Salient features of the Constitution of 1973

The Constitution of 1973

After taking control of the government in 1971. Z.A. Bhutto started work on a democratic constitution for the country. On 17th April 1972 the National Assembly constituted a committee to prepare a draft constitution. The Committee worked hard and prepared the draft of the constitution which was presented to the leaders of all parliamentary leaders on 20th October 1972. All the leaders signed the draft. After that it was discussed and debated n the National Assembly which gave its approval on 10th April 1973. The President gave his assent on 12th April 1973. Finally the Senate approved the constitution in August 1973. Consequently the constitution was enforced in the country on 14th August 1973. According to the Constitution of 1973 Mr. Z.A. Bhutto look over as the tenth Prime Minister and Mr. Fazl-e-Elahi was sworn in as the President of Pakistan.

Salient Features of 1973 Constitution

The Constitution of 1973 is strikingly different from the earlier Constitution of 1956 and 1962. It has the following salient features.

1. Written Constitution
Like the previous constitutions of 1956 and 1962 the Constitution of 1973 is a written document. It is very comprehensive and consists of twelve parts consisting of 280 articles.

2. Introductory and the Objectives Resolution
It commences with an introductory which slates the Islam shall be state religion. The principles and provisions set out in the Objectives Resolution have been made substantive part of the constitution.

3. Islamic System
The inclusion of Islamic Provisions has given the 1973 Constitution an unprecedented Islamic character. It ensures an Islamic system in the country.

4. Rigid Constitution
It is a rigid constitution. No Government can change it at will. It is not easy to make amendments in it. Two-third majority of both the Houses is required for this purpose.

5. Federal System
The Constitution of 1973 has introduced a Federal system in the country. The federation of Pakistan consists of a Central Government and four Provincial Governments. The Federal Government is headed by a President elected by members of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)

6. Parliamentary form of Government
The 1973 Constitution proposes a Parliamentary form of Government in the country. Prime minister is the head of the Parliamentary system. He is leader of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliamentary). He is elected on direct adult franchise basis. The Prime Minister selects a cabinet of central ministers from the members of Parliament which conducts the affairs of the country. According to 1973 Constitution the Prime Minister enjoys wide powers.

7. Bicameral Legislature
The Constitution provides for the establishment of a bicameral legislature in Pakistan. The Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) consists of two Houses named Senate and National Assembly. The Senate or the Upper House consists of 63 members (the 8th Amendment has raised this number to 87). The National Assembly consists of 200 members (Now this number has been raised to 207). The Majlis-e-Shoora enjoys wide powers of legislature.

8. Direct Method of Election
The Constitution of 1973 gives a direct method of election. The members of the National Assembly, the Provincial Assemblies are directly elected by the people.

9. Fundamental Rights
The 1973 Constitution ensures the following fundamental rights to the citizens of Pakistan.

• Security of person
• Safeguard against unlawful arrest and detention
• Prohibition of slavery and forced labor
• Freedom of movement
• Freedom of assembly
• Freedom of association
• Freedom of business
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of profess religion
• Right to hold property
• Equality before law
• Right to preserve language, script and culture
• Safeguard against discrimination in services.

10. Principles of Policy
The Constitution of 1973 has set the following principles of policy:

• Local electoral bodies will be set up for solving local problems.
• The parochial and other prejudices shall be discouraged.
• The women shall be given full representation in all spheres of national life.
• Social justice shall be promoted.
• Bonds with Muslim world shall be strenghened.

11. Independence of Judiciary
The Constitution of 1973 stresses upon the establishment of an independent judiciary. Full job security has been provided. The judges are appointed by the President. They cannot be removed from service before the end of their term except on the recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council. In addition the Judges are paid respectable salaries.

12. National Language
The 1973 Constitution has declared Urdu as the national language of Pakistan. However English has been retained as the official language for 15 years. Similarly regional languages have been provided full protection.

13. Single Citizenship
The Constitution of 1973 has established the principles of single citizenship. According to this principle the rights and duties of the citizens are determined by the Federal Constitution only. Thus the people throughout Pakistan are citizens of Pakistan.

14. Rule of Law
The 1973 Constitution establishes rule of law in Pakistan. According to rule of law no person can be deprived of his fundamental rights. All the citizens of Pakistan are equal before law.

15. High Treason
According to the Constitution of 1973 the act of unconstitutional abrogation of the Constitution has been declared as an act of High Treason.

16. Referendum
The Constitution of 1973 has authorized the President to hold Referendum on any national issue. Similarly the Prime Minister can ask the President to hold referendum on any important national issue.

