Constitutional Development in Pakistan 1947-1973

Following independence, it took three Governor Generals, four Prime Ministers, two constituent assemblies (1947-1954 & 1955-1956), and nine years of the protracted constitution-making process to produce the first constitution of Pakistan in 1956. It was rejected on the final day of its adoption (29 February 1956) by all Hindu minority parties and the largest Muslim political party (the Awami League) from East Pakistan – demographically the largest province. Due to a lack of consensus among ethnonational groups, the 1956 constitution failed to arrest the political instability that engulfed the entire country following its promulgation, ultimately leading to its abrogation and imposition of the first martial law in the country on 7 October 1958. Between its promulgation and abrogation, four federal ministries changed. The military dictator General Ayub Khan, who had taken over the reins of power, enacted the 1962 constitution to the country through an executive order. The current constitution, enacted by the third constituent assembly in 1973, was twice suspended by military coups of General Zia-ul-Haq (1977-1985) and General Musharraf (1999-2002), and at the time of its ‘restoration’, both in 1985 and 2002, the military regimes amended it in ways that fundamentally changed its Islamic and federal character. One such amendment on both occasions was the grant of power to the president to dissolve the lower house of the federal legislature. With this power in the hands of presidents – which office was usurped by both dictators at the time of restoring the constitution – the ensuing parliaments on both occasions were forced to give constitutional cover via the 8th and 17th Amendments to the acts of suspensions of the constitution, and all other acts of the military dictators during the period between the suspension and restoration of the constitution.

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