Objectives

Resolution

The Objectives Resolution (Urdu: ‫ﻗﺮارداد‬

‫ﻘﺎﺻﺪ‬
ِ ‫ ) َﻣ‬was adopted by the Constituent
Assembly of Pakistan on March 12, 1949.
Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, had
presented it in the assembly on March 7,
1949. Out of 75 members of the assembly,
21 voted for opposing it.[1] All the
amendments proposed by minority
members were rejected. Consequently, all
ten of them voted against it.

The resolution proclaimed that the future

constitution of Pakistan would not be
modeled entirely on a European pattern,
but on the ideology and democratic faith
of Islam. The resolution, in its entirety, has
been made part of the Constitution of
Pakistan under Article 2(A).

Objectives Resolution
The Pakistani Objectives Resolution
Sovereignty over the entire Universe
belongs to Allah Almighty alone and the
authority which He has delegated to the
state of Pakistan, through its people for
being exercised within the limits prescribed
by Him is a sacred trust.[2]

1. This Constituent Assembly

representing the people of Pakistan
resolves to frame a constitution for
the sovereign independent state of
Pakistan.
2. The state shall exercise its powers
and authority through the chosen
 representatives of the people.
3. The principles of democracy,
freedom, equality, tolerance, and
social justice, as enunciated by Islam,
shall be fully observed.
4. The Muslims shall be enabled to
order their lives in the individual and
collective spheres in accordance with
the teachings and requirements of
Islam as set out in the Holy Quran
and Sunnah.
5. Adequate provision shall be made for
the minorities to freely progress and
 practice their religions and develop
their cultures.
. Pakistan shall be a federation and its
constituent units will be autonomous.
7. Fundamental rights shall be
guaranteed. They include equality of
status, opportunity and before law,
social, economic, and political justice,
and freedom of thought, expression,
belief, faith, worship, and association,
subject to (the) law and public
morality.
. Adequate provisions shall be made to
safeguard the legitimate interests of
 minorities and backward and
depressed classes.
9. The independence of the judiciary
shall be fully secured.
10. The integrity of the territories of the
federation, its independence, and all
its rights, including its sovereign
rights on land, sea, and air shall be
safeguarded.
11. The people of Pakistan may prosper
and attain their rightful and honored
place among the nations of the world
and make their full contribution
towards international peace and
 progress and the happiness of
humanity.

Purportedly combining the features of

both Western and Islamic democracy, it is
considered one of the most important
documents in the constitutional history of
Pakistan. It was strongly supported by
Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, Dr.
Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Dr. Omar Hayat
Malik, Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, Noor
Ahmad, Begum Shaista Suhrawardy
Ikramullah, Muhammad Hussain and
others. At the time it was passed, Liaquat
Ali Khan called it "the most important
occasion in the life of this country, next in
importance only to the achievement of
independence". However, not everyone in
Pakistan had such as high praise and
unbounded admiration for it.

Criticism

Non-muslims

The non-Muslim members of the

constituent assembly vigorously opposed
it, and all of them voted against it. Birat
Chandra Mandal said that Jinnah had
unequivocally said that Pakistan would be
a secular state. Sris Chandra
Chattopadhyaya, the Dhaka-born leader of
the opposition, said in the constituent
assembly on March 12, 1949:

In my conception of (the) state

where people of different
religions live there is no place
for religion in the state. Its
position must be neutral: no
bias for any religion. If
necessary, it should help all
religions equally. No question of
concession or tolerance to any
religion. It smacks of an
inferiority complex. The state
must respect all religions: no
smiling face for one and askance
look to the other. The state
religion is a dangerous
principle. Previous instances are
sufficient to warn us not to
repeat the blunder. We know
people were burnt alive in the
name of religion. Therefore, my
conception is that sovereignty
must rest with the people and
not with anybody else...[T]he
words "equal rights as
enunciated by Islam" are—I do
not use any other word—a
camouflage. It is only a hoax to
us, non-Muslims. There cannot
be equal rights as enunciated by
Islam. It goes without saying
that by introducing the religious
question, the differences
between the majority and the
minority are being perpetuated,
for how long, nobody knows.
And, as apprehended by us, the
difficulty of interpretation has
already arisen. The accepted
principle is that the majority, by
their fair treatment, must create
confidence in the minority.
Whereas the Honorable mover
of the resolution promises
respect, in place of charity or
sufferance for the minority
community the deputy minister,
Dr. Qureshi, advises the
minority to win the goodwill of
the majority through their
behavior. In the House of the
Legislature also we find that,
while the prime minister keeps
perfectly to his dictum, others
cannot brook that the
opposition should function in
the spirit of opposition. The
demand is that the opposition
should remain submissive. That
is Dr. Qureshi's way of thinking.
The minorities must be grateful
 for all the benevolence they get
and must never complain about
the malevolence that may also
be dealt out to them. That is his
solution to the minority
problem.[3]

Muslims

Ayaz Amir, a prominent media

commentator and a former member of
Pakistan's parliament, has criticized the
constituent assembly for lavishing
attention on this "piece of rhetoric" which
was "of no practical benefit to anyone."[4]
Even Maulana Maududi, a big supporter of
the resolution, was disappointed with the
fact that it did not produce any positive
results. According to him, it was such a
rain that was neither preceded by a
gathering of clouds nor was it followed by
vegetation.

According to Ms. Rubina Saigal, an

eminent Pakistani intellectual, Maulana
Maududi's theory of divine sovereignty was
incorporated into the resolution. According
to her:
Subsequent to the passage of the
Objectives Resolution, all of
Pakistan’s constitutions
contained religious provisions
and the name of the country
was changed from (the) Republic
of Pakistan to (the) Islamic
Republic of Pakistan. The
national debates over the kind
of nation, state, and society
envisaged led to compromises
being made with the liberal,
secular as well as religious
lobby. As a result, the
Constitution of 1973, a
consensus document, became
riddled with internal
contradictions regarding
citizenship. For example, Article
25 says that all citizens are
equal before the law while
Article 2 says that Islam shall be
the state religion. When one
religion, to the exclusion of all
others, is established as the
state religion, how can the
 followers of other religions be
equal citizens? And if they
cannot be equal citizens, is
democracy possible without
citizenship equality? The denial
of the right of non-Muslim
citizens to become the head of
state or government also
violates Article 25, which
requires equality before the
law.[5]

As mentioned above, the resolution is

included in the Annex of the current
Constitution of Pakistan by virtue of Article
2A of the Constitution.[6]

References
1. Khan, Hamid Constitutional and Political
History of Pakistan (Karachi: OUP, 2017)
2. "The Objectives Resolution" (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20160329221651/http://ww
w.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/anne
x.html) . www.pakistani.org. Archived from
the original (http://www.pakistani.org/pakis
tan/constitution/annex.html) on 29 March
2016. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
3. "ARCHIVES: Chattopadhyaya against
Objectives Resolution" (http://therepublicof
rumi.com/archives/49sris.htm) .
4. Clerics on the march – Ayaz Amir (https://
www.purduenode.com/2022/08/objectives
-resolution.html) . Thenews.com.pk.
Retrieved on August 3, 2013.
5. "Strangers in the house | Herald" (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20130524142650/htt
p://herald.dawn.com/2013/05/24/stranger
s-in-the-house-2.html) . herald.dawn.com.
Archived from the original (http://herald.da
wn.com/2013/05/24/strangers-in-the-hous
e-2.html) on 24 May 2013.
 . Annex – Text of the Constitution of
Pakistan (http://www.pakistani.org/pakista
n/constitution/annex_objres.html) ,
Pakistani.org

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