Constitution of Pakistan of 1956
The Constitution of 1956 was the fundamental law of Pakistan from March 1956 until the 1958 Pakistani coup d'état. It was the first constitution adopted by independent Pakistan. There were 234 articles 13 parts and 6 schedules.
Pakistan became independent of the United Kingdom in 1947, but remained a British Dominion, like Canada and Australia, until 1956. Under Section 8 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, the Government of India Act 1935 - with certain adaptations - served as the working constitution of Pakistan; still, the need of a full independence and a constitution to be framed by the elected representatives of the people was all the more necessary for the free citizens of a sovereign state. Therefore, the first Constituent Assembly was formed under the Independence Act and was entrusted with two separate functions:[1]
The powers and functions of the central legislature under the Government of India Act were conferred on the Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly could, however, amend the Indian Independence Act (1947) or the Government of India Act (1935) and no Act of the British Parliament could be extended to Pakistan without legislation by the Constituent Assembly. The first Constituent Assembly originally consisted of 69 members; subsequently the number of members was increased to 79.
The first major step in the framing of a constitution for Pakistan was taken by the Constituent Assembly on 12 March 1949, when it passed a resolution on the 'Aims and Objectives of the Constitution', popularly known as the Objectives Resolution. It laid the foundation of the constitution and indicated the broad outline of its structure. The resolution was moved by Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan.[2] While moving the Resolution, he said:
The resolution was debated for five days. The leading members of the government and a large number of non-Muslim members, especially from East Bengal, took a prominent part. Non-Muslim members expressed grave apprehensions about their position and role in the new policy. Hindu members of the Constitutional Assembly argued that the Objectives Resolution differed with Muhammad Ali Jinnah's (Quaid-e-Azam) view in all the basic points. Sris Chandra Chattopadhyaya said:
Birat Chandra Mandal declared that Jinnah had "unequivocally said that Pakistan will be a secular state." Bhupendra Kumar Datta went a step further: "...were this resolution to come before this house within the life-time of the Great Creator of Pakistan, the Quaid-i-Azam, it would not have come in its present shape...."[4]
However, Muslim scholars and a large portion of the people of Pakistan were of the view that this was exactly what the Quaid-a-Azam wanted and that it was a good step forward in the constitutional history of Pakistan. They also argued that objective resolution provided the minorities with equal rights and that they had no compulsion, whatsoever, in adopting or converting into Islam.
After nine years of efforts, Pakistan was successful in framing a constitution. The Constituent Assembly adopted it on 29 February 1956, and it was enforced on 23 March 1956, proclaiming Pakistan to be an Islamic republic.
Issues[edit]
Despite the province of East Pakistan accounting for a clear majority of the total population of Pakistan, the representation in the National Assembly was set at half of the total membership. This meant that East Pakistan was underrepresented in the Assembly under this Constitution.
Demise[edit]
On 7 October 1958, President Iskander Mirza staged a coup d'état. He abrogated the constitution, imposed martial law and appointed General Muhammad Ayub Khan as the Chief Martial Law Administrator and Aziz Ahmad as Secretary General and Deputy Chief Martial Law Administrator. However, three weeks later General Ayub—who had been openly questioning the authority of the government prior to the imposition of martial law—deposed Iskandar Mirza on 27 October 1958 and assumed the presidency, which practically formalized the militarization of the political system in Pakistan.[6] Four years later a new document, Constitution of 1962 was adopted. This was eventually succeeded by the Constitution of 1973.