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Abstract
In recent months there has been an effort to reignite debate about the suitability of a federal parliamentary system and argue that it needs to be replaced by a centralized presidential form of government. This has led to sharp reactions from those who favour a continuation of parliamentary government in Pakistan especially with regard to the strong federal provisions of the Eighteenth Amendment (2010) to the Pakistani Constitution, which granted greater autonomy to the provinces and undid many of the changes imposed by military rulers. This paper examines the original version of this debate from Pakistan's experience in the 1950s and 1960s with the aim of identifying and discussing the rationales of those in favor of a presidential Pakistan and the price that the country paid for undermining parliamentary government.
Notes
1 Joint Committee on Indian Constitutional Reform Session 1933–34, vol I. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1934, part I, pp. 3–5.
2 “Whilst talking about administration, there is the problem of our legal system, which is most expensive, ineffective, dilatory, tyrannical and totally unsuited to our genius … The answer would seem to lie in having a ‘Jirga’” based “judicial system and revision of evidence and procedural laws with only one right of appeal.” Ayub Khan, ‘A Short Appreciation of Present and Future Problems of Pakistan’, October 4, 1954, in The Altaf Gauhar Papers: Documents towards the Making of the Constitution of 1962. Lahore: Sang-e-Meel, 2003, p. 53. The Law Reform Commission of 1967–70, chaired by Justice Hamood ur Rehman, rejected this line of thinking and explained how the colonial rule of law tradition had incorporated key features of the Mughal system of justice administration while reforming the abuses that inevitably resulted from judges being personal servants of the emperor – “It will be a retrograde step to revert to the primitive method of administration of justice.” The Report of the Law Reform Commission, 1967–1970. Karachi: Government of Pakistan Press, 1970, pp. 100–102. This said, Pakistan military rulers have long sought to do away with the irksome colonial legacy and provide “speedy” justice in the pre-modern fashion they imagine to be consistent with the genius of the Pakistani people.
3 This was not an unpopular decision at the time and “messages of congratulations to the Governor-General poured in by the hundreds and continued to be published in the newspapers well into the second week of November.” Inamur Rehman, Public Opinion and Political Development in Pakistan, 1947–1958. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 151. For a detailed examination of Pakistan's opposition parties and politics during the first decade after independence see Kausar Parveen, The Politics of Pakistan: Role of the Opposition, 1947–1958. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013.
4 Jan Mohammed Dawood, The Role of the Superior Judiciary in the Politics of Pakistan. Karachi: Royal Book Company, 1994, p. 12.
5 Ibid., p. 21.
6 Ibid., p. 22.
7 Provincial Administration Commission, 1960. Islamabad: Printing Corporation of Pakistan, 1982, p. 6.
8 Ibid., p. 7.
9 Ibid., p. 14.
10 Ibid., p. 7.
11 “President Iskander Mirza has told the High Commissioner that he is contemplating a coup d’état, with army support, whereby he would dismiss the present Pakistan Government, postpone indefinitely the elections, and govern the country himself” and “reshape the Constitution” into a presidential autocracy. ‘Possible Coup D’État in Pakistan, Internal Noting in the UK Foreign Office, PRO Ref. DO 35/8943, September 29, 1958’, in Roedad Khan (Ed.), The British Papers: Secret and Confidential India-Pakistan-Bangladesh Documents, 1958–1969. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 17.
12 Report of the Constitution Commission, Pakistan, 1961. Karachi: Government of Pakistan Press, 1961, pp. 1–2.
13 Ibid., p. 3.
14 Ibid., pp. 11–12.
15 Ibid., p. 13.
16 Ibid., p. 26.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid., p. 20.
19 Ibid., p. 67. This contrasted with the 1956 Electoral Reforms Commissions which, while conceding that Pakistan had failed to set up a credible election system, insisted that “However backward and ignorant the common man in a democratic country may be, he possesses in his own way enough common sense to know what is good for him and his country.” Report of the Electoral Reform Commission, 1956. Karachi: Government of Pakistan Press, 1956, p. 7.
20 Report of the Constitution Commission, Pakistan, 1961, p. 97.
21 Ibid., pp. 101–104.
22 Ibid., p. 107.
23 Ibid., pp. 117–121.
24 Ibid., p. 19.
25 Ibid., p. 33.
26 Ibid., pp. 101–104.
27 Ibid., p. 19.
28 Ayub Khan, ‘Notes on Talk at Peshawar University on September 29, 1961’, in Memon (Ed.), The Altaf Gauhar Papers, p. 33.
29 Ayub Khan, ‘President's Comments on Constitution Commission Report’, May 13, 1961, in Ibid., p. 61.
30 Ibid., p. 70.
31 Ayub Khan, ‘Points for Talk to GHQ Officers’, April 16, 1963, in Ibid., pp. 39–40.
32 Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, ‘Replies to the Constitution Commission’, in Ibid., 258–259.
33 Report of the Finance Commission, 1962. Islamabad: Ministry of Finance, 1962, p. 63.
34 Ibid., p. 12.
35 Ibid., p. 24.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid., pp. 25–26.
38 Ayub Khan, Diaries of Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, 1966–1972, ed. Craig Baxter. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 143.
39 Provincial Administration Commission, 1960, p. 183.
40 Report of the Pay and Services Commission, 1959–1962. Karachi: Government of Pakistan Press, 1962, p. 10.
41 Ibid., p. 15.
42 Ibid., p. 16.
43 Ibid., p. 132.
44 Ibid., p. 20.
45 Shahida Wizarat, The Rise and Fall of Industrial Productivity in Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 12–13. Ayub Khan's own family had also become of one Pakistan's nouveaux ultra-riche – a curious outcome for a family of professional military men and small landlords.
46 Report of the Special Committee for Eradication of Corruption from Services. Rawalpindi: Government of Pakistan Press, 1967, p. 12.
47 Ibid., pp. 12–13.
48 Ibid., p. 13.
49 Ibid., p. 14.
50 Ibid., p. 16.
51 Ayub Khan, Diaries of Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, 1966–1972, August 29, 1967, p. 140.
52 Ibid., November 15, 1967, p. 175.
53 Ibid., November 21, 1968, p. 285.
54 Ibid., December 20, 1968, p. 291.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ilhan Niaz
Ilhan Niaz is Associate Professor of History, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. His most recent book is The State During the British Raj: Imperial Governance in South Asia, 1700–1947 (Karachi: OUP, 2019). Email: [email protected]