constitutional and political history is not a positive one, filled with calamities.
Following Pakistan's independence, the death of Quaid-e-Azam in September 1948 created a leadership vacuum. The newly formed state faced numerous problems, and while Quaid-e-Azam was a capable leader, his untimely death was a significant setback. He was replaced by Khawaja Nazimuddin as the second Governor-General of Pakistan.
Pakistan was tasked with framing a constitution while also dealing with initial state problems. Until a constitution was established, the country was governed by the provisional constitution of 1947, an amended version of the Government of India Act 1935. The first Constituent Assembly was formed to frame laws and create a constitution, comprising 79 members. Although it struggled to create comprehensive laws or a constitution, it passed the Objectives Resolution on March 12, 1949, which laid the groundwork for future constitution-making.
The Objectives Resolution outlined several key principles: sovereignty belongs to Allah Almighty, the state's affairs will be managed by elected representatives, a federal form of government was proposed, the state will protect the rights of citizens (especially minorities), the concept of an independent judiciary was introduced, Pakistan's relations with other states (particularly Muslim states) were defined, and citizens will have the opportunity to live their lives in accordance with Islamic principles. This resolution provided a solid foundation for future constitution framers.
Following the Objectives Resolution, the Basic Principles Committee (BPC) was formed to draft different parts of the constitution. Subcommittees were created for specific areas like legislation, franchise matters, and the structure of the Federation. The BPC presented its first report in September 1950, but it faced controversy.
The first report of the BPC triggered controversy, mainly from Bengalis who wanted a 50% share in resources and government due to East Pakistan's larger population. Objections also came from religious scholars (Ulama) who wanted more Islamic provisions in the constitution. These disagreements led to the rejection of the first report.
The assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan on October 16, 1951, further destabilized Pakistan and hindered the constitution-making process. Khawaja Nazimuddin replaced him and attempted to restart the process but failed to gain support from Bengalis and Ulama. His government was toppled in 1953.
Muhammad Ali Bogra, the then-ambassador to the United States, became Prime Minister and successfully revived the constitution-making process. He introduced a formula acceptable to both Bengalis and Ulama, which was also widely accepted in West Pakistan. The adoption of this formula by the assembly meant that the constitution-making process could proceed smoothly. Bogra hired British Lord drafters to help draft the constitution.
While the constitution drafting was underway, a bill was passed to curtail the powers of the Governor-General, who responded by dissolving the National Assembly. The Speaker of the Assembly, Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan, challenged this dissolution in court. The Sindh Chief Court initially ruled against the dissolution, but the Federal Court (now the Supreme Court) reversed this decision, dissolving the assembly and directing the Governor-General to form a new assembly for constitution-making.
The second Constituent Assembly was elected in 1955. Unlike the first assembly, the Muslim League had a significantly reduced majority, necessitating a coalition with the United Democratic Front from East Pakistan. This alliance facilitated the resolution of power and resource distribution issues between East and West Pakistan. The "One Unit Act" of 1955 merged the six western provinces into a single province called West Pakistan, resolving resource distribution issues and establishing a 50/50 parity principle for power-sharing.
With the major hurdles resolved, the constitution-making process, which had been stalled for nine years, was completed in a few weeks. In February 1956, the second Constituent Assembly adopted the full-fledged constitution for Pakistan, which was enforced on March 23, 1956. The day a constitution is promulgated is known as the commencing day.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “#ConstitutionalDevelopmentInPakistan #FakhrulIslam #Lectures#1956#1962#1973Constitution”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:06 bismillahirrahmanirrahim ladies and gentlemen this is Professor Dr for for Islam director Pakistan study Central University of Peshawar ladies and gentlemen in this slide of presentation I am going to give you a background of the 1956 Constitution let me clarify at the very outset that unfortunately this chapter of our Constitution and political history is not a good one it is full of calamities like polling political instability and things like that unfortunately soon after the
0:55 achievement of Pakistan its leader Qaeda Azam ahmad ali jinnah died in september 1948 now pakistan was busy in tackling the situation after independence and there were so many problems initially faced by the newborn state hide Azzam was a capable leader burned fortunately he was seriously L so he couldn't survive and it is always an unlucky situation when a newly born straight loses its leader but
1:40 that was from God Almighty and we had to replace him by four janazah Modi as the second Governor General of Pakistan besides all problems faced by Pakistan at the initial stage we were supposed to frame a constitution for the newly born state the affairs of the state were then run by the constitutional document Karl is the provisional constitution of 1947 their constitution was actually an amended form of the Government of India
2:27 act 1935 under the provisional Constitution the first constituent assembly was provided the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was supposed to perform two functions first one was to frame laws for the newly born state and second was to frame a constitution this assembly had a strength of 79 members but unfortunately it could not succeed in framing some good laws or framing the Constitution
3:14 but one thing which can be given which for which credit can be given to this assembly was it did passed a very important resolution which was called as the objectives dissolution on 12th March 1949 their resolution actually laid the foundation of Constitution making in Pakistan if we study their resolution so it is comprised of some main points the first and foremost part was that serenity or the entire universe was attributed to Allah Almighty