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ISLAMIC PROVISIONS OF 1973 CONSTITUTION

ISLAMIC PROVISIONS OF 1973 CONSTITUTIONThe following are the Islamic provisions of 1973 constitution based on the principles of Holy Quran and Sunnah.
1.Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Pakistan shall be known as "Islamic Republic of Pakistan".
2.State Religion
Islam shall be the state religion of Pakistan.
3.Sovereignty Belongs to AllahSovereignty over the entire Universe belongs to Almighty Allah and the authority bestowed by Him on men is a sacred trust which the people of Pakistan will exercise with the limits prescribed by Quran and Sunnah.
4.Definition of a Muslim
The constitution also gives the definition of a Muslim.A person who believes in Tauheed or Oneness of Allah,and in the prophet hood of Hazrat Mohammad (P.B.U.H) as the last prophet of Allah has described as aMuslim.
5.A Muslim to be a President and Prime MinisterThe constitution laid down that only Muslims shall be elected president and Prime Minister of Pakistan.Non non-Muslim could hold these offices.
6.Islamic way of lifeSteps shall be given to enable the Muslims of Pakistan to order their lives in accordance with the fundamental principles and basic concepts of Islam.
7.Promotion of Social Justice and Eradication of Social Evils
The State shall take necessary steps for prosecution of social justice and eradication of social evils and shall prevent prostitution,gambling and taking of injurious drugs,printing,publication,circulation and display of obscene literature and advertisements.
8.Teachings of Holy Quran
The state shall try to make the teachings of Holy Quran and Islamiat compulsory to encourage and facilitate the learning of Arabic language.
9.Strengthing Bond,with Muslim World
The state shall endeavour to strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries in order to promote Islamic unity.
10.Council of Islamic Ideology
There is a councel of Islamic Ideology which shall guide the government in respect of Islamic teachings,their implementation and propagation.Its chairman and members are appointed by President.Although its advice is not binding on the government yet it is not easy for any government to ignore or over rule its suggestion or opinion regarding any law.
11.Error Free Publication of QuranThe government shall endeavour to secure correct and exact printing and publishing of the Holy Quran.
12.Oath to Project and Promote Islamic Ideology
The federal and Provincial Ministers,the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National and Provincial Assemblies,the chairman of the Senate and the Governors and Chief Ministers of the Provinces also take oath to preserve and protect the Islamic Ideology.
13.Ahmadi's A Non Muslim MinorityAccording to the second amendment of 1973 constitution,the Qadiani group or the Lahori group who call themselves "Ahmadi's " were declared as Non-Muslim minority.

CONCLUSIONThe 1973 constitution enlisted the main principles of State Policy Maximum efforts were made to improve the character of this constitution.Like other constitutions,1973 constitution of Pakistan also provides for the protection,propagation and enforcement of Islamic Ideology.

The Constitution of 1962

1. Background:

On 7 Oct 1958 the military assumed power in Pakistan under the leadership of general Ayub Khan who was the Commander in Chief at that time. The military abrogated the Constitution and the federal and provincial cabinets were abolished. The national and provincial assemblies were also abolished and martial law was imposed in Pakistan.Ayub Khan became the chief martial law administrator and in this way the 1^st military govt came into existence in Pakistan. The military govt had to undertake a lot of tasks, a lot of actions were taken during this period.

One of the major responsibility that the military govt assigned to itself was the framing the new Constitution for Pakistan because ultimately Pakistan was to return to constitutional rule and for that the military govt wanted to frame a constitution for the country. During this period General Ayub Khan who became Field Martial in Oct 1959 issued several statements on working of the governments in the past. The govt circles were generally critical of the parliamentary system of the govt which they thought was not providing stability to the country.

They emphasized that any political system for Pakistan must ensure stability, continuity economic development and gradual development of democracy. These were the primary considerations and by keeping in view the govt decided to take certain measures to move in the direction of framing the constitution for this country.

2. Constitution-Making:

The first step in the direction of setting up a new political system was the introduction of new local govt system which was announced in Oct 1959 one year after the assumption of power by the armed forces.

This local govt system was called as Basic Democracies (Buniadi Jamhooriatain) and under this system people elected 80000 representatives for the local councils and these representatives were divided equally between East Pakistan and West Pakistan. This local govt system had initially five levels but later on it had four levels. Union Councils, Tehsil Councils, District and Divisions. This system worked as the local govt and also performed the development work. The elections to the Basic Democracies were held in Dec, 1959 and Jan, 1960 and in this way the local govts were installed.

The next stage of setting up of a new political framework for Pakistan was Presidential Referendum which was held ob Feb 17, 1960.President Ayub decided to hold Referendum for him to become an elected President and this Referendum was held on Feb 17,1960.In this Referendum the elected members of Basic Democracies voted, at that time the members of the Basic Democracies were called as BD members, So the elected BD members were to vote and in this Referendum Ayub Khan won the election with the overwhelming support and there was no candidate against him.

After holding of the elections Ayub Khan decided to set up a constitution. This constitution was established in Feb, 1960 and this commission was headed by a former chief justice of Pakistan, his name was justice Shahabuddin.

