Constitutional Development and Political (in) stability of Pakistan: An Analysis Since Inception of Pakistan till 2018

Abstract

The paper attempts to study constitutional development in Pakistan in relation to the political instability or stability of the country. Analysis of the secondary data qualitatively revealed that the country suffered much due to political instability which was a result of the non-development and non-availability of the constitution. As the constitution provides a set of rules for people of a state who agree to live together and it is the basic set of principles through which a state is governed, the newly established state of Pakistan initially adopted the 1935 India Act to run the affairs. The process to frame a fresh constitution started after the transitory of Objectives Resolution in 1949 while Islamic and democratic values were considered as foundations to formulate a constitution for Pakistan. Three constitutions in 1956, 1962, and 1973 were framed in order to maintain political stability and to govern the state. Pakistan in its 72 years of age was governed by 49 Heads of State or Heads of Department including five military dictators (Naz, 2019). Only during the early eleven years, twelve Heads of State or Heads of Departments administered the oath to run the government. Two Prime Ministers were assassinated and one was hanged while two sitting Prime Ministers were declared disqualified by the court. East Pakistan was separated due to political instability and eight times constitutional assemblies were dissolved (Obaidullah, 2020). Several times, the Constitutions were abrogated or suspended and federalism was lacking in the country that also resulted in political instability. It is only since the last decade, political stability is emerging due to prevailing, implementing, development, and intactness of the Constitution.