Background of the constitution of 1973
At the time of independence in 1947, Pakistan made government of India act 1935 as its interim constitution and operated under the Indian Independence Act 1947 and the Government of India Act 1935, with necessary adaptations to suit the newly formed state, . and the constituent assembly of Pakistan was tasked with drafting of new constitution. Pakistan adopted it first constitution on march 24, 1956, after the delay of nine years due various factors like complexity of nation building, political instability and ideological differences. After short span of time this constitution was abrogated by Skindar Mirza in October 1958 and martial law was imposed in Pakistan.
Ayub khan disposed Skindar Miza and make himself president of Pakistan, in January 1962 the cabinet of President Ayub Khan approve the text of new constitution for Pakistan which came to effect on 8 June 1962. On 25 March 1969 General Yahya Khan abrogate the conistitution of 1962 ,abolish the one unit system in west Pakistan and order general election on the basis of one man one vote, as result of which Awami league of Mujib ur Rehman gain the most number of seats in the national assembly (167seats) and Pakistan people party of Zulfiqar ali Bhutto won second most number of seats (86seats). but power was not transfer to Awami league due to which East Pakistan get independence as newly born Bangladesh on december 16,1971, and Zulfiqar ali Bhutto became president of Pakistan after the resignation of Skindar Mirza on December 20, 1971. the national assambly of pakistan formed a constitution committee on 17th April 1972 to prepare a draft for the constitution of Pakistan, it was presented to the assembly on 31st of Decemeber 1972, the national assembly of Pakistan passed the constitution on 10 April 1973 , the president of assembly authenticate it on 12 April and was promulgated on 14 August 1973, since than a number of amendment has been done their in.
Flaws in the articles of the constitution:
when we thoroughly go through the the constitution of Pakistan 1973. (the pdf and pictures of every page of which are attached at the end of this blog blog ) , we will notice certain limitation and exclusiveness in the constitution. some of them are mention blow
article 2 state that "Islam shall be the state religion of Pakistan". in country like Pakistan where there is so much diversity in religion making Islam a state religion will automatically marginalized the religious minorities living in the country, it confiscate their religion freedom and fundamental rights. secondly there are a lot of Shia Muslim(60 million) in Pakistan , which have some how different customs, tradition and way of life from Sunni Muslim. making Sunni Islam as the religion of the country is creating a lot of hardships for the Shia Muslim living in the country due to which sectarianism and sectarian violence are happening in Pakistan every day which took the life of 4000 Shia Muslims between 1987 to 2007 and as many Sunni Muslim. therefore a complete replacement of this article is needed with more religious inclusive and progressive article.
The article 16 and 17 of the constitution which mention about the freedom of assembly and association did not mention about the dynastic nature of the assembly and association, due to this dynastic political system has prevail in the Pakistan which is creating two much hindrance in development and progressing of democracy and democratic value of the country.
the article 19 of the constitution which guaranteed the freedom of speech to every to citizen has subject it to the glory of Islam not to the sanctity of other religion which create a religious intolerance toward minorities living in Pakistan.
the article 40 of the constitution which talk about the strengthening of relation with Muslim countries and supporting the common of interest of people of Asia, Africa and Latin America, has not mention the people living in Europe, Australia and North America , nor it has subjected the relation with Muslim country to any human rights and international rule violation . which is making Pakistan foreign policy static and radical. a lot of rethinking is needed in this article otherwise we will always face isolation globally.
the clause 2 of article 41 of the constitution which state a president should be Muslim and above 45 years old , show how this constitution is not considering the religious minorities in the country as first citizen, and the age limit to the presidential office means those old custom of the society are upheld by the constitution
conclusion and Way forward
By looking at all of the all of the articles mention above we came to a conclusion that the constitution of Pakistan has a lot of ambiguities which often lead to confusion and interpretation issues , there are is no strong clause about the protection of religious minorities rights ,it does not clearly define the boundaries for every institution and the constitution does not adequately address issues like democratic governance, electoral reform and political representation. there fore all those ambiguous article should be amended or otherwise completely new inclusive and progressive constitution is needed,
Pdf of constitution
images page by page of the constitution of Islamic republic of Pakistan 1973
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