The document summarizes the Constitution of Pakistan of 1962. Some key points: 1. The constitution established a presidential system of government with a powerful president who had executive, legislative, and some judicial powers. 2. It provided for a single-house legislature called the National Assembly and a federal system with a strong central government. 3. The constitution included some fundamental rights for citizens and eventually allowed political parties after initially banning them. It also included some Islamic provisions and emphasized Islamic principles.

1. Assignment # 4
Assignment title:
Constitution of Pakistan of 1962
Submitted to:
Mr. Muhammad Shafiq
Submitted by:
Muhammad Mohsin Iqbal
Reg #
Sp15-Bes-007
Subject:
Pakistan studies

2. Vehari
Table of contents
1. BACKGROUND: 3
2. CONSTITUTION-MAKING: 4
3. SALIENT FEATURES: 5
3.1 Title of the State: 5
3.2 Presidential System: 6
3.3 Powers of the president: 7
3.4 Legislative powers: 8
3.5 Financial powers: 8
3.6 Federalism: 9
3.7 Principles of policy: 9
3.8 Fundamental Rights: 9
3.9 Political Parties: 10
3.10 Islamic Provisions: 10
4. ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR ISLAMIC IDEOLOGY: 10
5. ISLAMIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE: 11

3. 6. WORKING OF THE CONSTITUTION: 11
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 11
Constitution of Pakistan of 1962
1. Background:
On 7 Oct 1958 the military assumed power in Pakistan under the leadership of
general Ayub Khan who was the Commander in Chief at that time. The military
abrogated the Constitution and the federal and provincial cabinets were abolished.
The national and provincial assemblies were also abolished and martial law was
imposed in Pakistan. Ayub Khan became the chief martial law administrator and in
this way the 1st military Govt came into existence in Pakistan. The military Govt
had to undertake a lot of tasks, a lot of actions were taken during this period.
One of the major responsibility that the military Govt assigned to itself was the
framing the new Constitution for Pakistan because ultimately Pakistan was to
return to constitutional rule and for that the military Govt wanted to frame a
constitution for the country. During this period General Ayub Khan who became
Field Martial in Oct 1959 issued several statements on working of the governments
in the past. The Govt circles were generally critical of the parliamentary system of
the Govt which they thought was not providing stability to the country.
They emphasized that any political system for Pakistan must ensure stability,
continuity economic development and gradual development of democracy. These
were the primary considerations and by keeping in view the Govt decided to take

4. certain measures to move in the direction of framing the constitution for this
country.
2. Constitution-Making:
The first step in the direction of setting up a new political system was the
introduction of new local Govt system which was announced in Oct 1959 one year
after the assumption of power by the armed forces.
This local Govt system was called as Basic Democracies (Buniadi Jamhooriatain)
and under this system people elected 80000 representatives for the local councils
and these representatives were divided equally between East Pakistan and West
Pakistan. This local Govt system had initially five levels but later on it had four
levels. Union Councils, Tehsil Councils, District and Divisions. This system
worked as the local Govt and also performed the development work. The elections
to the Basic Democracies were held in Dec, 1959 and Jan, 1960 and in this way the
local govts were installed.
The next stage of setting up of a new political framework for Pakistan was
Presidential Referendum which was held on Feb 17, 1960.President Ayub decided
to hold Referendum for him to become an elected President and this Referendum
was held on Feb 17,1960.In this Referendum the elected members of Basic
Democracies voted, at that time the members of the Basic Democracies were called
as BD members, So the elected BD members were to vote and in this Referendum
Ayub Khan won the election with the overwhelming support and there was no
candidate against him.
After holding of the elections Ayub Khan decided to set up a constitution. This
constitution was established in Feb, 1960 and this commission was headed by a
former chief justice of Pakistan, his name was justice Shahabuddin.
In addition to Shahabuddin who was heading the commission, there were other
members and there was equality in representation to both wings of Pakistan that is
there were equal numbers of members from East Pakistan and from West Pakistan.
This constitution commission was assigned of doing two major things
1. This was to examine the causes of failure of Parliamentary system in
Pakistan. You would recall that before 1958 Pakistan had Parliamentary
system of Govt and when military took over in 1958 Parliamentary system
was done away with, so the first responsibility of the commission was to

5. look at the history of Pakistan as it developed from 1957 to 1958 and
identify the factors or causes that led to the failure of the parliamentary
system.
2. The second major responsibility was to recommend an appropriate system of
Govt for Pakistan in view of the genius of the people or temperament of the
people, level of education, and the kind of political situation that existed in
Pakistan in the state of nationhood and also the need for economic
development in Pakistan.1
The commission prepared a report a detailed report which was submitted to the
President of Pakistan in May, 1961.This report provided an analysis of the political
history of Pakistan from1947 to 1958, identifying the causes of the failure of the
parliamentary system during the 1st eleven years.
Once the assemblies that is the national and provincial were elected the
Constitution was enforced on 8th June 1962 and on that day Martial Law was
withdrawn, military rule came to an end, and the new constitution which was
framed by the military Govt of Ayub khan became the Constitution of Pakistan.
And from 8th June 1962 to onward Pakistani system was functioning under this
new constitution.
3. Salient Features:
The type of political system which was created under the new constitution of
Pakistan is described as under:
3.1 Title of the State:
When the constitution was enforced on June 8th 1962 the title of the State was
given as the Republic of Pakistan. But when this title was given there was a
demand in the assembly and outside the assembly that the title should be the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan that is the demand was to go back to the title that was
provided in the earlier constitution of 1956.The 1956 Constitution describe the
country as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. So after some thinking on this issue 1st
amendment was made in the constitution which dealt with a number of issues but
1
Sarwar, Muhammad“Pakistan Studies”(Lahore:Al-HijazPrinters,2011.),110.

