What was the role of religion in the early years of the Muslim homeland?
Objectives Resolution, passed six months after Jinnah’s death, and which tried to strike the balance between the ideologues and the secular westernized elites, only laid further basis for ambiguity. “The country’s first prime minister himself laid the basis for a measure of ambiguity by proclaiming Pakistan as a “laboratory” for an Islamic social order, on the one hand, while also, on the other, calling for a truly liberal Government that would permit the greatest amount of freedom to all its citizens.
An early indication of the lip service paid to religion for purposes of political expediency, it should not be confused with a lowering of defenses against the self-proclaimed guardians of Islam, that was to become characteristic of the Pakistani leadership after the 1970s.
Liaquat Ali Khan let it be known in no uncertain terms that the malicious propaganda of the so-called religious leaders against the right of non-Muslims to equal citizenship would not be permitted.”
Nevertheless this was the opening religio-political groups seized to claim authenticity for “their own brand of Islam, bristling with exclusivist, chauvinistic and misogynist social values”.
Things came to ahead in 1953. “An early indication of just how significant a space had been conceded to the self-appointed guardians of Islam by the Objectives Resolution was the agitation in 1953 to ostracize the heterodox Ahmadis from the pale of the Muslim community…
The anti-Ahmadi movement turned violent and resulted in the first ever imposition of martial law in Pakistan. It was spearheaded by the same elements that had been most vocal in denouncing the demand for Pakistan and abusing the Muslim League’s preeminent leader… Most of the ulema questioned by the 1954 inquiry commission said that declaring Ahmadis non-Muslims had become imperative after the Objectives Resolution, which left no room for doubt that Pakistan was created solely in the name of Islam.
It followed that the state had an obligation to define who was a Muslim and who was not… Laying down the precise definition of a true believer was a dangerous game of brinkmanship.
This was why before the 1937 elections, Jinnah had refused to endorse the demand to ostracize Ahmadis from the Muslim community.
With the establishment of Pakistan there was even more reason to reject the faulty logic of the anti-Ahmadi agitators. Even if they could not match his constitutionalist vision, the last thing Jinnah’s successors needed was to inject an exclusionary strain into the narratives of the nation at a time when the main challenge facing Pakistan as a modern nation-state was to extend equal rights of citizenship to all its inhabitants… These gestures to Islam did not alter the essentially secular thrust of state policies until the mid-1970s.”
The anti Ahmadi agitation and how it was handled set the future course of action for the Pakistani state on the issue.
“Daultana, as chief minister of Punjab was manipulating the anti-Ahmadi agitation to wangle his way into prime ministerial office. So Nazimuddin went a step further to placate the self styled representatives of Islam. He was not only willing to consider the demands of the ulema to declare the Ahmadis non-Muslims but he agreed to give the clerics a greater say in the affairs of the state. A board of five ulema was to advise the head of state on whether a law was repugnant to Islam. This was abhorrent to the die-hard secularists who controlled the central government.”
The role of religion and the federal question had plagued constitution making in Pakistan right from the start. It was exacerbated by the interventions by Governor General Ghulam Muhammad.
Dr Jalal writes “A major constitutional crisis reared its head in September 1954 when a group of politicians in the constituent assembly tried clipping the governor-general’s powers to dismiss a cabinet that in theory was responsible to Parliament. This would have spelled the end of Ghulam Mohammad, who after being paralyzed by a stroke could neither think nor speak clearly and was confined to a wheelchair.”
With the support of Daultana in Punjab, Khuhro in Sindh, sections of business community as well as the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Ghulam Mohammad dismissed the constituent assembly on October 24, 1954, just a few days after the assembly had agreed on a constitution. This was challenged by Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan, the Bengali president of the constituent assembly in the Sindh High Court, which ruled in his favour.
However, this judgment was overturned by the Federal Court under Justice Munir, thus setting a most regrettable precedent that destroyed Pakistan’s nascent democracy. The 1954 Constitution was never put in place and it delayed Pakistan’s evolution from a Dominion to a Republic further.
Let’s talk about the two Constitutions of 1956 and 1962.
It was not until 23 March 1956 that Pakistan got its first constitution. “Parity between the two wings was the foundational principle of the constitution that was adopted by the second constituent assembly. Pakistan was to be an Islamic Republic and the Objectives Resolution of 1949 inserted as the preamble to the constitution. The repugnancy clause was incorporated but Islam was not declared as the state religion. Rights of equal citizenship were guaranteed to all, irrespective of religion or sect.
The liberal democratic concept of a government limited by the rule of law was enshrined in the constitution. There was an elaborate list of inalienable fundamental rights and the judiciary was empowered to enforce them against encroachments by the executive and the legislature.
With the potentially disruptive issue of the role of Islam in the state temporarily out of the way, the praetorian guard and its mandarin friends sanguinely accepted the Constituent Assembly’s stance on fundamental rights.
As they knew too well, the proof of the pudding lay in the eating. The Constitution provided for a form of parliamentary democracy that was as close to a military-bureaucratic conception of a presidential system as was possible…
The 1956 constitution reflected rather than remedied the institutional imbalances that had crept into the evolving structure of the state.”
The democratic process in any event was stalled on October 7, 1958 when Pakistan’s first president Iskander Mirza declared martial law.
1962 Constitution
The 1962 Constitution, railroaded by General Ayub Khan, was a significant departure from the 1956 Constitution. It was a presidential type of constitution with basic democrats, or local electors, forming the electorate for both the president and the National Assembly.
“The state’s designation was changed from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the “Republic of Pakistan” and all references to the Quran and the Sunnah in the 1956 Constitution were deleted… the judiciary was stripped of powers to question any law passed by the legislature.”
This was remedied by the first amendment to the Constitution, which made fundamental rights defensible by the judiciary and also changed the name of the country back to include Islamic Republic.
The fairness of the basic democracies was tested in the 1965 presidential election. “What followed was a thoroughly rigged electoral process. There were blatant financial irregularities, misuse of government resources and extensive electoral malpractice.
Ms Fatima Jinnah nevertheless gave Ayub a few palpitations with her good showing in East Pakistan and Karachi.”
Ultimately, the regime won - bagging 49,951 votes against 28,691.
This basically spelt the beginning of the end for both the 1962 Constitution and Ayub regime.