In addition to Shahabuddin who was heading the commission, there were other members and there was equality in representation to both wings of Pakistan that is there were equal numbers of members from East Pakistan and from West Pakistan. This constitution commission was assigned of doing two major things

1 This was to examine the causes of failure of Parliamentary system in Pakistan. You would recall that before 1958 Pakistan had Parliamentary system of govt and when military took over in 1958 Parliamentary system was done away with, so the first responsibility of the commission was to look at the history of Pakistan as it developed from 1957 to 1958 and identify the factors or causes that led to the failure of the parliamentary system.

2: The second major responsibility was to recommend an appropriate system of govt forPakistan in view of the genius of the people or temperament of the people, level of education, and the kind of political situation that existed in Pakistan in the state of nationhood and also the need for economic development in Pakistan.

In keeping in view the causes of the failure of parliamentary system and these goals or these objectives the commission was to make certain recommendations.

The constitution commission visited different cities interviewed a lot of people, it also issued a questionnaire and people could send their responses and all these responses and interviews which the commission conducted in different cities of Pakistan.

The commission prepared a report a detailed report which was submitted to the President of Pakistan in May, 1961.This report provided an analysis of the political history of Pakistanfrom1947 to 1958, identifying the causes of the failure of the parliamentary system during the 1^st eleven years.

Then it suggested a number of principles, guidelines for framing a new constitution. This report which was published as the report of the constitution commission is available in the libraries. This report was reviewed by two committees. One committee was comprised of the members of the Presidential cabinet and the second committee was consisted of the senior bureaucrats who looked into the practical aspects of this report how this is to be implemented. The report was also discussed in the governor’s conference and also by other people who were able to get information on this report.

After detailed deliberations of the constitution commission, President Ayub Khan announced the new constitution on March 1^st 1962.The constitution which was announced did not incorporate all the recommendations of the constitution commission, most of its recommendations were incorporated but some were not, and in this way constitution was announced.

The next stage was that in April and May 1962 elections to the national and provincial were held. These elections were an indirect election that is the BD members or the members of the Basic Democracies were to elect their members both in the national and provincial assemblies. So in this way this was the system of indirect elections where people were to elect an Electoral College and the members of that Electoral College would elect the members of the national and provincial assemblies. This was the system of indirect elections and it was introduced in 1962 for the 1962 Constitution.

Once the assemblies that is the national and provincial were elected the Constitution was enforced on 8^th June 1962 and on that day Martial Law was withdrawn, military rule came to an end, and the new constitution which was framed by the military govt of Ayub khan became the Constitution of Pakistan. And from 8^th June 1962 to onward Pakistani system was functioning under this new constitution.

This constitution had 250 articles and 5 schedules. Initially there were 3 and 2 more were added later on in the constitution. Now we will move on to the 3^rd part. In the second part we have discussed how constitution was framed what were the steps and stages in the formulation of the 1962 Constitution.

3. Salient Features:

The type of political system which was created under the new constitution of Pakistan is described as under:

3.1 Title of the State:

When the constitution was enforced on June 8^th 1962 the title of the State was given as theRepublic of Pakistan. But when this title was given there was a demand in the assembly and outside the assembly that the title should be the Islamic Republic of Pakistan that is the demand was to go back to the title that was provided in the earlier constitution of 1956.The 1956 Constitution describe the country as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. So after some thinking on this issue 1^st amendment was made in the constitution which dealt with a number of issues but here one issue is important for us that is the word Islamic were inserted in the title and therefore Pakistan once again became The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

3.2 Presidential System:

The 2^nd outstanding feature of this constitution was the Presidential System of the govt.In this way the 1962 Constitution marked a departure from the 1956 Constitution which had provided for a parliamentary system of govt, but in 1962 this was replaced with presidential system of govt.

The constitution provided for a very powerful President who had vast administrative powers and other authority to handle the affairs of the State. In a way the President was the focal point of the constitution. It was around him that constitution was revolving. Constitution provided that a person could become or he can contest the election of the president if he had the minimum age of 40 years. He should be a Muslim and qualified to be a member of the national assembly. In this constitution, the president like the members of the national assembly was indirectly elected. The members of the Basic Democracy which were 80000 in number were made the Electoral College for the president. So the BD members would elect the president of Pakistan under the Constitution of 1962, and the term was five for years.

If a president had held the office for more than 8 years, he could seek re-election if, his candidature is allowed or permitted or approved by the national and provincial assemblies. To simplify what I have said, that a person could stay president for two terms consecutive terms one after the other and each term for 5 years, so a person can hold that office for 10 years. Now if, that person wanted to go beyond that is for the 3^rd term then his candidature had to be approved by the national and two provincial assemblies and then he could go for the elections, the way it was provided in the constitution which is indirect elections through the elected members of the Basic Democracies.

Although the term of the president was fixed for 5 years, the president could be removed from his office by the national assembly; this is called the impeachment process or the impeachment of the president that is president could be removed by impeachment. However the impeachment process was very difficult and it was not easy to remove a president from his office until the expiry of his tenure which was 5 years.

