Write a detailed essay (1000 words minimum) in your words for
“Constitutional development of Islamic Republic of Pakistan"
Constitutional development of Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Pakistan came in to existence on 14th of August 1947. Since its inception the country started efforts of rehabilitation and nation building. The main problems were settlement of refugees and constitution making. It has been discussed in the previous chapter that all Muslims of India had been demanding self-rule from the British Government. Muslim League, the only major party of Muslims in the Sub Continent fought a long struggle to achieve its destination. Muslims were in majority in Bengal, Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan. The Muslims of Minority provinces initially established Muslim League and it had to go a long way to find its roots in majority provinces. There were already strong ethnic based parties particularly in Punjab and NWFP where Unionists and Red Shirts were in strong hold. The Muslim League’s idea of future Pakistan as envisaged in Lahore Resolution of 1940 was more appealing to Muslim Majority
Provinces as it provided a scheme of autonomous and sovereign units as compare to Congress, which believed on a centralized system of government. Muslim League few years after passing the Lahore Resolution changed the word ‘states’ in a meeting in 1946. But till that time, the movement of Pakistan was in full swing and finally the Muslims of Sub Continent were able to achieve a country of their own. The task ahead for Muslim League was not easy. It had to fulfill the demands and wishes of the people and face certain hardships. This chapter is a detailed study of the process of political development and rise of ethnic conflict in Pakistan from post partition period to break up of the country. The chapter provides an analytical examination to understand the dilemma of failure of democracy and find its reciprocal relationship with the ethnic plurality in Pakistan. All those areas and regions of the Subcontinent, which comprised of Pakistan, were mostly backwards and under developed. It is already discussed in the previous chapter that Balochistan, NWFP, Eastern Bengal and Southern parts of Punjab were less developed, less educated, economically poor and ethnically diverse. So Pakistan had to face daunted problems since its inception.
There are two crucial problems, which Pakistan had to face since its inception. The first problem was the geographical separation of the two wings of country and the second was lack of political unity in the new state. It has been discussed in the last chapter that these areas were ethnically diverse and ethnic and regional elements were even actively in favors of a separate or autonomous state of their own. So it is evident that the main issue for decision makers was to create consensus to accommodate these divergent interest in the country which was only possible by taking serious efforts to ensure unity through a participatory democracy as was assured in the Lahore Resolution of 1940. But unfortunately the dream did not come true. Pakistan went through a series of political crises, constitutional instability, Martial Law regimes and eventually separation of her Eastern Wing.
In the early years of independence, majority-ruling party Muslim League could not take political measures which were necessary for democratic development. There are many reasons of this failure of Muslim League. The fore most was to frame the constitution, (as we know the Government of India Act 1935 was implemented as an interim constitution with some modifications) and establish democratic institutions. This was a gigantic task and required skill, patience and democratic spirit, but Muslim League could not be able to accommodate diverging interests. There were three weaknesses which were inherited by Pakistan during independence movement and which affected the later political and constitutional developments in Pakistan. The most important weakness was that Muslim League did not have any future agenda on what kind of nation is to be built. The educated middle class was deeply divided rather to build a secular nation state on the western style or to construct an Islamic state. A small minority wanted to establish socialist system in the country. Second weakness according to him was that Muslim League did not devise any effective mechanism for satisfying regional claims within the party like issue of centralization of power in the organizational structure of the Muslim League and the issue of language was also unresolved. Third weakness was the lack of organizational structure.
After the creation of Pakistan, Ghaus Baksh Bizenjo of Balochistan accepted to have friendly relations with Pakistan in the form of confederation. As Selig Harrison quotes that Bizenjo said that he did not “want to create hurdles for the newly elected state and was ready to co operate with the Central Government if it respected the autonomy and sovereignty of Baloch people.” He expressed his desire that Central Government of Pakistan should retain the powers of defense, external affairs and communications. He also reiterated his will not to be amalgamated with Pakistan. At the same time he threatened the central government that this cooperation would be conditional and if their demands were not met then every Baloch would start fighting for their freedom.
