“The Constitution is the guide which I will never abandon.” ( George Washington)
By 1954, Pakistan had become an independent state seven years earlier, but still no permanent constitution. The creation of a constitution was an arduous process in which the Constituent Assembly was engaged. One of the most serious disagreements was related to the constitution, as the Pakistani nation had been split into two wings - East Pakistan and West Pakistan, with their varying political and regional interests.
Finally, in 1954, the Constituent Assembly drafted a new Constitution. But a dramatic political event would happen before the draft could be fully considered and approved. The Constituent Assembly was dissolved by the Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad on 24 October 1954. The ruling left the nation in a constitutional crisis. Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan, President of the Constituent Assembly, challenged the dissolution in the Sindh Chief Court and initially won his case. The government then took its case to the Federal Court. He eventually lost the Tamizuddin Khan case in the Federal Court.
The event was a very significant event in Pakistan's constitutional history because it illustrated the increasing strength of the executive and the decreasing strength of the parliamentary institutions. Instead of allowing the Constituent Assembly to complete its work, the assembly was dissolved. A second, i.e., the third, Constituent Assembly was then established on 28 May 1955. It was made up of 80 members, half of whom were from East Pakistan and half from West Pakistan.
The events of 1954 had repercussions. They set up an early precedent for the interruption of political institutions before they could build up strong democratic traditions. This emerged as one of the big issues in the constitutional history of Pakistan. A young country must have institutions which are more powerful than individuals. Too much reliance on the few and the special in political power makes for constitutional instability.
The first constitution of Pakistan was also delayed by the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. It would be almost nine years after the independence of the country that it would get its first Constitution in 1956. According to the Senate of Pakistan, the first Constitution was passed on 29 February 1956 and promulgated on 23 March 1956. The events of 1954 thus prove how challenging Pakistan's path in establishing the Constitution was at the outset.
A simple poetic line expresses the lesson:
“دستور مضبوط ہو تو قومیں مضبوط ہوتی ہیں،
ادارے قائم رہیں تو ریاستیں قائم رہتی ہیں۔”
(The strength of a country depends not only on its leaders but also on the strength of its institutions).
Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly is one of the most significant developments in Pakistan's early political history, as it was a severe blow to parliamentary constitutionalism.