Normally in presidential systems the president doesn’t have powers to dissolve the national assemblies or the parliament. Here in the Constitution of 1962 this power was given to the president. President could dissolve the NA call for new elections but there was one condition that is if the president dissolves the assemblies, he would himself go for the elections; he will have to seek his own re-elections.

This for all practical purposes meant that president would not dissolve the NA, because he would also have to get a new mandate, a new vote from Electoral College. So that means that the president would be extremely reluctant to take such a step and for all practical purposes he would not remove the NA although he was given this kind of powers in a conditional manner.

3.3 Powers of the president:

The president was the focal point of the political system, the central piece of the political system. he had executive powers, legislative powers because he was the part of the legislative process and certain judicial powers. The cabinet was appointed by the president and the cabinet was responsible to the president. He could remove a cabinet member anytime he wants and other key appointments in the state were also to be made by the president. For example the appointment of chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court, the three commanders of the armed forces, chairman and the members of the PPSC and some others, but there was a procedure to make these appointments.

But ultimately it was the responsibility of the president to make these appointments. President also had the powers to issue ordinances when the NA was not in session. President also had an emergency power that is if state of emergency had been declared in the country then his powers enhanced. Emergency can be declared in the country for 3 major reasons.

1. External threat, there is war imposed on the country as was the case in Sep, 1965 when India attacked on Pakistan state of emergency was declared in Pakistan.
2. Internal disturbances there are developments within a country which threatens security then emergency powers could be invoked.

A very serious economic crises economic threat to the security of the state

So, in these kinds of situations the president can declare the state of emergency and can assume extra powers. And then he had a free hand to function but within a limit prescribe by the constitution of Pakistan.

3.4 Legislative powers:

President was the part of the legislative process where he would be dealing with legislation but we will discuss his legislative powers when we discuss the NA which is the 3^rd feature of the constitution. The 3^rd feature is that it provided for a single house legislature, like the 1956 Constitution it provided for a single house parliament called NA.And in this NA both the wings of Pakistan had equal representation or what is called the principle of parity.

The strength of the house for the membership of the NA was 156.150 were the general seats and 6 were reserved for women. The general seats were elected through an indirect election that is the BD members constituted the Electoral College for the members of the NA; the same applies to the provincial assemblies. Both the national and provincial assemblies were elected by the Electoral College of BD members.

Minimum age was 25 years and the candidate would be a registered voter in anywhere inPakistan and a citizen of Pakistan. A had law making powers, could make laws for the issues and powers given to the federal govt.However, all laws made by the NA would go to the president and at that stage before they are passed by the president they are called as bills, so, the president could sign the law which has been passed in the form of bills, reject it or return it for reconsideration to the NA.There was a procedure through which NA could accept the recommendations of the president or could returned the bill to the president, So there was a procedure to deal with the situation, but the president was the part of the legislative process.

3.5 Financial powers:

So for as financial powers were concerned these powers were limited. The NA could vote on new expenditure it means those items in the budget which are included for the first time that is why they are new expenditures. It has the power to accept or reject the new expenditure. Here were 2 other categories of expenditures which it could not turn down

The consolidated fund list which included salary for the officers of certain important Offices under the state of Pakistan. This was the same in the 1956 constitution however the 1962 provided for recurring expenditure, this expenditure meant the expenditure which was coming from the previous years. This was for multi year projects.

3.6 Federalism:

The 1962 established a federal system of govt which meant two types of govt govt at the centre and govt at the provincial level there were two provinces at that time. So there were two govts functioning within the limits defined by the constitution.

1962 Constitution provided one list of subjects, one set of powers were clearly laid down in the constitution and those were the powers of the central govt.So the one list of subjects pertains to the powers of the central govt and the rest of the powers were given to the provincial govts.However the federation under the 1962 Constitution had a strong centre, because there was a powerful president. A president who has enough powers to manage the central as well as the provincial affairs.

And if we look at the emergency powers then there is greater freedom to intervene in the provincial affairs. So, it was a strong centre under the 1962 Constitution, although provincial autonomy was there, a provincial setup a governor with his cabinet and governor was appointed by the president. And governor would appoint the cabinet with the approval of the president and each province had its legislature for law making purporses.Here the authority of the governor was strong, he was the head of the govt at the provincial level. So we can say that there was provincial autonomy administration but centre was strong under the 1962 Constitution.

3.7 Principles of policy:

The 5^th feature is that the constitution provided principles for policy making. These principles were guidelines for policy makers and these principles emphasized national solidarity that principles would be designed to promote national solidarity and the policies would take care the people of the backward areas, and other principles like opportunities would be provided to people to take part in national life. Emphasis on Islamic way of life, on Islamic system, Islamic teachings and on Islamic principles. These were the principles given in the constitution. And these principles were simply guidelines for those were to make policies for Pakistan.

