Пәкістан Конституциясы: 1973 жылғы негізгі заң

Supreme law of Pakistan
the current constitution of Pakistan, adopted in 1973

The Constitution of Pakistan ( ; ISO: Āīn ē Pākistān), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. The document guides Pakistan's law, political culture, and system. It sets out the state's outline, the fundamental rights of the population, the state's law and orders, and also the structure and establishment of the institutions and the armed forces. Drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with additional assistance from the country's opposition parties, it was unanimously approved by the 5th Parliament on 10 April and ratified on 14 August 1973. The first three chapters establish the rules, mandate, and separate powers of the three branches of the government: a bicameral legislature; an executive branch governed by the Prime Minister as chief executive; and an apex federal judiciary headed by Supreme Court. The first six articles of the constitution outline the political system as federal parliamentary republic system; as well as Islam as its state religion. The Constitution also encapsulates provisions stipulating the legal system's compliance with Islamic injunctions contained in the Quran and Sunnah. The Parliament cannot make any laws which may be repugnant or contrary to the Constitution; however, the Constitution itself may be amended by a two thirds majority in both the houses of the bicameral Parliament, unlike the previous legal documents of 1956 and 1962. It has been amended over time, and most recent impulses for political upgrades and reforms has been amended. Although enforced in 1973, Pakistan, however, celebrates the adoption of the constitution on 23 March—when the first set was promulgated in 1956 each and every year as Republic Day. Technically there are 26 amendments but 23 amendments were made in constitution and three were not passed by the parliament as the three amendments collapsed. Currently the promulgated Constitution of Pakistan, in its amended form, stands as the 7th lengthiest constitution of the world with a word count of 56,240 Words.

The successful independence movement led the establishment of Pakistan, independent from the British Raj in 1947. The British Empire divided the Raj into two parts, India and Pakistan. The provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, had greatly influenced the state and served as its basic legal document until 1956. In 1950, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan authored the first annexe that would pave a path to the drafting of the Constitution. Elected in 1947, the first Constituent Assembly drafted and adopted its first constitution in 1956.

Following the adoption of a constitution in India in 1950, Pakistan's lawmakers were incentified to work on their constitution. Prime Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Ali and his government officials worked with the opposition parties in the country to formulate a constitution for Pakistan. Finally, the joint work led to the promulgation of the first set of the constitution on 23 March 1956—a day when Pakistan celebrates its Republic Day over the adoption of the constitution. The constitution provided for parliamentary form of government with a unicameral legislature.

General Ayub Khan appointed a Constitution Commission to draft another part of the constitution under Chief Justice Muhammad Shahabuddin. Submitted its considerations on 6 May 1961, Ayub Khan altered the entire version of the constitution which was entirely different from the one recommended by Chief Justice Muhammad Shahabuddin. The military government and President Yahya himself made no efforts to frame a constitution, aside from issuing the extrajudicial order in 1970. President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto called for a constitutional convention and invited the leaders of the all political parties to meet him on 17 April 1972.

The law experts, constitutional analysts, and country's reputed clergymen worked on formulating a constitution that they hoped would represent the will and desire of people. Unlike earlier attempts, the convention was not meant for new laws or piecemeal alterations, but for the "sole and express purpose of revising the 1956 articles." The Constitution ultimately established a bicameral Parliament, with the National Assembly as the lower house and the Senate as the upper house. Ratified unanimously on 19 April 1973, the Constitution came into full effect on 14 August 1973. The due process clause of the Constitution was partly based on the British Common law, as many founding fathers and legal experts of the country had followed the British legal tradition. The fundamental rights are supreme in the Constitution and any law that is ultra vires the fundamental rights can be struck down by the Apex Courts in their constitutional jurisdiction vested on them under Article 199 of the Constitution.

Unlike the previous documents, the Constitution cannot be changed, instead constitutional amendments are passed; altering its effect. In addition to this, certain amendments which pertain to the federal nature of the Constitution must be ratified by a majority of provincial legislatures. as of 2019, 25 amendments have been made to the Constitution. Among the most important of these are the Eighth (1985) and Seventeenth Amendments (2004), which changed the government from a parliamentary system to a semi presidential system. By far the largest change to the Constitution was the Eighteenth Amendment made in 2010 which reversed these expansions of presidential powers, returning the government to a parliamentary republic, and also defined any attempt to subvert, abrogate, or suspend the constitution as an act of high treason. Another significant amendment was the second amendment which declared Ahmadis to be non Muslims. It was unanimously passed by parliament in 1974. The latest of these amendments, the Twenty Fifth amendment incorporated the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas into the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

All MNAs from West Pakistan elected in the 1970 general election signed the Constitution except Mian Mahmud Ali Kasuri (PPP MNA from Lahore III constituency) Abdul Hayee Baloch (NAP(W) MNA from Kalat I constituency), Abdul Khaliq Khan (PPP MNA from Mardan constituency), Haji Ali Ahmed Khan (PPP MNA from Hyderabad IV constituency), and Nizamuddin Haider (CML MNA from Bahawalpur I constituency). Sahibzada Muhammad Nazeer Sultan (MJUP MNA from Jhang III constituency) was the last serving member of the National Assembly who was also elected as the Member of National Assembly in the 1970 elections & was one of the last signatories of 1973 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Unlike the Constitution of 1956 (in whose creation 13 Hindus, 12 from East Bengal and 1 from West Punjab & 3 women, Begum Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah from East Bengal, Mumtaz Daultana and Shah Nawaz Begum Jahan Ara from West Punjab were involved), the Constitution of 1973 had no representation from the minorities & women.