Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 54 views

    1973 Constitution of Pakistan

    Uploaded by

    Prince Abdullah
    The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan marked a return to parliamentary democracy after a period of presidential rule. A committee of politicians from different parties drafted the constitution over eight months. Key aspects included establishing Pakistan as a federal Islamic republic with a parliamentary system, guaranteeing fundamental rights while allowing for restrictions, and safeguarding provincial interests through representation in the Senate. The constitution was passed by the elected National Assembly, giving it greater legitimacy than previous constitutions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    1973 Constitution of Pakistan

    Uploaded by

    Prince Abdullah
    54 views3 pages
    The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan marked a return to parliamentary democracy after a period of presidential rule. A committee of politicians from different parties drafted the constitution over eight months. Key aspects included establishing Pakistan as a federal Islamic republic with a parliamentary system, guaranteeing fundamental rights while allowing for restrictions, and safeguarding provincial interests through representation in the Senate. The constitution was passed by the elected National Assembly, giving it greater legitimacy than previous constitutions.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan marked a return to parliamentary democracy after a period of presidential rule. A committee of politicians from different parties drafted the constitution over eight months. Key aspects included establishing Pakistan as a federal Islamic republic with a parliamentary system, guaranteeing fundamental rights while allowing for restrictions, and safeguarding provincial interests through representation in the Senate. The constitution was passed by the elected National Assembly, giving it greater legitimacy than previous constitutions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    54 views3 pages

    1973 Constitution of Pakistan

    Uploaded by

    Prince Abdullah
    The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan marked a return to parliamentary democracy after a period of presidential rule. A committee of politicians from different parties drafted the constitution over eight months. Key aspects included establishing Pakistan as a federal Islamic republic with a parliamentary system, guaranteeing fundamental rights while allowing for restrictions, and safeguarding provincial interests through representation in the Senate. The constitution was passed by the elected National Assembly, giving it greater legitimacy than previous constitutions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Pakistan Studies

    1973 Constitution of Pakistan


    One of the most pressing tasks for the new government was to
    draft a new constitution. When martial law was finally lifted, the
    Assembly was summoned in April 1972 on the basis of the 1970
    election results in the form west Pakistan region. A committee
    was set up from a cross-section of politicians from different
    parties. There were disagreements within the committee to
    whether the new constitution should bring in parliamentary rule or
    a presidential system of government. There were also differing
    views over the question of provincial autonomy. It took the
    constitutional committee eight months before it submitted its
    report on 10th April 1973. The draft constitution was passed by
    the federal Assembly by 135 votes in favor, with three
    abstentions. It was brought into force on 14th August 1973, and
    Bhutto was elected prime minister by the National Assembly on
    12th August.
    The Constitution's main features were:
    I. Pakistan shall be a Federal Republic with a Parliamentary
    system of government. The prime minister shall be the head of
    government, elected from the majority party.
    II. The special position of Islam as the state religion shall be
    emphasized and both the prime minister and president are
    required to be Muslims.
    III. Pakistan shall be declared an Islamic Republic by default.
    IV. A bill to amend the constitution shall need a two-thirds
    majority in the lower house and a majority in the upper house.
    V. All fundamental human rights shall be guaranteed but the
    stipulation was added that it was subject to reasonable
    restrictions imposed by law'.
    Pakistan Studies
    VI. The Supreme Court and High Courts shall be given the
    power to enforce fundamental rights.
    VII. The president shall act in accordance with the binding
    advice of the prime minister, and all orders of president shall be
    counter signed by the prime minister.
    VIII. The senate, or upper house, shall be elected mostly from
    the provincial governments and so, for the first time, the
    interests of the provinces shall be safeguarded at the center. The
    Senate shall not be dissolved even in emergencies.
    IX. In case of emergencies, the federal government can pass
    legislation on anything and can even suspend fundamental
    freedoms.
    X. Urdu shall be the official language of the country,
    with Pakistani English to be retained for the next 15 years.
    Xl.The teaching of holy Quran and Islamite should be
    compulsory.
    XlI. Pakistan shall be a federal Islamic state, so residuary
    powers shall rest with provinces not the central government.
    The 1973 Constitution, therefore, marked a return to a
    parliamentary form of democracy after the presidential
    experiment introduced under the 1962 constitution. There were
    also concessions made to the provinces to alleviate fears that the
    central government would overule them on every issue. This
    was important as the one unit scheme had only recently been
    abolished and because 2 of the 4 provincial governments in the
    new State of Pakistan were non-PPP. The 1973 Constitution,
    however, had another advantage over its two predecessors: it
    had been agreed and voted on by a democratically elected
    Pakistan Studies
    Assembly. This gave it greater authority and, even though it was
    suspended under the next martial law regime, Since
    independence, Pakistan has devised and changed three written
    constitutions and the fourth one was drawn up and it was
    restored on the 30th of December in 1985 and remains in place
    to date.

    You might also like