Dilemmas in Constitution Making of Pakistan

In the preceding two chapters the relationship between the State and Religion has been discussed. While the broad principles of the teachings of Islam can well be woven into the fundamental pattern of a healthy modern State, just as the broad ideals of Judeo-Christian ethics have provided the basic notions in several Western democracies, it was not easy for the framers of a constitution for Pakistan to produce an Islamic constitution which could satisfy different groups holding divergent views regarding the structure and nature of an Islamic State. In the end they produced a draft, which was a commendable synthesis of a modern needs and Islamic principles. While some of the extremist ulema and a few3 ultra secularists were disappointed, the public in general welcomed the Islamic character of the proposed constitution.

An equally complex problem lay in the controversy between East and West Pakistan regarding the federal structure of the constitution. The first issue in this controversy was the quantum of representation in the federal legislature. This problem, more than any other, delayed constitution-making in Pakistan. Pakistan consists of two parts, East and West Pakistan, separated area, but its population exceeds the total of all other provinces and States now merged as West Pakistan.

Real rulers behind US Foreign Policy.

The US government, especially the military, usually projected an optimistic view of the security situation in Afghanistan. Victory was said to be around the corner. In 2003, the Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld said the war in Afghanistan was ending. In 2008, President George Bush was led to declare that US troops were coming back. President Obama opposed the ‘dumb war’ in Iraq as well as the war in Afghanistan but he succumbed to pressure of lobbies and instead authorized an increased in force strength of 100,000 troops. Donald Trump, too, initially favored withdrawal but his advisers convinced him of an opposite strategy.
On 21 August 2017, President Trump reversed Obama’s ‘hasty and mistaken’ policy of military withdrawal from Afghanistan and declared instead to continue support of Afghan government and military to confront the Taliban. Referring to Pakistan as ‘a valued friend in the past,’ Trump accused Islamabad of providing ‘safe havens for terrorist organizations that killed Americans’ and warned of ‘fast and powerful retribution against the Taliban and other groups that posed a threat to the region and beyond.’ The threat to peace, he said, was ‘worse because Pakistan and India were nuclear armed states with tense relations that could spiral in to conflict.’ He also announced that the US would further develop strategic partnership with India and want it to help Afghanistan in its economic assistance and development.

Early Constitution Making of Pakistan

We have indicated in our discussion on the making of the 1956 constitution that one of the biggest dilemmas to be face lay in the controversy over the federal structure of the proposed constitution. The issue was no less important when the constitution was again in the process of the most complicate discus and challenges in Pakistan politics.

The Muslims of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent proclaimed their political goal in 1940 by demanding a separate state, of their own. The famous ‘Lahore Resolution’ of 1940 which gave expression to this desire had equally stressed the autonomy of the provinces in the proposed envisaged two separate states but it was made perfectly clear by Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah during the movement for Pakistan that Muslims were struggling for one independent state only and this position was accepted by Muslim leaders all over the subcontinent. There was never any demand for two states at any stage in the movement for Pakistan. The Muslims were united in a unique way under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. They were gathered together under his dynamic leadership for the establishment of an ideological state which satisfied their vision of a past glorious tradition and future aspirations. The Muslims were so fascinated by the vision of the independent State that they were impressed by a scene of common nationality to such an extent as to forget their regional, cultural and linguistic differences.

For CSS students, they must have knowledge of these informative topics for competitive exams like CSS/PMS or ICS.