The Basic Principles Committee was formed on 12th March 1949 by the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan The

Basic Principles Committee comprised of 24 members These indi!iduals were not re"uired to be the members of the first Constituent Assembly #t was headed by Maul!i Tamee$uddin %han and &ia"uat Ali %han was its 'ice President The task assi(ned to the Basic Principles Committee was to determine the basic principles for framin( the future constitution of Pakistan There were three sub committees set)up under the Basic Principles Committee* +ub)committee on federal and pro!incial constitution and distribution of powers +ub)committee on franchise +ub)committee for ,udiciary The task of these committees was to make recommendation re(ardin( the area of their e-pertise .n 2/th +eptember 1901 the BPC presented its interim report to the Constituent Assembly The salient features of this report were as followin(* .b,ecti!es 2esolution should be made part of the constitution and should ser!e as the directi!e principle of state policy The state of Pakistan was to be a federation The Central &e(islature was to be bicameral #t would consist of a 3ouse of 4nit 54pper 3ouse6 with 111 members and a 3ouse of People 5&ower 3ouse6 with 411 members The 4pper 3ouse was to be the representati!e institution of the pro!inces7 elected by pro!incial le(islature 8hile the &ower 3ouse was to be elected by the people on the basis of adult franchise The tenure of both the 3ouses was to be fi!e years and both were to en,oy e"ual power The decisions re(ardin( bud(et or monetary bills were to be decided in ,oint sessions of the two houses The 3ead of state was to be elected by a ,oint session of the two houses for a term of fi!e years and would work on the ad!ice of the Prime Minister 9ederal le(islature had the authority to remo!e the head of state :ach pro!ince was to ha!e its own le(islature; elected on the basis of adult franchise for a term of fi!e years 3ead of the pro!incial le(islature was to be elected by the head of state for a term of fi!e years and he was to work on the ad!ice of Chief Minister &e(islati!e power was to be di!ided in three lists* 16 The 9ederal list comprisin( of <= sub,ects on which the central le(islature would le(islate 26 The Pro!incial list comprisin( of >0 items7 the pro!incial le(islature would le(islate on these sub,ects And >6 The Concurrent list of >= items on which both the central and pro!incial le(islatures had the authority to le(islate The residuary powers were !ested in the center #n case of a dispute7 the +upreme Court had the authority to interpret the constitution The procedure to amend the constitution was !ery ri(id; it re"uired a ma,ority appro!al from the central and pro!incial le(islatures 3ead of the state was (i!en added powers like the authority to abro(ate the constitution and issue ordinances 4rdu was to be the state lan(ua(e The +upreme Court was the head of ,udiciary #t would consist of the Chief ?ustice and 2 to < ,ud(es And 3i(h Courts for each pro!ince were to be established A Board of 4lama would be appointed by the head of state and pro!incial (o!ernors to e-amine the process of law makin( and to ensure that laws were in accordance with the @uran and +unnah The reaction to this report pro!ed counterproducti!e and was not conduci!e to success As a conse"uence popularity of the 9irst Constituent Assembly was badly mali(ned 2esultantly &ia"uat Ali %han was forced to postpone his considerations on account of se!ere criticism on the part of :ast

Pakistan This delay led to many complications in the pro(ress of the 9irst Constituent Assembly This report was critici$ed stron(ly by + C Chattopadyaya and :ast Pakistan The cru- of criticism was related to underrepresentation in the central le(islature and the proposal for a stron( center with !ast powers on financial matters :ast Pakistan was (i!en e"ual number of seats in 4pper 3ouse7 the same as 8est Pakistan Thus it reduces the principle of ma,ority and turned :ast Pakistan into a minority Moreo!er7 the interim report was preposterous for the :ast Pakistan since it 4rdu as national lan(ua(e and Ben(ali was nowhere in the constitutional arena As a result of this reaction7 &ia"uat Ali %han postponed the consideration of report and in!ited new su((estions #n order to include public opinion he called forth (eneral comments and su((estions by public on the report 9or this a committee was setup in the headed by +ardar Abdur 2ab Aishter7 who presented a report in the Constituent assembly on ?uly 1902 2esultantly7 the stru((le for makin( a constitution caused serious apprehension in the mind of :ast Pakistan They felt that the Ben(ali interests were not safe in such a state of affairs There could ha!e been rational and mature ne(otiations with producti!e and pleasin( results for the sake of nationalism7 but that did not happen :!en thou(h the constitutional deadlock was later !ent off but it was too late7 the interim report ine!itably posed an e!er impendin( threat in the minds of :ast Pakistan that their interests were not safe (i!en the supremacy accorded to 8est Pakistan in a federation