During 1947 to 1955, the Balochistan enjoyed the same status as during the Colonial
Period. Mohammad Ali Jinnah wanted to start reforms in Balochistan and he had the idea to reach an arrangement with Baloch leaders before framing the constitution of Pakistan. He expressed his desire to put the people responsible and be a part of responsibilities in the administration.14 He constituted a Governor General Advisory Council in Balochistan until the promulgation of a constitution. It was a nominated body and its responsibility was to examine all plans for future economic, political and social schemes to submit to Governor General.15 In the same way after the death of Quaid-e-Azam, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan announced the government intention to bring reforms in Balochistan and a reform committee was setup for the purpose. The Committee presented its report in November 17, 1951, to Constituent Assembly and recommended to form Balochistan a Governor’s Province without disturbing the existing Sardari System. But no action was taken by government and five months after the submission of report in April 12, 1952, Central Government rather took a decision against the report and merged four states of kalat, Makran, Kharan and Las Bela into the “Balochistan State Union (BSU)”.
The first dispute occurred between Central Government and Sindh Provincial
Government over the declaration of Karachi as a Capital on 27 July 1948 which affected future relationship of Mohajirs and Sindhis. Ayub Khoro, the chief minister of Sindh was against the decision of separation of Karachi as a capital and openly opposed it. G.M. Syed regarded separation of Karachi from the province, as a colonization of Sindh by Mohajars. Karachi was an industrialized city, a center of all trade and commercial activities so its separation was taken as a conspiracy against Sindhis. On the other side, Jinnah's point of view was that it was already decided even before the Partition so he would keep the Sindh government to keep its promise. Another factor, which created tension during early period, was the fear of Sindhi population that they are being out numbered with the arrival of non Sindhis because there were 87 percent Sindhis in the province and this numbers was reduced to 67 percent by 1951. In Karachi, Urdu Speakers were 58 percent and Sindhis only 14 percent of the total population. In Hyderabad, Urdu Speaking population reached by 66 percent. The seeds of mistrust and conflict between Sindhis and non-Sindhis were sown in1950s and early 1960s, when One Unit Scheme was implemented. Major rift came when Ayub Khan granted agricultural land to senior military and civil bureaucrats who were mostly Punjabis, Mohajirs and Pathan as there were in hold in civil military bureaucracy, There was the time when local Sindhis felt being ‘Red Indianized’ in their home land.
The first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was composed of 74 members. Initially there were 64 members, which were a part of Central Constituent Assembly in undivided India. The states of Bahawalpur, Khairpur, Balochistan and Tribal areas were given additional seats, which raised its membership. A step forward in the constitution making was objective resolution, which was passed on 12 March, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan presented this resolution and its purpose was to lay the foundations of constitution making. A committee was also set up by the Assembly to draft the proposal of the constitution in light of Objective Resolution.
October 16, 1951. Liaquat Ali Khan was a close associate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and was respected in the party and government circles. His death proved another setback in Pakistan’s constitutional and political history. Khawaja Nazimuddin, the Governor General became Prime Minister immediately after his assassination.
Second report of the Basic Principles Committee was presented in the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1952. According to that draft, the parliament was bicameral with a lower house consisting of members from the two wings on population basis and upper house equally representing the units. This draft created parity between the both of the wings but this time the reaction came from Punjab.
Years later, Ayub regime marked with centralization of power and authority faced open defiance after Simla Agreement culminating in violent agitation against law enforcing agencies. The anti Ayub movement started from a scuffle between police and students in Rawalpindi and it sparked all over the country in no time. Within few weeks, both wings of the country were burning with violence. Ayub was sick and inner cabinet was running government on Ayub Khan. Initially Ayub Khan decided to pacify the public anger by holding round table conference with politicians. He agreed to remove emergency powers imposed after 1965 war and to release the political prisoners including Shiekh Mujib-ur- Rehman detained under the charges of Agartala Conspiracy Case. He even accepted the demand to revive parliamentary form of government and direct elections but all his efforts proved fruitless and he could not bring all political leaders on board particularly Bhutto from West Pakistan and Bhashani from East Pakistan.
On 28 March 1970, he issued Legal Frame Work Order and fulfilled the popular demand of the political elites to abolish One Unit. All provinces of West Pakistan got their autonomous status back. Legal Frame Work Order also defined the number of seats allocated to provinces for new elections. According to this National Assembly would consist of 313 members whom 300 would be elected to fill general seats. Total 13 seats were reserved for women. East
Pakistan according to its numerical strength was allocated the 162 seats as compare to Punjab, which was given only 82 general seats. The general elections produced new political configuration and three power centers emerged. Awami League got absolute majority in East Pakistan by securing 160 general seats. Pakistan Peoples Party of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto emerged as a majority party in Punjab and Sindh.
