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Constitution of Pakistan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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There have been several documents known as the Constitution of Pakistan (Urdu: آئین پاکستان ). These are dealt with here in chronological order. The 1973 Constitution provided for a parliamentary system with a President as head of state and popularly elected Prime Minister as head of government. However, in 1988 the Eighth Amendment made Pakistan's government a Semi-presidential system. Pakistan has a bicameral legislature that consists of the Senate (upper house) and the National Assembly (lower house). Together with the President, the Senate and National Assembly make up a body called the Majlis-i-Shoora (Council of Advisors) or Parliament [1].
Pakistan currently has no operative Constitution. The 1973 document was suspended for the third time in its history on November 3, 2007 by President Pervez Musharraf.
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The revived Constituent Assembly promulgated Pakistan's first indigenous constitution in 1956 and reconstituted itself as the national legislature--the Legislative Assembly--under the constitution it adopted. Pakistan became an Islamic republic. The Governor General was replaced by a President.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Prime minister from 1973 to 1977, lifted martial law within several months after his election, and after an "interim constitution" granting him broad powers as President, a new constitution was promulgated in April 1973 and came into effect on August 14 of that year, the twenty-sixth anniversary of the country's independence. This constitution represented a compromise consensus on three issues: the role of Islam; the sharing of power between the federal government and the provinces; and the division of responsibility between the president and the prime minister, with a greatly strengthened position for the latter. Bhutto stepped down as president and became prime minister. In order to allay fears of the smaller provinces concerning domination by Punjab, the constitution established a bicameral legislature with a Senate, providing equal provincial representation, and a National Assembly, allocating seats according to population. Islam was declared the state religion of Pakistan.
With regard to provincial rights the 1973 constitution was in fact the most centralised of Pakistan's various constitutions. The Government of India Act of 1935, which Pakistan adopted as its first working constitution, granted the federal government 96 items of power. The 1956 constitution reduced that number to 49, and this was retained in the 1962 constitution. In 1973, however, it was then enlarged to 114.
Bhutto had the opportunity to resolve many of Pakistan's political problems. But Bhutto was found to have been corrupting the National Authorities and gave extra-ordinary power to her husband, who was in return found murdering innocent and looting the poor of the country. Although the country finally seemed to be on a democratic course, Bhutto lost this opportunity because of series of repressive actions against the political opposition that made it appear he was working to establish a one-party state. In a final step, he suddenly called national elections in March 1977, hoping to catch the opposition unprepared and give his party total control of the National Assembly.
- Full text of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan with all amending documents
- Constitution of Pakistan, 1973
- Constitution and Legislative History of Pakistan
- Constitutional Amendments Required to Ensure Pakistan's Progress as A Democratic State
- This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain. - Pakistan.