3.8 Fundamental Rights:

The next feature was Fundamental Rights, like the previous constitution this constitution also provided certain political and civil rights to the people and these were the standard rights which are given in democratic systems. Right to speech, right to organization, right to movement, protection of life, security, freedom of religion and such rights which are part of any democratic setup.

These were there and these could be invoked in a court of law. But I may mention here that when constitution was enforced these fundamental rights were given in the constitution as principles for law making not as fundamental rights. Then there was a demand that these should be fundamental rights rather than principles, and due to this demand in the NA and outside the NA the principles for law making were changed into fundamental rights under an amendment to the constitution and in this way the standard civil and political rights became the part of the constitution.

3.9 Political Parties:

The 9^th feature pertains to political parties. When constitution was enforced in June 1962 political parties were not allowed in Pakistan. There was a ban on Political parties and the elections to the national and provincial assemblies in April and May in 1962 were party less elections. Now once the NA began to function the members thought that Pakistan must have political parties. Therefore a political party’s act was passed in 1962,to provide for working of political parties under the constitution of Pakistan and after the passing of this act the political parties began to function in Pakistan.

3.10 Islamic Provisions:

The next feature pertains to the Islamic Provisions of the constitution. I have discussed about the title of the state of Pakistan which was Islamic Republic of Pakistan. If we look at the preamble of the constitution, it reflects the Objective Resolution and constitution assigns sovereignty to all over Universe to Almighty Allah and it is to be exercised within the limits prescribed by Him in the Quran and Sunnah.If we look at the principles of policy making there are clear provisions for Islamic way of life and Islamic principles for example state is to enable the people to lead their lives according to the principles of Islam and teachings of Islam. Two important institutions were created

Advisory council for Islamic Ideology:

It comprised the scholars of Islam law and politics and this was to make sure that the laws made were in conformity with Islamic principles. But this was an advisory body; this was to advise to the parliament the NA and the President.

Islamic Research Institute:

The 2^nd important institute was the Islamic research institute which was set up under this constitution for devoting itself to research and instructions in Islam for insisting the reconstruction of the Muslim society on truly Islamic lines. In other way we could say that this constitution emphasized on the Islamic character of the polity.

Working of the constitution:

This constitution functioned from June 8^th 1962 to March 25^th 1969.

The Khilafat Movement

Contest

Khilafat Movement was a religio-political Movement launched by the Muslims of the British India for the retention of the Ottoman Caliphate or khilafat-e-usmania and for not letting for the Muslim holy places go under the control of the Non-Muslims. During the 1^st World War Turkeysided with Germany and as Germany started to loose Turkey also started loosing its territory. By the time 1^st World War came to an end in 1918 Turkey had lost most of its territory. Therefore the issue at that time was how the allied powers would treat Turkey, the Ottoman Empire or the Khilafat-e-usmania and most of its territory had been occupied and this Movement was on its peak from 1919 to 1922, although it went on during the later years.

Being brothers, the Indian Muslims realized their religious duty to help the Muslim country. It was the extra territorial attachments based on Islam. Another factor same to the first was that the Indian Muslims considered Ottoman Caliphate a symbol of unity of the Muslim world as Ummah.

Goals:

What were the goals of this Movement?

• Ottoman Khilafat should be kept intact.
• Territorial solidarity of Turkey should be preserved.
• Control of holy places of the Muslims should not be given to non-Muslims that were Non-Muslim powers.

Effects

This was the first major political Movement in India which involved the common man. Since the inception of the ML in 1906, the Muslims had started demanding certain safeguards from the British. They were also interacting with the other communities and the Congress party. However politics during that time from 1906 to 1919 was the elitist politics. That is politics of educated people and also people who are well off who could spare time who could spare money were involved in politics.

Khilafat Movement was the 1^st movement where ordinary people were involved, or the ordinary Muslims were involved, people in the streets were involved and therefore politics at that time came down to the ordinary masses.

Mobilization capacity of Islam

Another important aspect of this Movement was that it showed the mobilization capacity of Islam amongst the Muslims. It showed the extent to which the Muslims of the British India held Islam and how much Islamic institutions are dear to them. So it clearly showed that Islam had a lot of mobilizational capacity and appeal for the ordinary people.

Extra-territorial attachments

Another aspect emphasizes the extra-territorial attachments of the Muslims of India based on Islam. Extra-territorial means that people feel attached to certain institutions and ideological framework that may be beyond the territorial boundaries of their own countries that is extra-territorial attachment. Amongst the Muslims extra-territorial attachments are always been very strong and these extra-territorial attachments are based on Islam. Two concepts of Islam are very strong force for the Muslims of British India.

Concept of Ummah

The concept of Ummah and this concept of Ummah that the Muslims living all over the World weither in any country belong to an ideological brotherhood of Islam. It’s a community or sense of community based on principles and teachings of Islam, therefore the concept of ummah had a lot of pull for the Muslims and that could be seen during the period of the Khilafat Movement.

