The Constitution of Pakistan 1956
Background
The verdict of the Federal Court in Usif Patel’s case had put to an end the effort
of Ghulam Mohammad and his nominated Cabinet to make a Constituent by an
executive order. The Federal Court declared that the task of framing a
Constitution had to be performed by a Constituent Assembly.
That decision was made on 13th April 1955 and two days later, the Governor-
General, Ghulam Mohammad, by a proclamation, constituent a Constituent
Convention/ and summoned to meet on 10th May 1955.
The Constitution of Pakistan 1956
The constituent committee presented the draft Bill in the Constituent Assembly
of Pakistan on January 9, 1956. The bill was opposed by the Awami League in
East Pakistan. Later on, Awami League boycotted the official ceremonies
celebrating the inauguration of the Constitution. However, despite their
opposition, the Constitution was adopted and was enforced on March 23, 1956.
=== ===The constituent Assembly became interim National Assembly and
Governor-General Iskander Mirza sworn in as the first President of Pakistan.
Main Characteristics of the Constitution 1956
====The Constitution of 1956 was consisted of 234 articles, divided into 13
parts and 6 schedules. The clause relating to the elimination of riba, which was
the part of the draft was eventually dropped.
1.Under this Constitution, the country was declared as ‘Islamic Republic of
Pakistan; Add Article 1 of 1973
2. Objectives Resolution was made part of the preamble; Add A-2-A of 1973;
3.That Pakistan would be a democratic state based on Islamic principles of
social justice; A-7 of 1973….
4. == Fundamental Rights were made part of the constitution. (A-8-28 of 1973)
However, the President had power to suspend fundamental rights in case of
emergency;
==Urdu and Bengali were declared as the state languages. However, for the first
twenty years, English was declared as an official language. (A-29-40)
5.==That steps would be taken to enable the Muslims individually and
collectively to order their lives in accordance with the teaching of the Qur’an
and Sunnah (pbuh); (A-29-40 of 1973);
==That proper measures would be taken to organize the institutions of zakat,
waqfs, and mosques. (A-29-40 of 1973);
6. That any Muslim citizen of Pakistan, of forty years old, could be elected as
the President of Pakistan for the term of five years; (A-41-49 of 1973);
President would set up an Organization for Islamic Research; (A-227-229);
7. In case of emergency, the federal government would have control over
provincial matters;
== That the executive authority of the Federation would be in the president;
==The President and PM could not hold their offices for more than two tenures;
== The President could appoint amongst the MNAs, a Prime Minister who had
to take the vote of confidence in two months. (A-50-61 of 1973)
== The Prime Minister had to inform the president about all the decisions of the
cabinet.
== The president had the power to summon, prorogue, and dissolve the
Assembly on the advice of the cabinet.
==No bill imposing taxes or involving expenditure could be moved without the
consent of the president. He had partial veto power. He could give or withhold
his assent to a bill passed by the Assembly;
==3/4th members of the Assembly could impeach the president;
== That Federal form of government would be adopted (A-90-110) with three
lists of subjects: federal, provincial and concurrent. (A-141-152)
-------The federal list consisted of 33 items, provincial of 94 items, and a
concurrent list of 19 items.
--------In case of a conflict between federal and provincial governments, or
between the provincial governments, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was
to act as a mediator.
-------- The federal legislation would be preferred over provincial legislation
regarding the concurrent list.
== The Constitution recommended for a Unicameral Legislature. The National
Assembly was to consist of 300 members. The age limit of a member of
National Assembly was 25 years; (A-50-66);
== Seats of NA were divided equally between both units, East Pakistan and
West Pakistan;
==Members of the NA were to be elected through direct Elections;
For the first ten years, five additional seats were reserved for women from each
unit; (A- of 1973);
==--Two-third members of the Assembly could bring an amendment to the
constitution; (A-238-239);
==The provincial structure was similar to that of the center. There were 300
members in both provincial assemblies; (A-106-117)
== For an Independent judiciary, federal courts and high courts were established
in a systematic manners (A-175 and 192 of 1973);
End