6. here one issue is important for us that is the word Islamic were inserted in the title
and therefore Pakistan once again became The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
3.2 Presidential System:
The 2nd
outstanding feature of this constitution was the Presidential System of the
govt.In this way the 1962 Constitution marked a departure from the 1956
Constitution which had provided for a parliamentary system of Govt, but in 1962
this was replaced with presidential system of govt.
The constitution provided for a very powerful President who had vast
administrative powers and other authority to handle the affairs of the State. In a
way the President was the focal point of the constitution. It was around him that
constitution was revolving. Constitution provided that a person could become or he
can contest the election of the president if he had the minimum age of 40 years. He
should be a Muslim and qualified to be a member of the national assembly. In this
constitution, the president like the members of the national assembly was indirectly
elected. The members of the Basic Democracy which were 80000 in number were
made the Electoral College for the president. So the BD members would elect the
president of Pakistan under the Constitution of 1962, and the term was five for
years.
If a president had held the office for more than 8 years, he could seek re-election if,
his candidature is allowed or permitted or approved by the national and provincial
assemblies. To simplify what I have said, that a person could stay president for two
terms consecutive terms one after the other and each term for 5 years, so a person
can hold that office for 10 years. Now if, that person wanted to go beyond that is
for the 3rd term then his candidature had to be approved by the national and two
provincial assemblies and then he could go for the elections, the way it was
provided in the constitution which is indirect elections through the elected
members of the Basic Democracies.
Although the term of the president was fixed for 5 years, the president could be
removed from his office by the national assembly; this is called the impeachment
process or the impeachment of the president that is president could be removed by
impeachment. However the impeachment process was very difficult and it was not
easy to remove a president from his office until the expiry of his tenure which was
5 years.

7. Normally in presidential systems the president doesn’t have powers to dissolve the
national assembly’s or the parliament. Here in the Constitution of 1962 this power
was given to the president. President could dissolve the NA call for new elections
but there was one condition that is if the president dissolves the assemblies, he
would himself go for the elections; he will have to seek his own re-elections.
This for all practical purposes meant that president would not dissolve the NA,
because he would also have to get a new mandate, a new vote from Electoral
College. So that means that the president would be extremely reluctant to take such
a step and for all practical purposes he would not remove the NA although he was
given this kind of powers in a conditional manner.
3.3 Powers of the president:
The president was the focal point of the political system, the central piece of the
political system. He had executive powers, legislative powers because he was the
part of the legislative process and certain judicial powers. The cabinet was
appointed by the president and the cabinet was responsible to the president. He
could remove a cabinet member anytime he wants and other key appointments in
the state were also to be made by the president. For example the appointment of
chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court, the three commanders of the armed
forces, chairman and the members of the PPSC and some others, but there was a
procedureto make these appointments.
But ultimately it was the responsibility of the president to make these
appointments. President also had the powers to issue ordinances when the NA was
not in session. President also had an emergency power that is if state of emergency
had been declared in the country then his powers enhanced. Emergency can be
declared in the country for 3 major reasons.
1. External threat, there is war imposed on the country as was the case in Sep,
1965 when India attacked on Pakistan state of emergency was declared in
Pakistan.
2. Internal disturbances there are developments within a country which
threatens security then emergency powers could be invoked.
A very serious economic crises economic threat to the security of the state
So, in these kinds of situations the president can declare the state of emergency
and can assume extra powers. And then he had a free hand to function but
within a limit prescribe by the constitution of Pakistan.

8. 3.4 Legislative powers:
President was the part of the legislative process where he would be dealing with
legislation but we will discuss his legislative powers when we discuss the NA
which is the 3rd feature of the constitution. The 3rd feature is that it provided for
a single house legislature, like the 1956 Constitution it provided for a single
house parliament called NA.And in this NA both the wings of Pakistan had
equal representation or what is called the principle of parity.
The strength of the house for the membership of the NA was 156.150 were the
general seats and 6 were reserved for women. The general seats were elected
through an indirect election that is the BD members constituted the Electoral
College for the members of the NA; the same applies to the provincial
assemblies. Both the national and provincial assemblies were elected by the
Electoral College of BD members.
Minimum age was 25 years and the candidate would be a registered voter in
anywhere in Pakistan and a citizen of Pakistan. A had law making powers,
could make laws for the issues and powers given to the federal govt.However,
all laws made by the NA would go to the president and at that stage before they
are passed by the president they are called as bills, so, the president could sign
the law which has been passed in the form of bills, reject it or return it for
reconsideration to the NA. There was a procedure through which NA could
accept the recommendations of the president or could returned the bill to the
president, So there was a procedure to deal with the situation, but the president
was the part of the legislative process.
3.5 Financial powers:
So for as financial powers were concerned these powers were limited. The NA
could vote on new expenditure it means those items in the budget which are
included for the first time that is why they are new expenditures. It has the
power to accept or reject the new expenditure. Here were 2 other categories of
expenditures which it could not turn down
The consolidated fund list which included salary for the officers of certain
important Offices under the state of Pakistan. This was the same in the 1956
constitution however the 1962 provided for recurring expenditure, this
expenditure meant the expenditure which was coming from the previous years.
This was for multi year projects.