The institution of Khilafat

The second aspect which created extra-territorial sentiments amongst the Muslims of this region was the institution of Khilafat.The Khilafat-e-Usmania whose primary seat was in Turkey and Khilafat-e-Usmania was seen by the Muslims of the British India as a kind of continuity from the original institution of Khilafat in Islam. Therefore they always paid much attention to the institution of Khilafat.You can go to the earlier periods and you will see that the sentiment of attachment is based on Islam was very strong.

The Balkan wars

For example if you go back to 1911and1912 you will find the Balkan wars. There was a war between Turkey and Italy and Italy had also attacked Libya. Therefore during that time when Balkan wars were going on the Muslims of British India demonstrated strong sentiments for the Muslims, for Turkey and a medical delegation was sent to Turkey to provide medical assistance to people affected by war, and now in 1919 when the same sentiment was emerging on the bases of Ummah and also on the bases of emotional attachment which the people had with the institution of Khilafat.Therefore there were lot of sentiments and lot of support for the demand that is the retention of Khilafat and for this reason Khilafat Movement becomes extremely important, If you want to know the political developments of India.

Dimensions:

During first three decades of 20^th century, there were poets ,there were writers who were focusing on common themes, like the generation and the decline of the Muslims in general and Muslims of this region in particular because the Muslims of this region were a matter of their direct interest, so they were focusing on the generation and the decline of the Muslims. The writings of the Muslim intellectuals provoked the sentiments for the preservation of Khilafat and retention of the Muslims control of the holy places. The Muslims journalism played a vital role to steer the direction of the struggle.Secon theme which you find there was how to revive or how to regenerate the past glory. For example in the poetry of Allam Iqbal if you read Baal-e-jibril,if you read Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa,you read Masjid-e-Kartaba where all these themes are very strong that Muslims could regain, recover from their problems if they focus on Islam, if they develop the genuine spirit of Islam. If you read Musaddas-e-Haali you will find the same story that how the Muslims were declined and how they come out of their problems which they were facing. So these kinds of sentiments were very strong when this Movement started. Zamindar of Zafar Ali Khan, Comrade and Hamdard of Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, and Al-Hilal of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad etc. were the prominent newspapers and magazines which performed their duties to express their resentment. The Allies imposed humiliating terms on vanquished Turkey. These news papers were pleading the cause of the Muslims. The 1st

WW ended in 1918 and in 1919 the major peace treaty, Treaty of Versil was signed and it was very obvious the kind of treaty that was that ultimately the Turkey would loose all it had and then in 1920 conditions of this treaty for Turkey were known and those were very humiliating for Turkey. It had lost most of its territory even on the Main land Turkey that is where Turkeystands today foreign forces were present and it was in this context that the Muslims of this region started a movement that is described as the Khilafat Movement.

Protests in India:

All India Khilafat Committee was formed at Bombay in July 1919 and this gradually shaped up of the Muslims point of activity regarding Khilafat and in this Khilafat committee session they were discussing the issues of Khilafat which held the 1^st Khilafat Conference in Delhi in November 1919. The first Khilafat Conference at Delhi in November 1919 was arranged in which the Congress leaders like Gandhi and Nehru participated. Congress also started to support the Khilafat Movement for the reason that I will discuss later on. In this way, the major political parties joined hands to assault the injustice with the Muslim community. These steps were announced:

No participation in victory celebrations was the 1^st important step taken by the participants of this Conference. The British and the Allies had won the war and they were celebrating even inIndia because India being a part of the British Empire was on the side of the British therefore these people decided to boycott the victory celebration to show displeasure on the state of affairs and to express their point of view in an affective manner.

Second decision which they made here was that they started boycotting the British goods, in a way a kind of economic polices which they were adopting that they will not buy the British good which will ultimately affect their economy.

Non Cooperation with the Government was the 3^rd important decision which they made at that time. It meant that not at this stage but at the later stage hey may also launch the Non cooperation movement.

The second Khilafat Conference (Amritsar) was held in Dec. 1919 and this was very important occasion. Like the 1^st one all the major political parties participated in this conference and the most significant thing was that Maulana Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali who were in British detention for violating the British law in protest against the British policies were released and they also joined the session after being released from prison.Infact you can’t discuss the KM without discussing the contribution of Maulana M.A aJauhar and Maulana S.A.Jauhar and they were used to be described as the Ali brothers. They played very significant role in mobilizing the masses, they had formidable appeals at the common level and they also worked with the Congress party. And both the brothers along with other leaders went to jail for several times, they would come out demonstrate for Khilafat cause, lead Muslims the British arrest them along with other leaders but whenever they released they again come back and plead that cause with conviction.

After that the Khilafat conference and the Congress party began to work together because there were issues in India which were agitating others as well. Those issues were important for Muslims but Muslims attention primarily focused on Khilafat.There were other issues which were agitating the congress and the congress thought that Muslims have a set of grievances against the British. They are agitating for the retention of the Ottoman Empire then the Congress also had grievances against the British. So hey thought if they worked together they cooperate with each other then they could have a more effective impact rather than the Movements working separately and the issues which were agitating at that time were one was the issue of the Rowlett Act,1919.