4:01 second it was decided that the affairs of the state in Pakistan will be run through chosen and elected representatives third Friddle form of government was proposed for Pakistan for there was a clear-cut declaration that Pakistani state will protect rights of the citizen and particularly of minorities v the concept of independent judiciary was also given in the objective resolution six there was a
4:50 clear-cut mention of Pakistan's relation with the states of the world and especially the Muslim states part was also included in the objectives in solution that the citizens of Pakistan will be given an opportunity to lead deal and depend in dividual and collective lives in accordance with the principles of Islam so actually this resolution provided a very solid base for the framers of the future constitution and the same day when this resolution was
5:38 passed a committee was constituted by the assembly which was called as the basic principles committee is the name is self-explanatory the committee was supposed to draw different parts of the Constitution the basic principle community are bpc constituted some subcommittees for different parts of the Constitution for instance for legislation there was a separate community for franchise matters there was another community for the structure of the Federation there was you know another committee so the the work was
6:23 divided among the subcommittees the bpc was able to present its first report in September 1950 to the assembly but unfortunately did report triggered controversy see the objection came from the Bengalis first a beggarly wanted 50% share in the resources and in the government although Bengal our East Pakistan was a fifth province of Pakistan but it had a larger population which was larger even than the cumulative population of the West
7:10 Pakistan so they raised objections and they they rejected the the first interim report of the BBC another objection came from the O Lama and they wanted to incorporate some more provisions regarding Islam in the future Constitution so due to these two reasons the report the first report was different and you know when that was different than the BPC was supposed to bring about another report but in the meantime some development took place the first and foremost and the tragic one was the death of Liaquat Ali Khan it was
7:57 not an extra death and unfortunately he was addressing a public meeting in the company ba of Rawalpindi City which is nowadays Karl as Li acaba it was 16 October 1951 when he was shorted by a person named Seth Akbar who was presumably from Afghanistan say that bomb was crushed to death by the supporters of Muslim League on the spark and unfortunately nothing was known about the death of Rockapella Han but
8:43 this did on one way destabilize Pakistan and on the hang it unfortunately stopped or hindered the constitution-making process in Pakistan via telephone was replaced by Hodja Nazim Udine Hodja tried to restart the hearted process of constitution-making and he came up with a formula which he tried to convince the [Music] Bengalis and the ulama but their formula also called art muster support of these two main groups and in the meantime his
9:31 garment was toppled in 1953 after him Muhammad Ali Bogra was brought in as Prime Minister of Pakistan he was actually the ambassador of for Pakistan to the knack United States he came and he restarted the hearted process of Constitution making and finally he was able to bring about a formula which was acceptable to Bengal is as well as Allah Mars and besides them the people of West Pakistan also accepted that formula wholeheartedly and finally the report was adopted by the assembly the adoption
10:17 of the basic principle community people meant that then the Constitution making process was a not a problem so Muhammad Allah Bogra even hired the services of some British Lord drafters so that they can draft the Constitution for Pakistan he was busy in that project of drafting the Constitution when another problem started and that was the resolution of the assembly or a bill passed by the assembly which wanted to curtail the
11:03 [Music] powers of the governor-general so the governor-general responded harshly and he dissolved the National Assembly and in this way the assembly which was supposed to frame the Constitution of Pakistan was no more the Speaker of the President of the first Constituent Assembly Melita mistltein Khan started a legal battle with the governor-general Allah Muhammad who had issued the proclamation of dissolution the case came to this in a provincial court which was in those days called as sin chief court and the court decided
11:48 against the dissolution and assembly was restored but then the federal government went for an appeal to the federal court which is nowadays call as the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the same chief code meaning that the assembly was dissolved once for all and at the same time the court directed the governor-general to elect another assembly for Constitution making making so the second Constituent Assembly was elected in in 1955 but that
12:36 assembly was different from the first one I mean in the first Constituent Assembly Muslim League had 60 members out of 79 but and the second Constituent Assembly Muslim League had only 25 members out of 80 so Muslim League received a crushing defeat and it was in no position to form a government so then in head it had to enter into an alliance which was is United Democratic Front it was from the East Pakistan so when a party from the East Pakistan and a party from the West Pakistan decided to form a government in the center it means that
13:22 constitution-making process became easier these two parties first of all resolve the issue of distribution of power and resources between the two wings of the country so an Act was passed by the assembly which was Carl is the which is formally and and you know commonly known as doing one unit it but it was basically the establishment of West Pakistan egg 1955 as a result of that act be six western provinces were we got married into a single promised Karl as West Pakistan so
14:10 the issue of for distribution of resources was amicably resolved and a parity principle prevailed between the two I mean then the distribution of power and the share in the government was decided on 50/50 basis so when all these hurdles were removed then the Constitution making process which was not possible to be completed in nine years was completed in few weeks and in February 1956 the assembly the second Constituent Assembly adopted the full-fledged constitution for Pakistan
14:55 which was enforced on 23rd March 1956 is the first constitution of Pakistan it should be noted there the day on which a constitution is promulgated in a country is girl is the commencing day
