PAK301_Lecture16

0:11 assalamu alaykum we are having lecture number 16 of Pakistan studies in this lecture we will be examining the objectives resolution of March 1949 in this connection we would be examining this from three perspectives one we'll talk about the first constituent assembly of Pakistan how it was established second the resolution which means the objectives resolution of March

0:57 1949 three the the explanation of the resolution and its importance first we take up the first aspect of this topic that is the constituent assembly of Pakistan we are briefly talking about the constituent assembly of Pakistan because it was this first constituent assembly of Pakistan that passed the objectives resolution of 1949 this assembly came into existence under the Indian independence

1:44 Act of 1947 at the time of Independence however its roots can be traced back to 1946 when elections for the constituent assembly of United India or the British India were held and the constituent assembly held its first meeting in December 1946 to be precise 9th December 1946 the Muslim League did not participate in it because because the

2:30 Muslim League demanded a separate constituent assembly for Pakistan when Indian independence act came in in July 1947 in the light of the June 3rd plan which we have discussed in our previous lectures the assembly that is the first constituent assembly came into existence it comprised the members of the old constituent assembly from the districts that became part of Pakistan originally there were 69

3:18 members but later on more members 10 in total were gradually inducted in order to provide represent ation to the princely states that had exceeded to Pakistan and also to people who had migrated from India to Pakistan so it its strength went up to 79 but actually it was less than that because some members died and some members left for India therefore it's actual strength went down slightly from

4:07 79 in this constituent assembly there were two major political parties the Muslim League which had led the movement for the establishment of Pakistan the other major party although smaller much small than the Muslim League was the congress party and its members were from East Pakistan or east Bengal as it was called at that time there were also couple of Muslim members who were not part of the Muslim League however

4:55 these two political parties the Muslim League and the Congress were significant especially the Muslim League this constituent assembly performed two functions the first function was Constitution making so it would at time act as the constituent assembly the second function which it performed was lawmaking that it would also make ordinary laws for state of

5:43 Pakistan so in other words there it was performing two functions Constitution making then it was called the constituent assembly and when it is performing ordinary lawmaking it would be dis described as legislative assembly but the title was the constituent assembly of uh Pakistan it is this constituent assembly that passed the objective resolution that we are going to discuss very soon the first constituent assembly of Pakistan that came into existence at the time of Independence

6:30 in August 1947 lasted until October 1954 in October 1954 the first constituent assembly was dissolved so the first constituent assembly of Pakistan remained in office for little over 7 years this is the first constitutional document which serves as the foundation of the Constitution sets out the

7:15 parameters and identifies the goals and objectives the Constitutional makers wanted to achieve this resolution was moved by lakat Ali Khan who was prime minister at that time and the constituent assembly debated this resolution in at least five sessions they deliberated it in great detail on all clauses and all provisions and on March 12th

8:01 1949 the objectives resolution was adopted by the constituent assembly of Pakistan what I'm going to do now is to identify the main features the provisions of the objective resolution once that has been done then I would give you the explanation and the background of different provisions and principles set out in the objectives

8:47 [Music] resolution and then I will talk about its importance in Pakistan's history of constitution making the first feature of the objectives resolution you can also describe as the first principle first constitutional principle outlined in the objectives resolution is that sovereignity all over world or entire Universe belongs to Almighty Allah

9:36 alone that's the first principle the second principle is an extension of the first and it says the authority which he has delegated to the state of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by him is a sacred trust that's the second principle the third

10:23 is the Constitution will be framed for Sovereign independent Pakistan fourth principle is the state shall exercise that is the state of Pakistan the state shall exercise its power through the representatives of the people fifth principles of democracy Freedom

11:09 equality tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam as presented by Islam will be fully observed the sixth principle outlined in the objectives resolution of 1949 is that the Muslims shall be enabled to organize their lives in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam

11:59 as set out in the Quran and the Sunnah the seventh principle which is relevant to our study is minorities will have freedom to freely profess and practice I repeat those words to profess and practice their religions and develop their cultures this was the seventh

12:46 principle the eighth principle is very similar to the seven it says that there will be Provisions for safeguarding legitimate interests of minorities backward and depressed classes so in addition to religious minorities the objectives resolution was talking about the backward and the depressed classes the ninth principle is that Pakistan

13:35 will be a federation with autonomous units the 10th principle is that there will be measures to protect State sovereignity and territorial Integrity that will be protected the 11th principle highlights that the people of Pakistan will have an opportunity to prosper and to

14:21 attain their rightful place in the committee of Nations and make contribution towards International Peace progress and happiness of humanity these 11 principles are in brief the principles or the gist of the objectives resolution these serve as the

15:06 guideline for constitution making in Pakistan the principles enunciated in the objectives resolution are also in a way aspirations the desires the goals the objectives for which the constituent assembly was to frame a constitution that is to say Pakistani Pol or Pakistani political system was to

15:52 move in the direction of achieving those goals outline in the objectives resolution you can say the same thing in other words that the Constitution that was to be framed by the constituent assembly was to reflect the principles outlined in the objectives resolution I will now refer back to the principles set out in the objectives

