Ideology Forefathers and Constitution of Pakistan

IDEOLOGY, FOREFATHERS AND CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN IDEOLOGY, FOREFATHERS AND CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN By Muhammad Saad Khan, LLM, Lecturer, Punjab Law College, Lahore Our 'independence day' on 14th August brings every year new hope to bring unity within our nation. In the last decade or so, inception of independent Private electronic media in Pakistan has multiplied our chances to express our thoughts freely however, the freedom to express variant views in respect of ideology of Pakistan sometimes cause confusion among the viewers, in particular, when two opposing sets of people on media hopelessly try to interpret the ideology of Pakistan in terms of personality, culture and above all the speeches delivered by our forefathers in particular keeping Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-e-Azam) in perspective. Unity of a nation obtains support from ideology it has, and Pakistan is no exception whereas confusion as to Ideology of a nation is fatal to the nation's Unity. Judging 'Jinnah' from his personality and outlook i.e. dressed in Sherwani or suit and for that matter by the speeches which he delivered on the eves of different nature, time, settings and capacity, can be misleading. A segment in the nation calls him "Wali-Allah (the friend of God)" the other quote his speeches considering him' as torch-bearer for the people believing in secular tradition or secular value. Such discussion leads to no conclusion! Without doubt, the speeches of a leader like Jinnah are the best guidelines but not the sole way of interpreting a national consensus supported by the majority of nation. To advance this argument, one finds, on the other hand, the ideological thinker of Pakistan, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, another supreme leader in the independence struggle of Pakistan. Ayesha Jalal in her book 'Self and Sovereignty' remarked that, lqbal dubbed India, "the Greatest Muslim Country in the world". According to her, lqbal thought the centralization of Muslim majority area in the northwest, whose military and police services were indispensable to British rule[i]. Miss Jalal also quoted 'Edward Thompson' a reputed author who according to her in his letter to London Times came close to charging Iqbal with 'Pan Islamic Plotting'. Iqbal's own son 'Javed Iqbal' in his book "ZINDA ROOD" described Iqbal's wish Jr an independent state in the following words; "In 19th Century, lqbal actively made efforts to establish 'Islamic states' in north western and eastern region of India[ii]. Besides the aforenoted quotes the speeches of lqbal are a testimony of his unconditional support for a Muslim state. One cannot own or disown thoughts of lqbal and Jinnah in one breath but one needs to understand that countries in Constitutional Democracies are governed in accordance with their constitutions and not by speeches delivered by their forefathers. It is also pertinent to mention that judging by thought may also hold some of the political parties and persons, who chose Pakistan as habitat post partition, as convicted for treason for being in opposition to the idea of Pakistan before partition of United India. Hence thoughts, ideas and speeches by persons or parties no matter how big small, popular notorious, religious or secular they were, whether before or after partition of United India, are not true Indicators of their ideology which keeps changing. The ideas and views conform to belief; personality conforms to culture, whereas speeches have conformity to time, place and audience. Therefore they have inherent nature to vary with the change in the above factors to which they conform or depend upon. The above arguments bring forth an important question that if ideology of a nation is not reflected through ideas, personality or speeches of its forefathers then what is an exact, concrete and effective way of interpreting the ideology leading the nation on the way of Unity. The answer to this significant question in the words of Jinnah is as follows; Jinnah who was the greatest advocate for obedience to the constitution of a state, once in his speech on the first Anniversary of Pakistan on 14th August, 1948 said "Today we are celebrating the first anniversary of our freedom. A year ago complete power was transferred to the people of Pakistan, and the Pakistan Government, under the present constitution as adapted, took over charge of affairs of the country in its own hands.[iii] Jinnah's unconditional surrender to the Government and Governance under the Constitution, even if that was an adapted constitution, is the supreme principle, to be followed. The nation of Pakistan has its own Constitution and not an adapted one. A constitution being a social contract for the society of Pakistan is supported by the will of the people of Pakistan. The constitution is the custodian of the ideology represented by the very will exercised by the people in framing the constitution. Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the then Prime Minister of Pakistan undoubtedly was instrumental in framing of the present constitution. In one of his essays [iv] "The Essentials of a Constitution" published in his book 'Reshaping Foreign Policy', he describes attributes of an ideal constitution in the following words, "if a constitution seeks to leave its impress on posterity, it must comply with the following rules; it must be framed in consonance with the personality and the will of people, retaining flexibility and it must also confine itself to essential norms". While asserting his argument on flexibility within the constitution, he quotes that "it is impossible, however, for a constitution to retain the national will and personality for long if it is rigid. Peoples values arc subject to incessant modifications, and it is incumbent upon a good Constitution to register the changes accordingly or it cannot maintain its vigour and remain the true embodiment of community's will. Indeed it is essential for a constitution to be a judicial mirror of changing realities, reflecting the shifts in community's moods and power relations". Keeping in view the above, in my opinion ideology is a changing variable dependent on the changing mindsets of the people of any country and so is the Constitution. Constitution being a social contract needs changes in form of amendments to retain the characteristic of flexibility. This argument is also supported by living examples of Turkey along with Middle Eastern countries. Turkey has moved from the era of Ottomans to Mustafa Kamal and from era of Mustafa Kamal to Tayyub Erdogan. Needless to add the affiliation of the above leaders to Islamic form of Government or secular form of government is no secret. Similarly Egyptian nation shifted from Husn-e-Mubarik regime to a regime i.e. run by political party Al-Ikwan, supporting Islamic Government. These two examples develop the idea that nations not necessarily hold the ideology of their forefather for longer periods but in fact, evolve in their approach to label their ideology with different notions in different times. Summing up, a likely conclusion from above is that our constitution contains the essence of Islamic. Order [vi (Some of the Articles holding essence of Islam are provided in End notes). It declares Islam to be the state religion, naming the state as Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It further provides that only a Muslim can be the head of the state. Lastly it contains provisions to order our lives, individually and collectively, in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam, as set out in the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah. Having admitted the aforenoted position, however the same constitution provides a procedure to amend its provisions in its Article 239. The Article 239(6) provides flexibility to the Constitution to remain the true embodiment of community's will. This Article provides that "there is no limitation on the powers of the Parliament to amend any of the provisions of the constitution". The Constitution of Pakistan, 1973, in my opinion is the custodian of the ideology of Pakistan and the ideology of Pakistan is not a static or dormant subject, dependent solely on the views of our forefathers. The support to Islamic or secular system of Government opted by our state shall not be dependent upon the views, culture, language or speeches of our forefather but it shall depend upon the will of the people exercised by them in majority in accordance with the mechanism provided by the Constitution of Pakistan. References: [i] Ayesha Jalal, Self and Sovereignty, Sang-e-Meel Publishers, p.328-329 [ii] Javed lqbal, Zinda Rood, Sang-e-Meel Publishers Chapter 17, Concept of Muslim State, P.451. [iii] S.M. Burke, Speeches and statements 1947-1948, Oxford, The Millennium Series. [iv] Zulfiqar All Bhutto, Reshaping Foreign Policy, 'The Essentials of a Constitution', Publisher Agha Amir Hussain Pg.61. [v] Constitution of Pakistan Articles 2, 2-A, 19, 31, 40, 41, 203, 227,228,229,230,231 etc.