The document discusses some of the major constitutional issues faced by Pakistan's first Constituent Assembly. It outlines six main issues: 1) federalism and the division of power between the central and provincial governments, 2) representation and balancing East and West Pakistan's population differences, 3) separate vs. joint electorates, 4) the national language question, 5) parliamentary vs. presidential systems, and 6) whether Pakistan should be an Islamic or secular state. On each issue, there were disagreements between East and West Pakistan and between religious and secular factions that prolonged the process of establishing Pakistan's first constitution.

1. CONSTITUTIONALISSUES
Constitutionisasetof basicprinciplesandframeworkforgovernance andexercise of political power
and legal authority.Itclarifiesthe scope of power,relationshipamongvariousinstitutionswithinthe
government and society. It has precedence over ordinary laws and cannot be changed like ordinary laws.
The Governmentof IndiaAct(1935) was modifiedandpromulgatedinthe newlystate of Pakistan.The
electedmembersinthe 1946 electionsmade the firstConstituentAssemblythatfacedgrievous
circumstances.
Major Issues
The major issues,the firstconstituentassemblyfaced,were about:
1. Federalism
2. Representation
3. Separate or JointElectorate
4. The National Language Issue
5. ParliamentaryorPresidential system
6. The Islamicor SecularState
1. Federalism
There wasconsensusonfederalismbutyetthere were manyissuestobe setled.The mainwasthat
Pakistanconsistedof twoterritorial parts,EastPakistan(withmore population,less territory but
administrativelyone unit) andWestPakistan(administratively4units).Federalismismeantto
accommodate suchkindof diversitymaintainingthe unityof the state orcountry.
2. Divisionof power:
It was the mostdifficultquestionthathow the powerwouldbe dividedbetweenCentre andthe
Provinces.The heritage of Britishrule gave the traditionof aStrong Centre.Butthe provinceswere
demandingmore AutonomyandProvincial Rights. the InterimConstitutionandthe 1956 Constitution
traditionof strongcentre continued.
3. Representation
Representationat the federal level wasanotherconflictingissue because EastPakistanandWest
Pakistanwere differentinpopulationandsize.Onthe otherhandthere wasdiversityinWesternpartof
Pakistan.The provincesof WestPakistanwere alsodifferentinpopulationandsize.A l of themwere
sensitivetotheirrepresentationandprovincial autonomy.Tohave aStandard Formulaforthe
representationof unitsandpopulationthe ConstituentAssembly(CA) formed aBasicPrinciple
Commitee (BPC) onMarch12, 1949. The primarytaskof thiscommitee wastoframe a set of basic
principlesforthe future constitutionof Pakistan.

2. a. FirstBPC Report:Thiscommitee presenteditsfirstreporton28th September1950. Accordingto this
reporttwo housesof the parliamentwere proposed.The lowerhouse wastobe electedonthe basisof
POPULATION andthe upperhouse wasto be electedonthe basisof equal representationfor the
provincesof PakistannamelyEastBengal,WestPunjab,Sindh,NWFPandBaluchistan.Equal powers
were proposedforthe bothHouses.Nomentionof National Language wasmade.EastBengal opposed
thisreportand Liaqa t Ali Khanwithdrew it.
b. SecondBPCReport:
BPC presenteditsfinalreporton22nd December1952. Accordingto thisreporttwoHousesof the
Parliamentwil enjoythe equal statusandpowers.Itproposedequal representationtoEastand West
wing.Thisreportalsofacedreactioninboth the wingsof Pakistan.The principle of paritywasnot
appreciatedinbothEast PakistanandPunjab.
c. Muhammad Ali BograFormula:
MuhammadAli Bogra immediatelyafterassumingthe officeof the Prime Ministerpresentedaformula
to resolve the deadlockinconstitutionmaking.AccordingtothisformulaPakistanwouldhave a
bicameral legislature.Inupperhouse there wouldbe EQUALrepresentationtoeachof five units.In
lower house population w i l be represented. In this way more representation was given to East Pakistan.
Both wingswouldhave equal strengthinjointsessionsof the twohouses.
:: Reactionto Bogra Formula
I t was welcomedinbothpartsof the country.The principle of parityandrepresentationof the
populationwasappreciated.It alsosolvedthe problemof nationallanguage by suggestingUrduand
Bengali bothasnational language.
:: One Unito f WestPakistanOctober1955
One Unit of West Pakistanwasestablishedon14thOctober1955. The provincesof Punjab,Sindh,NWFP
and Baluchistanwouldbe amalgamatedinone unittoestablishparitybetweenthe twopartsof the
country.
4. Separate or JointElectorate
Separate electorate wasadoptedonthe demandof Muslimsin1909 by the BritishGovernment.Butthe
minoritiesdidnotfavourthisafterindependence.Religiouselementssupportedthisasa part of
heritage.
East: decidedforJointElectorate.
West:Separate electorate.
1957: JointElectorate wasadoptedfora l Pakistanbythe National Assembly.
5. The National Language Issue
Pre-independence:Muslimelite al over IndiaadoptedUrdu.In 1948 JinnahdeclaredthatUrdu would
be the national language butprovincescoulduse theirlanguages.OppositionagainstUrduwasthere in
East Bengal.Thisbecame more pronouncedafterthe deathof Jinnahascontroversieseruptedon
constitutionmaking.Language MovementstartedinEastPakistanFebruary,1952.

3. There wasa complaintaboutanti Bengali language atitudeof the federal government.Two language
formulawasadoptedin1954. Since 1973 Urdu wasadoptedas national language alongwiththe support
for developmentof regional languages.
6. ParliamentaryorPresidential
There wasa consensusforparliamentarysystem.Butthere wasalimiteddemandforpresidential
system.Supportersof Presidential systembecame dominantafterthe 1958 militarytakeover.The 1962
ConstitutionwasaPresidential constitution.
6: The Islamicor SecularState
From the verybeginningof PakistanMovementthere wasanagreementthatthe state w i l have close
relationshipwithIslam.Muslimsdefinedtheirnational identitywithreference toIslamanditsheritage.
Some oppositioncame fromthe Congressmembersof the ConstituentAssembly,andafew secularists.
There wasa BROADAGREEMENT that the state wil identifyitself withIslam.The Constituent
Assemblytooktime todefinethe preciserelationshipbetweenthe state andIslam