16:40 resolution in order to explain them the first principle which comes after the opening line ofman is that sovereignity belongs to Almighty Allah this is the primary feature of Islamic political system that God Almighty Allah is the source of authority source of

17:27 power for who whole universe this notion that sovereignity or all authority belongs to Almighty Allah is different from the notion that is practiced in Western democracy where sovereignity belongs to the people here it's not the people it's Almighty Allah which is the source of ultimate power and ultimate Authority in this word and the objectiv

18:15 resolution and also later on the Constitutions of Pakistan recognized this principle in fact this sentence that sovereignity belongs to Almighty Allah is Incorporated in all the Constitutions Pakistan had since that time the next line which we have outlined while discussing the principles is an extension of this principle when you say sovereignity belongs to Almighty Allah

19:00 a logical followup is that the power and authority that is to be exercised by the state of Pakistan or those who will be exercising power in the name of state of Pakistan will have to function within the limits prescribed by Allah they can't violate his commands his

19:46 principles which have to be followed at all time and this job job of exercising Authority or exercising power is a sacred trust nobody no leader no institution can claim that this Authority this power totally and absolutely belongs to him or her it's a responsibility it's an obligation

20:32 and as an obligation it is a sacred trust because ultimately power belongs to God and if you are exercising it it is a trust on you it is your duty and it's not your personal or your group's power another important principle that comes out of the objective resolution is the institution of representation in the principles which I have outlined it is very clearly stated that the power will be exercised

21:18 through the representatives it's not that somebody can grab power and claim that power to be his or hers the system of representation is provided for in the objectives resolution those people who will exercise the power as a sacred trust will be the representative of people in other words the objectives resolution provides for a democratic and a representative

22:05 system it provides access to power to the people through their representatives therefore the principle of representation is of vital and significant importance it is understandable that this principle was incorporated in the objectives resolution if we go back to the Freedom Movement period we find that the Muslim League while striving for

22:50 Pakistan was claiming to be the representatives of the Muslims and through 1946 six elections it established its credentials as the main representative and the sole representative body of the Muslims and that principle is reflected here that is that they will be representatives of the people because that principle existed within the Muslim League framework before independence there is another

23:37 principle that we have discussed which stresses the importance of modern Notions of democracy Freedom equality tolerance and and social justice these principles are the foundation and bases of any civilized political system Islam also provides for these principles in

24:24 fact equality tolerance social justice have been the characteristic features of Islam therefore here the objective resolution was combining the two that is why it says that these principles will be implemented as enunciated in Islam as presented in

25:12 Islam in other words this principle combines the modern notion of State governance like representation which I have discussed couple of minutes earlier then principles of democracy freedom and equality which are found in both and the objectives resolution has emphasized Islam because in the pre-independence period Muslims of this

26:01 subcontinent were defining their national identity with reference to Islam Islamic culture Heritage and civilization and you see the reflection of both in in the objectives resolution there is another important principle emphasized in the objectives resolution that is the enabling

26:49 Clause you would recall that the objectives resolution says that that the state that is the state of Pakistan will create conditions to enable the Muslims to organize their lives to lead their lives in accordance with the principles and teachings of Islam as set out in the Quran and the Sunnah which are the main sources of

27:39 guidance sources of inspiration for the Muslims all over world now here the objectives resolution is talking about an enabling role of the state that state would facilitate the state would help state would create conditions where Muslims will be in a position to lead their lives according to the principles and teaching of Islam here the element of question has been

28:24 excluded state is not forcing people but enabling them this enabling principle whereby you facilitate is in line with the principles of Islam which does not believe in use of cerion use of force in the religious domain therefore it becomes the obligation of the state to create positive and helpful conditions and

29:10 helpful environment in addition to this the objective resolution also talks about the minorities it's not simply saying that this should be done or that should be done for Muslims the framers of the objectives resolution were fully conscious that non-muslims are also citizens of Pakistan therefore the objectives resolution specifically talks about the protection of their rights

30:00 we have seen in the principles that the objectives resolutions talks about the religious minorities it talks about the backward and depressed classes those sections which for some reason have not been able to move along with other sections of the society and for the religious minorities it provides them full freedom to profess and practice their religions they are to be given freedom to go to their religious places

30:50 to to follow their religious principles and religious uh practices and in addition to that they were also assured facilities for promotion of their own cultures and similarly the objectives resolution shows much concern about the need to help the backward classes and also depressed classes what should be their rights and how their rights their interests their religion and their

31:38 culture could be protected this also reflects one of the primary teachings of Islam the teachings of Islam which emphasize tolerance and which give freedom to non-muslims to practice and follow their own religious practices and their own cultural norms and this principle is clearly

32:24 reflected in the objectives resolution and also in the subsequent constitutions that were made in Pakistan another important principle in the objectiv resolution related to the federal structure of government that Pakistan will be a federal state where its units and in case of Pakistan these units are called