Pakistan came in to existence on 14th of August 1947. Since its inception the country started efforts of rehabilitation and nation building. The main problems were settlement of refugees and constitution making. It has been discussed in the previous chapter that all Muslims of India had been demanding self-rule from the British Government. Muslim League, the only major party of Muslims in the Sub Continent fought a long struggle to achieve its destination. Muslims were in majority in Bengal, Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan. The Muslims of Minority provinces initially established Muslim League and it had to go a long way to find its roots in majority provinces. There were already strong ethnic based parties particularly in Punjab and NWFP where Unionists and Red Shirts were in strong hold. The Muslim League’s idea of future Pakistan as envisaged in Lahore Resolution of 1940 was more appealing to Muslim Majority
Provinces as it provided a scheme of autonomous and sovereign units as compare to Congress, which believed on a centralized system of government. Muslim League few years after passing the Lahore Resolution changed the word ‘states’ in a meeting in 1946. But till that time, the movement of Pakistan was in full swing and finally the Muslims of Sub Continent were able to achieve a country of their own. The task ahead for Muslim League was not easy. It had to fulfill the demands and wishes of the people and face certain hardships. This chapter is a detailed study of the process of political development and rise of ethnic conflict in Pakistan from post partition period to break up of the country. The chapter provides an analytical examination to understand the dilemma of failure of democracy and find its reciprocal relationship with the ethnic plurality in Pakistan. All those areas and regions of the Subcontinent, which comprised of Pakistan, were mostly backwards and under developed. It is already discussed in the previous chapter that Balochistan, NWFP, Eastern Bengal and Southern parts of Punjab were less developed, less educated, economically poor and ethnically diverse. So Pakistan had to face daunted problems since its inception.
There are two crucial problems, which Pakistan had to face since its inception. The first problem was the geographical separation of the two wings of country and the second was lack of political unity in the new state. It has been discussed in the last chapter that these areas were ethnically diverse and ethnic and regional elements were even actively in favors of a separate or autonomous state of their own. So it is evident that the main issue for decision makers was to create consensus to accommodate these divergent interest in the country which was only possible by taking serious efforts to ensure unity through a participatory democracy as was assured in the Lahore Resolution of 1940. But unfortunately the dream did not come true. Pakistan went through a series of political crises, constitutional instability, Martial Law regimes and eventually separation of her Eastern Wing.
In the early years of independence, majority-ruling party Muslim League could not take political measures which were necessary for democratic development. There are many reasons of this failure of Muslim League. The fore most was to frame the constitution, (as we know the Government of India Act 1935 was implemented as an interim constitution with some modifications) and establish democratic institutions. This was a gigantic task and required skill, patience and democratic spirit, but Muslim League could not be able to accommodate diverging interests. There were three weaknesses which were inherited by Pakistan during independence movement and which affected the later political and constitutional developments in Pakistan. The most important weakness was that Muslim League did not have any future agenda on what kind of nation is to be built. The educated middle class was deeply divided rather to build a secular nation state on the western style or to construct an Islamic state. A small minority wanted to establish socialist system in the country. Second weakness according to him was that Muslim League did not devise any effective mechanism for satisfying regional claims within the party like issue of centralization of power in the organizational structure of the Muslim League and the issue of language was also unresolved. Third weakness was the lack of organizational structure.
After the creation of Pakistan, Ghaus Baksh Bizenjo of Balochistan accepted to have friendly relations with Pakistan in the form of confederation. As Selig Harrison quotes that Bizenjo said that he did not “want to create hurdles for the newly elected state and was ready to co operate with the Central Government if it respected the autonomy and sovereignty of Baloch people.” He expressed his desire that Central Government of Pakistan should retain the powers of defense, external affairs and communications. He also reiterated his will not to be amalgamated with Pakistan. At the same time he threatened the central government that this cooperation would be conditional and if their demands were not met then every Baloch would start fighting for their freedom.
