critical Analysis, Constitution of Pakistan

1. OVERVIEW OF OBJECTIVE
RESOLUTION UNDER
CONSTITUTION OF
PAKISTAN
BY
DR. SHEIKH MUHAMMAD
ADNAN
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

2. OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION
• Objective resolution is one of the most important documents in the
constitutional history of Pakistan. It was passed by the first constituent
assembly on 12th march 1949 under the leadership of liaquat ali khan.
The objectives resolution is one of the most important and illuminating
documents in the constitutional history of Pakistan. It laid down the
objectives on which the future constitution of the country was to be
based and it proved to be the fundamental stone of the constitutional
development of Pakistan
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

3. OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION
• The objectives resolution was adopted by the constituent assembly of
Pakistan on march
• 12, 1949. Prime minister, liaquat ali khan, had presented it in the assembly
on march 7, 1949.
• Out of 75 members of the assembly, 21 voted for opposing it.[1] all the
amendments proposed by
• Minority members were rejected. Consequently, all ten of them voted
against it.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

4. OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION
• The resolution proclaimed that the future constitution of
Pakistan would not be modeled
• Entirely on a European pattern, but on the ideology and
democratic faith of Islam. The
• Resolution, in its entirety, has been made part of the
constitution of Pakistan under article
• 2(a).It was the first article and it was done by liaquat ali
khan
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

5. OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION
The Pakistani objectives resolution proclaimed the following principles:
• Sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Allah almighty alone and the
authority which
• He has delegated to the state of Pakistan, through its people for being exercised
within the
• Limits prescribed by him is a sacred trust.
• His constituent assembly representing the people of Pakistan resolves to frame a
• Constitution for the sovereign independent state of Pakistan.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

6. OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION
• The state shall exercise its powers and authority through the
chosen representatives of the people.
• The principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and
social justice, as enunciated
• By Islam, shall be fully observed.
• 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 Sunnah
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

7. OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION
• Adequate provision shall be made for the minorities to freely progress and practice their
religions and develop their cultures.
• Pakistan shall be a federation and its constituent units will be autonomous.
• Fundamental rights shall be guaranteed. They include equality of status, of opportunity
and
• Before law, social, economic and political justice, and freedom of thought, expression,
belief, faith, worship and association, subject to (the) law and public morality.
• Adequate provisions shall be made to safeguard the legitimate interests of minorities and
• Backward and depressed classes.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

8. OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION
• The independence of the judiciary shall be fully secured.
• The integrity of the territories of the federation, its independence and all
its rights, including
• Its sovereign rights on land, sea and air shall be safeguarded.
• The people of pakistan may prosper and attain their rightful and honored
place among the
• Nations of the world and make their full contribution towards
international peace and
• Progress and happiness of humanity.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

9. OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION
• Purportedly combining the features of both western
and Islamic democracy, it is considered one of the
most important documents in the constitutional
history of Pakistan.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

10. CRITICISM
Sovereignty of allah almighty
• He said that we as muslim believed that authority vested in allah
almighty and it should be exercised in accordance with the
standards laid down in islam. He added that this preamble had
made it clear that the authority would be exercised by the chosen
persons; which is the essence of democracy and it eliminates the
dangers of theocracy. It emphasized on the principles of
democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance, and social justice and it
says that these should be part of future constitution.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

11. CRITICISM
Prem hari
The objectives resolution was amalgamation of religion and politics,
proposed that the first paragraph beginning with the words “whereas
sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to allah almighty alone…”
and ending with the words “limits prescribed by him is a sacred trust…”
of the resolution must be omitted. He pointed out that ‘the relations
between a state and its citizens have been… the subjects of politics’ and
‘the relations between man and god come within the sphere of religion’.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

12. CRITICISM
‘Politics comes within the sphere of reason, while religion
within that of faith. If religion and politics are intermingled
then there is a risk of subjecting religion to criticism, which
will rightly be presented as sacrilegious; and it would also
cripple reason and curb criticism as far as the state policies
are concerned..Datta also warned that this resolution was
prone to be misused by a political adventurer who might find
a justification for his ambitions in the clause that referred to
the delegation of the almighty’s authority to the state
through its people.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

13. CRITICISM
• Secular state
In my conception of (the) state where people of
different religions live there is no place for religion in
the state. Its position must be neutral: no bias for any
religion. If necessary, it should help all the religions
equally. No question of concession or tolerance to any
religion.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

14. CRITICISM
• Hamid khan remarks that it was “unfortunate that there was a
division on the resolution along communal lines. The
resolution had sown the seeds of suspicion, alienation and
distrust among the minorities. He further asserts that it
might have been ‘more prudent to accept some of the
amendments proposed by the members representing the
minorities in order to reach an understanding with them so
that the resolution could have been passed by consensus.
Some of the proposed amendments were moderate and might
have been adopted in the larger national interest”
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

15. EIGHT AMENDMENT
• The objectives resolution was included in the constitutions of
1956, 1962 and 1973 as a preamble of the document but
president zia-ul-haq made it integral part of the constitution of
1973 through the article 2(A) in the eighth amendment in 1985
through presidential order,
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

16. JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION
• In asma jilani v the government of punjab,12 the then chief justice hamood-ur-rehman
• In overturning the precedent laid down in the dosso case13 held that if there is a grundnorm in
• Pakistan, it is in the doctrine enshrined in the objectives resolution that sovereignty solely
• Belongs to god and that the “authority exercisable by people within the limits prescribed by him
• Is a sacred trust.”14 he stated that the objectives resolution from which he recognises this
• Principle has not been abrogated since it was passed giving it added validity. It is important to
• Note that the entire resolution was not held to be the grundnorm. Only the principle addressing
• The role of religion in the democratic constitution as enshrined in its first paragraph was
• Accorded that status.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan

17. JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION
• Observed in zia-ur-rehman v the state15 that the objectives
resolution was the manifestation of the ideology which was the
very foundation of Pakistan and to which all generations,
including the founding fathers, of Pakistan had assented.
Therefore, he concluded there was no bar in holding that it was a
supra-constitutional provision. Subsequently,
• The position was clarified by the chief justice Hameed-ur-rehman
himself when the same case reached the supreme court.16 the
chief justice, in no uncertain terms, stated that the objectives
resolution did not enjoy a supra-constitutional status.
Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Adnan