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Political& Constitutional Phase Of Pakistan

(1971-1977)
On December 9 and 17 of 1970, Pakistan held its very first elections on the
basis of adult franchise.
Political parties had been campaigning for the event ever since January 1970,
and Z A Bhuttos left-wing/populist Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Mujibur
Rehmans Bengali nationalist party, the Awami League (AL), were drawing the
largest crowds in West and former East Pakistan respectively.
December 1971: Facing a revolt from a group of military officers, Yahya hands
over power to Bhutto whose party had won a majority in West Pakistan in the
1970 election.

On 20 October 1972, the draft was revived by all leaders of the political parties and
signed the declaration of adopting the Constitution in the National Assembly on 2
February 1973. Ratified unanimously on 19 April 1973, the Constitution came into full
effect on 14 August 1973. On the same day, the successful vote of
confidence movement in the Parliament endorsed Zulfikar Bhutto as the elected Prime
Minister after latter relinquishing the presidency after appointing Fazal-i-Ilahi to that
stint.

After taking control of the government in 1971. Z.A. Bhutto started work on
a democratic constitution for the country. On 17th April 1972 the National
Assembly constituted a committee to prepare a draft constitution. The
Committee worked hard and prepared the draft of the constitution which
was presented to the leaders of all parliamentary leaders on 20th October
1972. All the leaders signed the draft. After that it was discussed and
debated n the National Assembly which gave its approval on 10th April
1973. The President gave his assent on 12th April 1973. Finally the Senate
approved the constitution in August 1973. Consequently the constitution was
enforced in the country on 14th August 1973. According to the Constitution
of 1973 Mr. Z.A. Bhutto look over as the tenth Prime Minister and Mr. Fazl-
e-Elahi was sworn in as the President of Pakistan.

The Constitution of 1973

The 1973 constitution of Pakistan was adopted on April 12, 1973. This constitution fully
represents the ideology and democratic aspiration of the people of Pakistan and constitution is
the supreme law of the land and it is considered as an instrument by which a Government can
be run.

Sources of Constitution of Pakistan 1973


The sources of constitution of Pakistan 1973 are as follows;
Act of 1935
Objective resolution
Constitution of 1956
Interim constitution of 1972
Salient Features of Constitution of Pakistan 1973
Written Constitution
Rigid Constitution
State Religion
National Language and Official Language
Parliamentary form of Government
Direct Elections
Single citizenship
Holding of Referendum
Rights of Minorities
Independence of Judiciary

By 1973, there were at least five NSF factions operating on Pakistans university
and college campuses. Their influence was further diluted by the emergence of
the PPPs own student-wing, the Peoples Students Federation (PSF), and by the
advent of various leftist-ethnic student groups such as the Baloch Students
Organisation (BSO), and the Pashtun Students Federation (PkSF).

The rise of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the Pakistan Peoples Party to power between
1969 and 1971 promised to bring fundamental changes to the country, but they did
not produce what Pakistan had hoped for. The Peoples Party never managed to
institutionalize the charismatic appeal of its leader, and his regime fell back into the
mold of the countrys time-honored patrimonial politics. The Jamaats was unable
to take advantage of the opportunities presented by Bhuttos assault against the
traditional power structure (19711973) and later the decline of his power (1973
1977).

Bhutto faced desertions from what was once his natural constituency (the
students), when between 1973 and 1974, he launched a purge in the PPP,
expelling a number of the partys leading leftist ideologues.
No sooner had Bhutto assumed power than the antiPeoples Party
constituency became apparent. Between 1971 and 1977 it grew and became more
powerful. As part of this opposition the Jamaat channeled its efforts into a
successful campaign of political agitation that eventually brought down the
government.

The Bhutto government initially tried to control the activities of the Islamic
parties by following the example of its predecessors, but given the gradual rise in
the popularity of Islam, the weakening of the state following the civil war, and the
mistakes made by the ruling party, it failed and the Islamic parties continued to
press the state for greater representation. This led to a further decline in the
governments authority as the Islamic parties grew stronger.
Mawdudi had claimed that the problem before the country was the product of
lackluster adherence to Islam. He in fact blamed the loss of East Pakistan on Yahya
Khans womanizing and drinking. In 19721973, the military high command
uncovered a conspiracy, later dubbed the Attock conspiracy, hatched by a group
junior officers, led by Brigadier F. B. Ali, most of them veterans of the civil war of
1971.