33:11 provinces the constituent units of Pakistani Federation will enjoy autonomy and within and within the defined field within the defined limits the provincial governments or administrations of the units of the Federation will have power to do and handle their own Affairs the introduction of system of Federation was understandable

33:58 in a diversified Society federal system is more workable and again if we look at the political Legacy of Pakistan that is to say if we go back to the period of Freedom Movement we'll find that during that time the Muslim League was demanding a federal system with autonomy to the provinces the idea

34:47 was that if there is a federal system and autonomous provinces then in the provinces where Muslims are in a majority they will be free to handle their own Affairs therefore Muslim League had been demanding a federal model with autonomy for British India until 1940 it was in 1940 that the Muslim League demanded partition of India and establishment of a separate state so after the attainment of

35:36 Independence it was natural it was understandable that Muslim League and the members of the constituent assembly will go for a federal model for Federation with autonomy to the provincial units of the Federation all Pakistani constitutions that we will be discussing later on Incorporated this principle principle of federalism and autonomy for provinces

36:29 another important principle of significance and of relevance is the emphasis on protection of Pakistan's sovereignity and territorial Integrity this is one of the primary functions a government has to perform because if you can't protect state sovereignity if you can't protect the territory if you can't defend the territory of the

37:14 state that state disappears in fact the security and protection of its territory and sovereignity is one of the primary function of any state or any government of a state therefore this principle has been Incorporated in the objectives resolution you have seen in this discussion that the objectives resolution was carefully

38:01 prepared and it Incorporated certain principles which were to serve as the foundation of the Constitutional and the legal and the political structure that was to be created in Pakistan when the objectives resolution was moved in the constituent assembly of Pakistan in March

38:47 1949 a number of non-muslim members who were members of the Congress raised couple of objections in fact these were the fears they had in their mind and they raised those issues in the constituent assembly which were thoroughly debated by Muslim members as well as the non-muslim members one argument which they were

39:32 giving was that this objectives resolution was mixing religion with politics and from their perspective that needed to be separated actually this is what happened in in Europe but that does not mean that it should happen everywhere in case of Islam you can't really draw clear

40:18 lines between the two domains as described by European political thinkers that is the religious domain and the political domain or the state and the religion here in this case Pakistan and Islam this objection was ruled out because the Muslims of this subcontinent had defined their identity with reference to Islam and there was a general

41:07 consensus that state of Pakistan will have a relationship with the parameters and principles which they have used to define their identity and then demand a separate State another Point raised there was the question of sovereignity of God they were saying that sovereignity should have been uh with the people and um with God it may be too

41:54 abstract again it was explained in the constituent assembly and outside the constituent assembly that this is the Cardinal principle of Islam and this does not mean that some individual or some group would claim to exercise that Authority in the name of God the framers of the objectives resolution were not talking about a

42:39 Theocratic State they were not talking about a religious State The Authority was to be exercised through the representatives not through a particular class but the representatives of the people but the only limit was that those Representatives had to exercise that Authority within the limits prescribed by Allah in the Quran

43:25 and the Sunnah and this job of exercising power was a sacred responsibility and it was a trust otherwise people could elect anybody and they would exercise that Authority within certain defined parameters then there were similar objections like uh use of sharia as the basis or the uh source of action and also uh some of them were saying that Pakistan may end up as a Theocratic

44:11 State Theocratic State basically means a state where a particular class of people can rule the state in the name of religion or priesthood or the priests or religious Scholars because they are religious Scholars because they are priests of Islam would rule that kind of notion does not exist in Islam therefore when lat Khan and other people

44:57 were talking about the Islamic State or state based on the Islamic principles they were not talking about a Theocratic state in fact lakat Al Khan and others who were in The consent assembly repeatedly said that it's not going to be a Theocratic state it's going to be a modern democratic state which works within the limits prescribed by God by Almighty Allah who

45:43 is the ultimate source of authority and ultimate source of power power ultimately belongs to God not to the assembly or to a particular class of people people or to a particular section of people or to a particular type of people whosoever exercises power is exercising as a responsibility the objectives resolution that we are discussing is as I said earlier the basic and primary document of con Constitution making in

46:29 Pakistan it's a it's a framework of political constitutional and legal actions or activities and whenever we discuss the history of constitution making even history of politics we go back to the objectives uh resolution and start from there it emphasizes the centrality of Islam to the political social and constitutional life in

47:15 Pakistan it is also a link between the pre-independence period and the post Independence period the pre-independence struggle for Independence launched by the Muslim League especially the 1946 elections where Muslim League established its credentials as a representative body and post Independence period in the sense that it established a framework of political action the Muslim

48:00 Leaguers who were presenting this were modernist Muslims and they were not in favor of creating an orthodox or extremist Islamic State a state to them that would involve modern Notions as well as the ideals and principles of Islam and all Pakistani Constitutions are based on the objectives resolution and during General Z hak's time the objectives resolution was incorporated in the constitution of Pakistan as article

48:48 2A this brings an end to our presentation on the objectives resolution until the next lecture