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Pakistan
Early Constitution Building, 1947-58
The path to the current constitution and government was often
tortuous and accompanied by successive upheavals in the nation's
political life. The years between 1947 and 1958 were marked by
political chaos moderated by the administrative power and acumen
of the CSP. They were also years in which the armed forces, especially
the army, expanded its mission and assumed political influence
alongside the CSP. Initially, the country was governed by a Constituent
Assembly (see Independent Pakistan , ch. 1). The Constituent Assembly
had dual functions: to draft a constitution and to enact legislation
until the constitution came into effect. It was nine years before
Pakistan adopted its first constitution in 1956. Major conflicts
in the Constituent Assembly included the issues of representation
to be given to major regional groups (particularly the East Wing)
and religious controversy over what an Islamic state should be.
The first major step in framing a constitution was the passage
by the Constituent Assembly of the Objectives Resolution of March
1949, which defined the basic principles of the new state. It
provided that Pakistan would be a state "wherein the principles
of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice,
as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed; wherein the Muslims
shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective
spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam
as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunna; [and] wherein adequate
provision shall be made for the minorities freely to progress
and practice their religions and develop their cultures." Seven
years of debate, however, failed to produce agreement on fundamental
issues such as regional representation or the structure of a constitution.
This impasse prompted Governor General Ghulam Mohammad to dismiss
the Constituent Assembly in 1954. The Supreme Court of Pakistan
upheld the action of the governor general, arguing that he had
the power to disband the Constituent Assembly and veto legislation
it passed. This preeminence of the governor general over the legislature
has been referred to as the viceregal tradition in Pakistan's
politics.
The revived Constituent Assembly promulgated Pakistan's first
indigenous constitution in 1956 and reconstituted itself as the
national legislature--the Legislative Assembly--under the constitution
it adopted. Pakistan became an Islamic republic. The governor
general was replaced by a president, but despite efforts to create
regional parity between the East Wing and the West Wing, the regional
tensions remained. Continuing regional rivalry, ethnic dissension,
religious debate, and the weakening power of the Muslim League--the
national party that spearheaded the country's founding--exacerbated
political instability and eventually led President Iskander Mirza
to disband the Legislative Assembly on October 7, 1958, and declare
martial law. General Mohammad Ayub Khan, Pakistan's first indigenous
army commander in chief, assisted Mirza in abrogating the constitution
of 1956 and removing the politicians he believed were bringing
Pakistan to the point of collapse. Ayub Khan, as Mirza's chief
martial law administrator, then staged another coup also in October
1958, forced Mirza out of power, and assumed the presidency, to
the relief of large segments of the population tired of the politicians'
continued machinations.
Data as of April 1994
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