Ch12. Constitution of Pakistan 1956 and 1962

📂 START HERE — How This Page Is Organised

No child pages here — read the sections below in order.

📺 Directly Relevant YouTube Lecture Sources

• 1956 Constitution & Its Failure (1956–1958) — 1956 Constitution and its failure
• 1962 Constitution & Comparison with 1956 — 1962 Constitution compared with 1956
• Ayub Khan Regime — Part I (1958–1962) — Ayub, Part I: Basic Democracies

📖 What to learn in order

1. Constitution of 1956
2. Background
3. Salient Features
4. Why It Failed
5. Constitution of 1962
6. Background
7. Salient Features
8. Why It Failed
9. Comparison Table (mental model)
10. CSS Relevance / Past Paper Angle
11. MCQ Traps
12. Self-Test

CSS answer alignment: connect the note to the question's command word, dates, causal explanation and alternative view. Review actual papers before practice questions.

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Constitution of 1956

Background

• The modified Government of India Act 1935 was the interim constitution (1947–56) — nearly nine years without our own.
• Delays in the Constituent Assembly:
  • Objectives Resolution (1949)
  • Basic Principles Committee reports (1950, 1952, 1954)
  • first Assembly dissolved by Ghulam Muhammad (1954)
  • dissolution upheld in Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan through the doctrine of necessity (Justice Munir)
• Second Constituent Assembly finally passes the Constitution, enforced 23 March 1956.

Salient Features

• Pakistan declared an "Islamic Republic" (first time this title used).
• Federal parliamentary system with a unicameral National Assembly.
• Parity: East and West Pakistan given equal seats (150 each, 300 total), despite East Pakistan's larger population.
• Made possible by One Unit (1955), which merged the West Pakistan provinces.
• President to be Muslim; PM as real executive head (parliamentary system).
• Objectives Resolution made a preamble/directive principle, not enforceable law.
• Fundamental rights included, justiciable.
• Urdu and Bengali both declared national languages.

Why It Failed

• Never faced actual general elections under it before abrogation.
• Political instability: 4 Prime Ministers changed in ~2.5 years (1956-58).
• President Iskander Mirza abrogated it on 7 October 1958 and imposed martial law with Ayub as CMLA.
• Ayub removed Mirza on 27 October 1958.

Constitution of 1962

Background

• Promulgated by Ayub Khan on 1 March 1962; enforced 8 June 1962 when martial law was lifted.
• Based on the Constitution Commission report (1960–61).

Salient Features

• Presidential form of government — President as head of state AND government, not answerable to legislature in parliamentary sense.
• Indirect elections through Basic Democracies (1959):
  • 80,000 Basic Democrats (union councillors)
  • the electoral college for President and legislatures
• Unicameral National Assembly, still under parity between East and West Pakistan (150 seats each).
• "Islamic" dropped from the country's name — restored by the 1st Amendment (1963) after backlash.
• Strong central executive; weak legislature; no direct adult franchise for top offices.
• Advisory Council of Islamic Ideology introduced.

Why It Failed

• Seen as legitimizing one-man, quasi-authoritarian rule under democratic facade.
• 1965 election: Ayub beat Fatima Jinnah amid rigging allegations — further damaged the system.
• Unrest: Six Points (Mujib, 1966) and the 1968–69 mass movement.
• Ayub handed power to Yahya Khan (25 March 1969), not to the NA Speaker as the constitution required — itself unconstitutional.

Comparison Table (mental model)

CSS Relevance / Past Paper Angle

• "Compare and contrast the Constitutions of 1956 and 1962."
• "Discuss the Basic Democracies system and its impact on Pakistan's political development."
• "Critically examine the doctrine of necessity and its role in Pakistan's constitutional history."

MCQ Traps

• 1956 Constitution enforced 23 March 1956 — same symbolic date as 1940 Lahore Resolution and later Republic Day.
• 1956 Constitution abrogated 7 October 1958 by President Iskander Mirza (not Ayub); Ayub removed Mirza on 27 October 1958.
• 1962 Constitution: word "Islamic" was initially DROPPED from country's name — commonly missed detail — restored via 1st Amendment (1963).
• Basic Democracies had 80,000 members (40,000 each in East & West Pakistan) — frequently tested number.
• 1965 election opponent to Ayub: Fatima Jinnah (Combined Opposition Parties candidate) — not Bhutto or Mujib.

Self-Test

1. Why did it take Pakistan almost 9 years to frame its first constitution?
2. What is the "doctrine of necessity" and where did it originate?
3. Compare the electoral systems of the 1956 and 1962 constitutions.
4. Why was the word "Islamic" temporarily dropped in the 1962 Constitution, and when was it restored?
5. What events led to the abrogation of the 1962 Constitution in 1969?