Government And Politics

Lecture:1

Basic Principles Committee

Lecturer: Nasreen Akhtar

 Contents

•Basic Principles Committee

•Function of Committee

•Main Criticism

•Representation of Majority

•Public opinion

•Head of State was Muslim

•Judiciary Headed by Supreme Court

 Basic Principles Committee

 The Basic Principles Committee (BPC) was a

specialized committee set up in March 1949
by Khawaja Nazimuddin on the advice of prime
minister Liaquat Ali Khan.
 Formation

Before the first constituent assembly of

Pakistan could formulate any constitution or
legislature, it was necessary to put in order the
basic principles that would determine how the
constitution should be framed.
On 7 March 1949, the Objectives
Resolution was passed, which serves to
this day as the ground norm for
constitutional process in Pakistan. The
resolution was adopted by the constituent
assembly on 12 March 1949.
The purpose of the BPC was to formulate the
basic principles based on the Objectives
Resolution using which the future constitutions
of Pakistan would be framed.
In order to do so, the committee had its
initial two meetings in April 1949 where three
distinct sub-committees were formed to deal
with specialized tasks:

A sub-committee to deal with matters of

federal and provincial constitution and
distribution of powers;
A sub-committee to deal with matters
of adult franchise; and,

A sub-committee to deal with matters of

judiciary.
 First proposal

The BPC presented its initial report to the

constituent assembly on 28 September 1950.
The main features presented in the report were
also simultaneously published in an article in
the Dawn newspaper a day later, ushering
strong criticism from the public, particularly
from critics in East Pakistan.
 Salient features
The report called for the state of Pakistan to be
a federation where Urdu was to be the state
language.

It also formally recognized the Objectives

Resolution as an integral part of the constitution
of Pakistan and the legislative process,
suggesting that the resolution should be
incorporated into the constitution as "a directive
principle of [state] policy".
The report also presented a suggestion for
the central legislature was to be
a bicameral(legislature comprises two
houses) with an upper house consisting of
100 members, and a lower house consisting
of 400 members.
The upper house was to be elected by
the provincial legislature serving as the
representative institution of the provinces,
while the lower house was to be elected
by the people based on adult franchise.
The tenure of both houses was to be five
years with both enjoying equal power. The
decisions regarding budget or monetary
bills were to be decided in joint sessions
of the two houses
The head of state was to be elected by a joint
session of the two houses for a term of five
years working on the advice of the prime
minister.

Each province would have its own legislature

elected on the basis of adult franchise for a term
of five years.
The Supreme Court was to be the head of
judiciary consisting of a chief justice and 2 to
6 judges. It was suggested to establish High
Courts for each province.
A board of ulema (religious scholars) was
suggested to be appointed by the head of
state and provincial governors to examine
the processes of law making ensuring those
laws to be in accordance with
the Quran and the Sunnah.
 Legislative power was to be divided in
three lists:

Federal list(I list) comprising 67 subjects on

which the central legislature would legislate;

Provincial list(II list) comprising 35 items

on which the provincial legislature would
legislate; and:
Concurrent list(III list) comprising 52
items on which both the central and
provincial legislatures had the authority to
legislate.
The residuary powers(Special powers) were
vested in the centre.
 Reaction and criticism

These initial recommendations raised a

fire-storm of protest. It was called
reactionary, undemocratic, an insult to Islam,
smacking of fascist approach, subversive of
the ideology of Pakistan and a gross betrayal
of the solemn pledges made to the people.
On 4 October 1950, in an editorial
published in the Nawa-e-Waqt the report
was called a "charter of people's slavery".

Amidst furious criticisms, Liaquat Ali

Khan refrained from considering the report
and invited the committee to present revised
proposals and suggestions.
 Second proposal

An interim draft for a second report of the

BPC had been finalized by the third week of
November and was to be presented to the
Constituent Assembly on 23 November 1952.
Its presentation was however postponed at the
very last minute due to reservations held by
some members of the committee.
 The BPC held a meeting on 19 December
1952 where the final draft for the second
proposal was signed. But, in the
conspicuous absence of Mumtaz
Daultana, Nurul Amin, Begum Jahanara
Shahnawaz, A.H. Gardezi, Justice Abdul
Rashid and Maulana Mohammad Akram
Khan, the report was signed by Malik
Shaukat Ali signed it conditionally.
 Salient features

The main features of the committee's second

report focused prominently on the place of
Islam in the future constitution of Pakistan.
The Objective Resolution was adopted as a
preamble to the proposed constitution and the
principles defined therein were to guide the
state.
A specific clause was added to the
proposal which laid down procedures to
prevent any legislation that is made outside
the limits prescribed in the Quran and the
Sunnah
The committee also recommended that the
head of state be a Muslim, and that separate
electorates be maintained for Muslims and
non-Muslims.
 Reaction and criticism

The modernists denounced the suggestion to

create boards of ulemas as a "surrender to
mullahism" and a "statutory recognition of
priesthood [designed to create a] medieval
theocracy in the twentieth century."
In a series of letters appearing in The
Pakistan Times, critics condemned such
proposals stating the boards would
become "super legislatures" where "regular
priestly class [would be] eager to take part in
politics by virtue of their being members of
that class [alone]".
On 31 December 1952, Dawn newspaper
expressed concern that the committee may have
exceeded the limits prescribed in the Objectives
Resolution.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Principles_Committee
Thank You