Overview of the Constitutional & Political History of Pakistan 1947 -1956 Three reports by BPC one unit scheme

1. Pakistan Studies
Pakistan Constitutional
History
1947 - 1956

2. Topic of Discussion
 An overview of the Constitutional &
Political History of Pakistan form 1947 to
1956

3. Constitutional Development of
Pakistan: 1947 to 1956
 Pakistan was given the status of
dominion status under Independence
Act 1947
 Under Article “8” of above Act, Indian
Act of 1935 adopted to be worked as an
Interim Constitution with necessary
adjustments and alterations till the time
Pakistan frame its constitution

4. Constitutional Development of
Pakistan( cont.)
 The First constitutional assembly
elected Mr. Jinnah as its first Governor
General on 11th
August, 1947
unanimously
 Objective Resolution was approved by
this above mentioned assembly on 12
March, 1949.

5. Constitutional Development of
Pakistan( cont.)
 Constituent Assembly devised various
committees.
 Basic Principles Committee (BPC) was
the most important in terms of drafting
of the constitution in the light of
objective Resolution (1949).

6. Basic Principles Committee
 BPC was comprises of 24 members
BPC
Sub-Committees
Federal & Provincial
constitutional powers
Franchise Judiciary

7. Other committees and 1st
Report (1950)
 One important committee was “Talimat-
i- Islamia which was established in
order to advice BPC regarding Ideology
of Pakistan
 First Report of the BPC was submitted
in September, 1950

8. 1st Report (1950)
Central Assembly
(Two Houses)
Upper House
On parity Basis
Lower House
On popular Basis
According to 1st Report :

9. 1st Report (1950)( cont.)
 President can be removed by 2/3
majority
 Adoption of Parliamentary system
Criticism on 1st
Report:
 Reaction from East Pakistan
 Little about Islam
 Ultimately rejected

10. 2nd
Report (1952)
Khawaja Nazim-ud-Din, the next Prime minister submitted the 2nd
Report on 1952
According to 2nd
Report:
 President would be Muslim;
Central Assembly
(Two Houses)
Upper House
On parity Basis 120
(60 seats to Each wing)
Lower House
On parity Basis 400
(200 to each wing)

11. 2nd
Report (1952)( cont.)
Criticism on 2nd
Report:
 East Pakistan was given upper hand
 Activation of de-stabilizing forces
 1953 dismissal of the cabinet
(dismissal of Khawaja Nazimuddin’s
government)

12. Third Report: Muhammad Ali
Bogra Formula (1953)
According to 2nd
Report:
 The proposals were revised in the light of the
criticism on 2nd
report and decided:
 Upper House: Equal representation to all five
units
 Lower House: More representation to Eastern
part

13. Third Report: Muhammad Ali
Bogra Formula (1953)( cont.)
 While in joint session, both wings had
equal representation:
East Pak West Pak
Upper House 10 40
Lower House 165 135
---------------------------------------------
 Joint Session 175 175

14. Third Report: Muhammad Ali
Bogra Formula (1953)( cont.)
CRITICISM on 3rd
Report:
 It suggested some difficult process but
mostly it was widely acceptable. Two
languages, Urdu and Bengali were
approved as official languages.
 This is important that after the Formula,
the work began on constitution drafting
because the deadlock was over.

15. Dissolution of 1st
Constituent
Assembly, 1954
 In October 1954, GG (Governor General)
dissolved the CA which proved a fatal blow
to the democratic process.
 The dissolution of assembly was challenged
in the Sindh court by Maulvi Tamizuddin.
 The court declared the dissolution illegal but
the Federal Court upheld the GG action but
asked for setting up an elected CA.

16. 1954 Indirect Election
 Elections were held which was indirect
viz just on the provincial level in 1954
 PML lost its representative character as
it had to face crushing defeat at the
hands of Joint Opposition Front in the
provincial election of East Pakistan
1954

17. Formulation of 2nd
Constitutional Assembly 1955
 Ghulam Muhammad called a
Convention on May 10, 1955 consisting
of 60 people which later raised to 80,
elected by the respective provincial
Assemblies,
 All its members were to be elected
indirectly (by the provincial assemblies).
In this way, the 2nd CA came into
existence.

18. Formulation of 2nd Constitutional
Assembly 1955 (cont.)
 Coalition government in collaboration
with United Front under the leadership
of Mohammad Ali was formed.
 The Convention was vested with the
task of completing constitution making.

19. One Unit Scheme Sept. 1955
 This second Constituent assembly
solved the problem of representation by
making West Pakistan as one unit by
enactment of a law on 30th
September,
1955.

20. Constitutional Development of
Pakistan( cont.)
 The inclusion of two persons viz; Major
Gen. Sikandar Mirza & Ayub Khan worked
as the beginning of new phase in political
history of Pakistan
 An announcement was made by Gen.
Sikandar Mirza that Pakistani people lack
capabilities to run democratic institutions,
therefore, controlled democracy would be
introduced.

21. Constitution of 1956
 The new draft of constitution was
presented on 29th
January, 1956 in
assembly and got Governor General
consent on 2nd
March and enforced on
23rd
March.

22. 1956 of constitution (cont.)
 1956 constitution was comprises of 13
chapter, 6 schedules and 234 Articles
 Parliamentary form of government was
adopted
 With the support of 2/3 majority, an
amendment can be introduced

23. 1956 of constitution (cont.)
 Federation
 Uni-cameral Legislature
 Independence of judiciary
 Objective resolution as preamble
 Urdu and Bengali was made official
languages and English was accepted
for official business for a maximum
period of 25 years

24. Thank You 