Rowlett Act, 1919:

Rowlett Act was a black law introduced in India. To the law, the government got authority to persecute any Indian and the arrested had no facility of legal assistance and right to appeal just as the ‘Lettres de Cachet’ in France before the French Revolution. Jinnah resigned from the central legislature as a protest. This was a law which the British govt passed for arresting, detaining people who would be involved in what they would describe as the criminal activities but actually those were political activities. Those people could be punished swearly and without trial, so this Bill which was ultimately made into a law was protested both by the Muslims as well as the Hindus. When this issue developed.Quaid-e-Azam was very critical to this Act. He delivered critical speeches in the legislative council and outside and ultimately he resigned from his seat of the assembly in protest against this law, because he thought that this Act is a humiliating Act, violates basic cannons of justice and fairplay

Jallianwala Bagh Incident, April 1919:

The second issue which was agitating was agitating the person across the divide was the incident related to the Jallianwala Bagh.Jallianwala Bagh was situated in the city of Amritsar and against the backdrop of the Rowlett Act a big meeting was held in that Bagh.There were so many kinds of people and the British govt was so agitated that they dispatched a unit of the Army that went into the garden blocked all the entrance points and began shooting directly on the people and several hundred people were killed and seriously wounded which created a major uproar throughout India. General Dyer opened fire to disperse the throng that cast huge human casualties (379). It is considered one of the great tragedies in India. It is during this period that the British imposed martial law in Amritsar and certain other cities of the province of Punjab including Lahore, Gujranwala and a couple of other cities martial law was imposed. So in a way that became the 1^st martial law in this region in the 20^th century. So this Jallianwala Bagh incident also mobilized congress and other groups to move ahead and to pull their resources and to challenge the authority of the British govt.

Non-Cooperation:

Therefore the famous Congress session was held at Nagpur in Dec 1920 when the Congress at the instance of the Congress leaders Mahatma Gandhi adopted his non violent and non cooperation movement. This was the first non cooperation movement which Gandhi was launching. He launched couple of other movements subsequently and the general agreement was that the.

• Indians would return all those titles which the British had given to them. For example one title which used to given to the Indians for their services was the title of Sir and the Indians used to use this title of Sir and there were several other titles. So the decision was to return these titles.
• Boycott of the courts and the educational institutions.
• Then they would resign their jobs.
• It was also decided that at a later stage they would also resign from the police and military jobs. It was something which they kept in reserved. This was not really launched but some thoughts could be implemented later on.
• Then they refused to pay taxes to the British govt.

Khilafat Conference, Karachi, July 1921:

A Khilafat Conference was held in Karachi in July 1921 and in this session the participants were predominantly Muslims expressed their loyalty to Khilafat and the Turkish Sultan which by that time had been disposed by its territory by the allied powers the British and the others and they had also decided to keep the movement going on. They welcomed Ataturk’s efforts to dislodge foreign forces from mainland. By that time Ataturk was emerging as a leader and he was taking steps to expel the foreign forces from Turkey and it was very early stage but nevertheless they welcomed the. That and they thought that it is something new that needs to be encouraged and needs to be endorsed.

Hijrat Movement 1920-21:

While this movement was going on with total Muslim commitment, with dedication with full sincerity. The Muslims were making their point of view known their loyalty their attachment by making all these kinds of sacrifices. Now while all this was happening another movement started here that was called the Hijrat Movement. That Movement primarily was there between 1920 to 1921.What was the Hijrat Movemen.This Movement was encouraged by the religious leaders. The Indian ulama (religious leaders) declared India ‘Darul Harab where Muslims are not safe.’ Darul Harab means the place (country) where Muslims are not allowed to perform their religious practices. In the said situation, the Muslims should migrate to the nearest safe place. The ulama issued verdicts that Muslims should move from Dar ul Harb to Darul Islam and in this case Dar ul Islam was next door country, Afghanistan. So the religious leaders encouraged Muslims from India to Afghanistan that is Hijrat.There was another reason due to this, this Movement was launched. There was an impression that King of Afghanistan would welcome these people who would go from India to Afghanistan. Therefore due to the encouragement which the Islamic leaders gave to the common people and a perception that the Afghanistan would welcome anybody who will go there, a very large number of people specially belonging to lower strata of society, the common people the poor people left from India to Afghanistan some on foot, some on carts because means of transportation were not so developed at that time that you could easily go to Afghanistan. Some of the people sold their property at very cheap rates; they disposed of their property, because they were moving from this place to another in the name of Islam, so the migration took place at large scale. Initially Afghans welcomed them. But as their number increased the Afghan govt closed the border because Afghanistan was also a poor country, it had its own problems and it was not able to cope with the migrants and pushed the migrants back to the Indian territories. This created a major dilemma for the Muslims who were migrating to Afghanistan It resulted in loss of lives and money. Many died during this mission. Some went to Soviet Union fromAfghanistan because they had nothing in India now because they had sold what they had and where should they have go back. So in a way this Hijrat Movement ended on miseries for the Muslims because it was unplanned and it was based on emotions not taking into account the realities in Afghanistan. However the Hijrat Movement re-enforces the total commitment and identification to Islam and their ability to make all kinds of sacrifices for the ideology for the principles and teachings of Islam. I mention one point as a kind of footnote to the Hijrat Movement; some of the Muslims who were were able to cross over to Afghanistan gradually moved to Soviet Union and they stayed there and some of them came back to India subsequently while in the Soviet Union they were inspired by the socialist and the Marxist philosophy and some of them when they came back were active in socialist and Marxist movements in India. Overall the Hijrat Movement did created problems and hardships for the Muslims of this region