During 1947 to 1955, the Balochistan enjoyed the same status as during the Colonial
Period. Mohammad Ali Jinnah wanted to start reforms in Balochistan and he had the idea to reach an arrangement with Baloch leaders before framing the constitution of Pakistan. He expressed his desire to put the people responsible and be a part of responsibilities in the administration.14 He constituted a Governor General Advisory Council in Balochistan until the promulgation of a constitution. It was a nominated body and its responsibility was to examine all plans for future economic, political and social schemes to submit to Governor General.15 In the same way after the death of Quaid-e-Azam, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan announced the government intention to bring reforms in Balochistan and a reform committee was setup for the purpose. The Committee presented its report in November 17, 1951, to Constituent Assembly and recommended to form Balochistan a Governor’s Province without disturbing the existing Sardari System. But no action was taken by government and five months after the submission of report in April 12, 1952, Central Government rather took a decision against the report and merged four states of kalat, Makran, Kharan and Las Bela into the “Balochistan State Union (BSU)”.
The first dispute occurred between Central Government and Sindh Provincial
Government over the declaration of Karachi as a Capital on 27 July 1948 which affected future relationship of Mohajirs and Sindhis. Ayub Khoro, the chief minister of Sindh was against the decision of separation of Karachi as a capital and openly opposed it. G.M. Syed regarded separation of Karachi from the province, as a colonization of Sindh by Mohajars. Karachi was an industrialized city, a center of all trade and commercial activities so its separation was taken as a conspiracy against Sindhis. On the other side, Jinnah's point of view was that it was already decided even before the Partition so he would keep the Sindh government to keep its promise. Another factor, which created tension during early period, was the fear of Sindhi population that they are being out numbered with the arrival of non Sindhis because there were 87 percent Sindhis in the province and this numbers was reduced to 67 percent by 1951. In Karachi, Urdu Speakers were 58 percent and Sindhis only 14 percent of the total population. In Hyderabad, Urdu Speaking population reached by 66 percent. The seeds of mistrust and conflict between Sindhis and non-Sindhis were sown in1950s and early 1960s, when One Unit Scheme was implemented. Major rift came when Ayub Khan granted agricultural land to senior military and civil bureaucrats who were mostly Punjabis, Mohajirs and Pathan as there were in hold in civil military bureaucracy, There was the time when local Sindhis felt being ‘Red Indianized’ in their home land.
The first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was composed of 74 members. Initially there were 64 members, which were a part of Central Constituent Assembly in undivided India. The states of Bahawalpur, Khairpur, Balochistan and Tribal areas were given additional seats, which raised its membership. A step forward in the constitution making was objective resolution, which was passed on 12 March, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan presented this resolution and its purpose was to lay the foundations of constitution making. A committee was also set up by the Assembly to draft the proposal of the constitution in light of Objective Resolution.
October 16, 1951. Liaquat Ali Khan was a close associate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and was respected in the party and government circles. His death proved another setback in Pakistan’s constitutional and political history. Khawaja Nazimuddin, the Governor General became Prime Minister immediately after his assassination.
Second report of the Basic Principles Committee was presented in the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1952. According to that draft, the parliament was bicameral with a lower house consisting of members from the two wings on population basis and upper house equally representing the units. This draft created parity between the both of the wings but this time the reaction came from Punjab.
Years later, Ayub regime marked with centralization of power and authority faced open defiance after Simla Agreement culminating in violent agitation against law enforcing agencies. The anti Ayub movement started from a scuffle between police and students in Rawalpindi and it sparked all over the country in no time. Within few weeks, both wings of the country were burning with violence. Ayub was sick and inner cabinet was running government on Ayub Khan. Initially Ayub Khan decided to pacify the public anger by holding round table conference with politicians. He agreed to remove emergency powers imposed after 1965 war and to release the political prisoners including Shiekh Mujib-ur- Rehman detained under the charges of Agartala Conspiracy Case. He even accepted the demand to revive parliamentary form of government and direct elections but all his efforts proved fruitless and he could not bring all political leaders on board particularly Bhutto from West Pakistan and Bhashani from East Pakistan.
On 28 March 1970, he issued Legal Frame Work Order and fulfilled the popular demand of the political elites to abolish One Unit. All provinces of West Pakistan got their autonomous status back. Legal Frame Work Order also defined the number of seats allocated to provinces for new elections. According to this National Assembly would consist of 313 members whom 300 would be elected to fill general seats. Total 13 seats were reserved for women. East
Pakistan according to its numerical strength was allocated the 162 seats as compare to Punjab, which was given only 82 general seats. The general elections produced new political configuration and three power centers emerged. Awami League got absolute majority in East Pakistan by securing 160 general seats. Pakistan Peoples Party of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto emerged as a majority party in Punjab and Sindh.