This trend was reinforced in the subsequent years thanks in part to Bhuttos
choosing General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq as the armys chief of staff. Zia had long
been sympathetic to the Jamaat. He had been greatly impressed with Mawdudis
works, and following his investiture as chief of staff, used the powers vested in his
office to distribute the partys literature among his soldiers and officers. When in
July 1976 Zia gave copies of Mawdudis Tafhimul-Quran (Understanding the
Quran) as prizes to soldiers who had won a debate arranged by the Army
Education School, and subsequently proposed to include the book in the
examination for promotion of Captains and Majors, Bhutto was greatly dismayed.
Finally, on November 24, 1976, Bhutto summoned the general before the cabinet
to explain his actions. Later during his trial before the supreme court, Bhutto was
to remark,
I appointed a Chief of Staff belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami and the
result is before all of us.

The revival of the Islamic dimension in Pakistani politics extended beyond the
army, however. The Peoples Partys credo from its inception had been Islamic
Socialism; Bhutto had said,
Islam is our faith, democracy is our polity, socialism is our economy,

Bhuttos policies and style, the re-Islamization of national politics would not
favor him or his party. The un-Islamic ways of the Peoples Partys leaders never
ceased to be a political issue. When, in 1976, the Jamaat demanded the
enforcement of the shariah in public affairs it unexpectedly attracted some fifteen
thousand new affiliates to its ranks.
The Peoples Party did implement new policies in the economy, but it failed to
manage the changes it had initiated. As a result, the very policies which were
designed to respond to the demands of the masses and thereby consolidate the
Peoples Partys support became its undoing.
For the Muhajirs and Punjabis, Bhutto was increasingly sounding like Shaikh
Mujibul-Rahman in the 1960s.

The Baluchistan debacle was yet another proof that the Peoples Party must be
defeated. The crisis compelled Bhutto to appeal to Islamic symbols to bolster the
state to avoid yet another secessionist movement.

On September 25, 1972, Bhutto invited Mawdudi to a meeting at the


governors mansion in Lahore to discuss recognizing Bangladesh, but no apparent
understanding on the issue emerged from the meeting Mawdudi was adamant in his
opposition to the left and, sensing Bhuttos ambivalence, encouraged him to
distance himself from them:
If they [the left] challenge you, we will support you.
Mawdudis promise played an important part in Bhuttos decision in the
constitution that,

The president and prime minister must both be Muslim, and laws
passed under the constitution would be compatible with Islamic law.

The Pakistan National Alliance & The Nizam-i Mustafa Movement

After the constitution of 1973 had been promulgated, a parliamentary opposition


coalition, the United Democratic Front, emerged in the National Assembly. The
Jamaat was a member and used it as a forum for propagating its views on the
governments handling of politics, economics, and religious issues. Between 1974
and 1975 the Jamaat registered 283 complaints against the government and the
Peoples Party for harassment and the closing of its paper Jasarat.[44] The Front
proved to be an effective tool for dissent because its appeal to the constitution and
use of parliamentary procedures emphasized how the government was abusing its
power. For instance, in February 1975, following the banning of the National Awami
Party and the arrest of Wali Khan, the Fronts members walked out of the National
Assembly, damaging the democratic image of the government. Consequently, on
October 21, 1975, opposition leaders decided to strengthen the United Democratic
Front as an antiPeoples Party coalition. In a move indicative of the increasingly
central role which Islam was playing, Mufti Mahmud of the Jamiat-i Ulama-i Islam
was made its leader.

While the composition of the Front already pointed to the Islamization of


dissent, a number of government policy initiatives in 1976 accelerated this trend.
In the summer of that year the government appointed the attorney general, Yahya
Bakhtiyar, to head a committee charged with drawing up a legislative proposal for a
womens rights bill. The committees report was presented to the government in
July. The Islamic parties immediately moved to oppose it, and Bhuttos initiative
was nipped in the bud. He was losing his grip over national politics and saw that his
only course was to call for fresh elections. He appointed his minister of religious
affairs,
Kawthar Niyazi, to oversee the Peoples Partys press and public relations
during the election campaign.
Negotiations went on for a month. During this period, Bhuttos resolve
gradually waned, and he became increasingly amenable to new elections.

All sides, however, concur that the delay in reaching a final agreement during
the last hours before the coup owed much to General Zias counsel to Bhutto. The
general had warned him against entering into an agreement with the PNA based on
preliminary understandings reached in the negotiations because the army would
not accept its requirement of leaving Baluchistan in two months and releasing from
custody National Awami Party leaders who had fought the army in that province.
Bhuttos indecision augured ill for the stability of the country. On July 5, 1977, the
Pakistan army led by Zia staged a military coup, removed the government,
arrested political leaders from both sides to the conflict, and imposed martial law.

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