End of the Movement:

The Khilafat Movement that was started by the Muslims of the British India for the retention of the institution of the Ottoman Empire and for retaining the control of the Muslims holy places, that movement gradually fizzled out. How that did happened a number of developments from 1921 to onward contributed to that. The first important development that adversely affected the movement was the Mopla Revolt on the Malabar area in the Kalicut.

Moplah Revolt Malabar Coast, near Kalicut

This incident took place in 1921.Moplahs were the descendents of the Arab Muslims settled in the Sub-Continent even before the arrival of Muhammad Bin Qasim. In August 1921, they revolted against Hindu landlords whose treatment was very brutal with them. The issue was not the religious. The uprising was against the injustice against the suffering which the Moplas were facing and as they revolted the police took the side of the landlords. The local Hindu unions began to project to this as the kind of Hindu Muslim issue, there was a lot of propaganda against the Muslims with reference to this uprising and there were calls from some of the Hindu organizations to wake up against to face the challenge which was emerging Later this clash changed as Moplahs versus the Police and Hindu. This embittered the Hindu-Muslim relations. This uprising had a negative impact on the Hindu Muslim unity that was being demonstrated in the Khilafat Movement. The Congress party and the Khilafat Committee were very cooperative and were working together. The Muslim leaders were addressing meetings along with Gandhi and others, so it was a rare demonstration of Hindu Muslim unity and that cooperative sentiment was undermined by this incident.

Increase in Violence 1921:

The 2nd incident that affected this Movement was the increase in violence when in 1920 Non Cooperation Movement was launched by Gandhi it was argued that this would be a peaceful Movement, this would be a non violent movement but the Indians would demonstrate against the British in a peaceful manner even the British will use force on them they will not respond. However with the passage of time violence entered this non cooperation there was an increase in violence day by day and the Chorachori Incident (UP) in February 1922 worsened the situation.Chora Chori is a small place in Uter Pradesh (UP) and here what happened was the Congress activist attacked a police station as a part of agitation against the British. The Congress volunteers set a police station on fire and as a result about 21 policemen were burnt alive. There were other violence and due to this increase in violence Gandhi suddenly decided to call off the Non Cooperation movement.

Gandhi, s decision did affect this movement firstly, it was a sudden and individual decision not consulting the Khilafat Movement people because they were working together and suddenly the Non Cooperation Movement was called off which adversely affected the Movement and created distrust between the two groups that were operative at that time. So this was an incident that weakened the movement and they began to diverge or move in different directions.

Developments in Turkey:

3^rd and most significant development relates to Turkey itself, things began to change inTurkey. In 1922 Ataturk who was in the military service in the Ottoman Empire emerged as a national leader. He collected his colleagues and undertook the operation against the occupying foreign forces and he was able to expel the foreign forces which strengthened his position. In Nov, 1922 the new political developments under Ataturk that had developed there restricted the powers of the Sultan.Infact Sultan Abdul-Hamid was replaced by another person, then in October 1922 Ataturk was elected as the head of the state, he was appointed Chief of the state by Grand National Assembly. Turkey became Republic and in March 1924 the Grand National Assembly the parliament of Turkey abolished the institution of Khilafat.In March 1924, Khilafat was abolished. So in a way the very institution for which the Muslims were fighting had been replaced by Turkey’s new leadership that emerged, the present day Turkeythat emerged in 1922.This caused a widespread resentment among the Indian Muslims. They sent delegations to Turkey but failed to achieve their objectives. As the Institution was abolished the movement became weak and disappeared gradually and this is how Khilafat Movement ended.

Conclusions:

It can be concluded as under;

1. It was re-affirmation of the reality that religion is a mobilizing force and especially Islam has mobilization capacity to organize masses.
2. It was the movement launched on the basis of extra-territorialism. Later, no such movement but Pan-Islamic sentiments continued.
3. It resulted in the sufferings of the Muslims
4. Hindu-Muslim unity proved short-lived.
5. Reactivation of the Muslim League and other Muslims organizations to restart their activities as a separate nation.