The Failure of Parliamentary Institutionalization in Pakistan: The Performance of the First Constituent Assembly, 1947–54

The paper traces the history of the First Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (1947-54), concentrating on the challenges facing the Assembly in attempting to compose Pakistan’s first constitutional instrument while simultaneously serving as Pakistan’s first parliamentary assembly. (The First Constituent Assembly was dissolved in 1954 and Pakistan’s Constitution was completed by the Second Constituent Assembly in 1956.) During its lifetime, the First Constituent Assembly competed with a powerful executive exhibiting a marked preference for authoritarianism in shaping institutions in the newly-organized Islamic Republic. Although the adoption of rules was a positive development the polarization of political parties obstructed the work of the First Constituent Assembly. Finally, the rising influence of the army and oversight by courts doomed the First Constituent Assembly to failure. The paper draws on primary sources, such as the recorded debates of the Constituent Assembly as well as archival records. The paper’s conclusions direct attention to the lack of clarity in the charges given to the Constituent Assembly in 1947. The First Constituent Assembly was unable to formulate a clear role for its work in the political system then under construction in Pakistan.