9. 3.6 Federalism:
The 1962 established a federal system of Govt which meant two types of Govt
Govt at the centre and Govt at the provincial level there were two provinces at that
time. So there were two govts functioning within the limits defined by the
constitution.
1962 Constitution provided one list of subjects, one set of powers were clearly laid
down in the constitution and those were the powers of the central govt. So the one
list of subjects pertains to the powers of the central Govt and the rest of the powers
were given to the provincial govts. However the federation under the 1962
Constitution had a strong centre, because there was a powerful president. A
president who has enough powers to manage the central as well as the provincial
affairs.
And if we look at the emergency powers then there is greater freedom to intervene
in the provincial affairs. So, it was a strong centre under the 1962 Constitution,
although provincial autonomy was there, a provincial setup a governor with his
cabinet and governor was appointed by the president. And governor would appoint
the cabinet with the approval of the president and each province had its legislature
for law making purposes. Here the authority of the governor was strong, he was the
head of the Govt at the provincial level. So we can say that there was provincial
autonomy administration but centre was strong under the 1962 Constitution.
3.7 Principles of policy:
The 5th feature is that the constitution provided principles for policy making. These
principles were guidelines for policy makers and these principles emphasized
national solidarity that principles would be designed to promote national solidarity
and the policies would take care the people of the backward areas, and other
principles like opportunities would be provided to people to take part in national
life. Emphasis on Islamic way of life, on Islamic system, Islamic teachings and on
Islamic principles. These were the principles given in the constitution. And these
principles were simply guidelines for those were to make policies for Pakistan.
3.8 Fundamental Rights:
The next feature was Fundamental Rights, like the previous constitution these
constitutions also provided certain political and civil rights to the people and these
were the standard rights which are given in democratic systems. Right to speech,

10. right to organization, right to movement, protection of life, security, freedom of
religion and such rights which are part of any democratic setup.
These were there and these could be invoked in a court of law. But I may mention
here that when constitution was enforced these fundamental rights were given in
the constitution as principles for law making not as fundamental rights. Then there
was a demand that these should be fundamental rights rather than principles, and
due to this demand in the NA and outside the NA the principles for law making
were changed into fundamental rights under an amendment to the constitution and
in this way the standard civil and political rights became the part of the
constitution.
3.9 Political Parties:
The 9th feature pertains to political parties. When constitution was enforced in June
1962 political parties were not allowed in Pakistan. There was a ban on Political
parties and the elections to the national and provincial assemblies in April and May
in 1962 were party less elections. Now once the NA began to function the
members thought that Pakistan must have political parties. Therefore a political
party’s act was passed in 1962,to provide for working of political parties under the
constitution of Pakistan and after the passing of this act the political parties began
to function in Pakistan.
3.10 Islamic Provisions:
The next feature pertains to the Islamic Provisions of the constitution. I have
discussed about the title of the state of Pakistan which was Islamic Republic of
Pakistan. If we look at the preamble of the constitution, it reflects the Objective
Resolution and constitution assigns sovereignty to all over Universe to Almighty
Allah and it is to be exercised within the limits prescribed by Him in the Quran and
Sunnah. If we look at the principles of policy making there are clear provisions for
Islamic way of life and Islamic principles for example state is to enable the people
to lead their lives according to the principles of Islam and teachings of Islam. Two
important institutions were created
4. Advisory council for Islamic Ideology:
It comprised the scholars of Islam law and politics and this was to make sure that
the laws made were in conformity with Islamic principles. But this was an advisory
body;this was to advise to the parliament the NA and the President.

11. 5. Islamic ResearchInstitute:
The 2nd
important institute was the Islamic research institute which was set up
under this constitution for devoting itself to research and instructions in Islam for
insisting the reconstruction of the Muslim society on truly Islamic lines. In other
way we could say that this constitution emphasized on the Islamic character of the
polity.
6. Working of the constitution:
This constitution functioned from June 8th 1962 to March 25th 1969.
7. Bibliography
Sarwar,Muhammad “Pakistan Studies”Lahore:Al-HijazPrinters,2011.
Rabani,m.Ikram”Pakistanstudies”Lahore: the carvanpress,2012.
" constitution of Pakistan of 1962." Wikipedia. Accessed October 22,
2015.
" constitution of Pakistan of 1962." Wikipedia. Accessed October 22,
2015.