However we are a overtly conservative nation
Dont blindly follow the "Pak Studies" we are taught in our schools ..
They dont tell us that the Religious Conservatives were strongly opposed to the idea of creation of Pakistan ..
If Jinnah desired a "Islamic Constitution" , then why was a "Hindu" (Jogendra Nath Mandal) nominated as provisional president of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly to preside over its first session on Aug. 11 ??
Jogendra Nath Mandal is not mentioned even once .. He was one of the central and leading Founding Fathers of modern state of Pakistan, and legislator serving as country's first minister of law and labor, and also was second minister of commonwealth and Kashmir affairs
Only after the demise of Muhammad Ali Jinnah , Liaquat Ali Khan adopted conservative philosophy, principles, ideas, and traditions , and he did so to gain political support as there was no one(including himself) who could effectively replace Jinnah , as the leader of Pakistan
Jinnah had said :
“You are free, you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”
Unfortunately Liaquat Ali was successful in authoring the Objectives Resolution and getting it passed from the state parliament, roughly declaring Islam as state religion .. The oppurtunists had their oppurtunity and they utilized it to their benefits ..
The People of Pakistan rejected this "Islamization" by electing "secular socialists" against the conservatives in 1954 elections in East Pakistan .. The united front secured 223 seats in the 309 -member assembly (with Awami League winning 143 seats)..
The West Pakistan provincial elections were described as "a farce, a mockery and a fraud upon the electorate" by electoral reform commission in 1956.
In 1956 , the conservatives gave the country her first constitution , The "Objectives Resolution" of Liaquat Ali Khan was included as the "preamble" and the country was named as "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" , (ofcourse without considering the will of the majority of people)
Earlier In 1951 Maj. Gen. Akbar Khan, the chief of general staff of the Pakistani army , along with some civilians including leading Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who was notably active in left-wing politics and sympathetic to the Communist Party of Pakistan and Sajjad Zaheer ,had tried to overthrow the conservative govt. of Liquat Ali Khan .. But was unsuccessful ..
General Ayub Khan imposed the first Martial Law in country in 1958 . He omitted the word "Islamic" from the official name of state ; amid protests, Ayub Khan re added that word later as he seeked support of conservatives for his election as President of the state ..
When the martial law was finally lifted and the country had her first general elections in 1970 , The conservative parties produced a performed poor electoral performance . Only Pakistan Muslim League (PML) led by Nurul Amin had gained considerable votes from all over the country; the JeI faced with an embarrassing election result winning only 4 out of the 300 seats.
So the religious conservatives had never been popular among general public (neither in east Pakistan , nor in the west).. The leftist ideas dominated PPP gained much support from the public and won overwhelming majority in west Pakistan in 1970 general elections ... ZA Bhutto tried to make the Islamists happy by adding a few so called "Islamic Provisions" in the constitution of the country (His worst political mistake)..
A few years later Martial law was imposed by Gen. Zia ul Haq which marked the beginning of the era of "unlimited sufferings" of the Pakistani nation .. To this day we are paying the price of Zia`s Islamist policies ..
The "Islamisation" of Pakistan has always been a "political tool" of the illegitimate and power hungry leaders .. The so called "Islamic provisions" in our constitution practically provide a shelter to terrorism and Islamic extremism .. untill &unless we seperate religion from state business , there is no hope of any peace or progress in the country ....
Pakistan was the first country in the world to add the Adjective "Islamic" to its republican status in 1956 .. Though the constitution itself remained largely secular untill 1973 , when Islam was declared to be the state religion ..
This was the first "step" in the "wrong direction" .. Initially the "name" of Islam was added to state by conservatives like Liquat Ali with a hope of strengthening their personal rules . It was a good political move as the conservatives had a "agenda" now and
they tried to exploit the newly born nation of Pakistan by mixing the concept of
"a country for better socio-economic chances for muslims of Indian sub-continent"
with a totally different concept of
"a country for propagation and protection of islamic religion" .....
Islam and "a democratic republic" are in fact contradicting philosophies and can not co-exist ... Over the course of time , "Islamic" part gained strength and "Republic" grew weaker and weaker.... And the result is in front of us now , The Islamists may not win seats in elections , but they are very influential and no "govt." can afford to make them angry ..
Have you ever wondered that when India made a Nuclear Bomb , No one called it a "Hindu Bomb" but when Pakistan did the same , it was labelled as "Islamic Bomb" ...
We were not the first one to have nukes in the world but the whole world saw our nukes as a "threat" ..
That is what happens when you have "State Religions" in 21st century !!
Article 227(1) of our constitution states :
All existing laws shall be brought in conformity with the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah, in this Part referred to as the Injunctions of Islam, and no law shall be enacted which is repugnant to such Injunctions.
The Taliban claim that govt. has failed to implement the constitution properly and their fight is for the implementation of constitution
The Article 20 (b) states :
Every religious denomination and every sect thereof shall have the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions
The Article 22 (3) a :
no religious community or denomination shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupils of that community or denomination in any educational institution maintained wholly by that community or denomination;
With all this in our constitution , we can not stop our Madrassahs from spreading sectarianism and producing terrorists