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[REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF CITIZENS OF PAKISTAN AND ON MATTERS RELATING TO MINORITIES: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN-22ND DECEMBER, 1952.]
ΤΟ:
THE PRESIDENT,
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN.
On behalf of the “Committee on Fundamental Rights of Citizens of Pakistan and on Matters relating to Minorities" I have the honor to submit this the Final Report on Fundamental Rights and on matters relating to minorities.
The Committee was constituted by the following Resolution which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly at its meeting held on the 12th August, 1947:
"That this Assembly resolves that a Committee consisting of the President and the following members, namely:
The Honorable Sardar Abdur Rob Khan Nishtar,
Dr. Muhammed Husain,
Mr. Bhim Sen Sachar,
The Honorable Mr. M.A. Khuhro,
Sheikh Karamat Ali,
Prof. Rajkumar Chakraverty,
The Honorable Mr. Ghazanfar Ali Khan.
Mr. Prem Hari Barma,
The Honorable Mr. Fazlur Rahman,
Begum Shah Nawaz,
Mr Birat Chandra Mandal,
Dr. Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi,
Mr. Abul Kasem Khan.
The Honorable Mr. Jogendra Nath Mandal and the mover, be appointed to advise this Assembly on fundamental rights of citizens of Pakistan and on matters relating to the minorities with power to President to nominate not more than seven other members who need not be Members of the Constituent Assembly".
The President, in exercise of the power conferred by the Resolution, subsequently nominated the following persons as Members of the Committee:
1. Mr. C. E. Gibbon,
2. Diwan Bahadur S.P. Singha,
3. The Hon'bie Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan,
4. Mr. Jamshed Nusserwanjee Mehta,
5. Chaudhuri Nazir Ahmad Khan,
6. His Excelleney Khwaja Shahabuddin, and
7. Babu Phani Bhushan Barua.
APPOINTMENTS TO CASUAL VACANCIES
Later on the Honorable Khan Sardar Bahadur Khan and Qazi Muhammad Isa were appointed by the President under Rule 70 of the Constituent Assembly Rules of Procedure vice Mr. Ghazanfar Ali Khan and Mr. Bhim Sen Sachar, who resigned their seats in the Assembly and ceased to be members of the Committee under Rule 71-A. (2). In November 1949, Mr. Rallia Ram was appointed by the president in the vacancy caused by the death of Dewan Bahadur S.P. Singha.
The Honorable Khwaja Nazimuddin and Captain Syed Abid Hussain were appointed in the vacancies caused by the demise of Khan Liaquat Ali Khan and Sheikh Karamat Ali.
The Honorable Dr. A.M. Malik and Mr. Yahiya Bakhtiar were appointed vice His Excellency Khwaja Shahabuddin and Qazi Muhammad Isa, who resigned their membership of the Committee.
VICE CHAIRMAN
The Committee had elected the late Quaid-e-Millat Khan Liaquat Ali Khan as Vice-Chairman of the Committee but after his death it was not considered necessary to elect any other person as Vice Chairman.
PROCEDURE AND WORK OF THE COMMITTEE
The Sub-Committees:— The Committee at its first meeting held on the 26th May, 1948, appointed the following two Sub-Committees to deal separately with matters which their names indicate:
(1) Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights of citizen of Pakistan; and
(2) Sub-Committee on matters relating to Minorities.
Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights.-In respect of matters dealt with by the former Sub-Committee the Committee presented its Interim Report on Fundamental Rights of Citizens of Pakistan to the Constituent Assembly which was adopted the same of the 6th October, 1950.
This Report is the final report of the Committee and deals with additional fundamental rights and with the safeguards for minorities. Sub-Committee on matters relating to Minorities.- As already stated matters relating to minorities had been referred to the Second Sub-Committee. That SubCommittee issued the following questionnaire to important individuals and organizations in the country with a view to ascertaining the views of the Public.
QUESTIONNAIRE
(1)What should be the political safeguards of a minority
(a) in the Centre, and
(b) in the Province?
(2)What should be the economic safeguards of a minority
(a) in the Centre, and
(b) in the Province?
(3) What safeguards should be provided for a minority with regard to matter
(a) religious,
(b) educational, and
(c) social and cultural?
(4) What methods are suggested to make the safeguards effective?
(5) Should any of the safeguards be eliminated later, and if so, how, when and under what circumstances?
(6) Any other remarks or suggestions with regard to safeguard for a minority.
The views received from the public were circulated to the members of the SubCommittee in a consolidated form and subsequently, the members of the Sub-Committee made their own suggestions in respect of the various kinds of electorate and in view of the great importance of the question it decided to refer it to this Committee. The Committee fully discussed the question and came to the conclusion that with a view to ensuring real representation to all communities, particularly the minorities, it should recommend to the Assembly the adoption of the system of separate electorate. Its recommendation on this point is contained in Article I of Part I of the Annexure. It further decided that, in the interest of expeditions completion of work, the SubCommittee on matters relating to Minorities be dissolved and that the work pending before it should be disposed of by this Committee. Accordingly all matters in the nature of special provisions and safeguards for minorities were considered by this Committee.
The Committee's recommendations are in three parts:
PART I- Deals with Safeguards of minorities. PARTII- Contains
PART II- Contains additional Fundamental Rights.
PART III- Gives additional directive principles of State Policy
. The Committee has taken into consideration all the suggestions which had been made in the Sub-Committee on matters relating to Minorities as well as our suggestions made before this Committee and has after careful consideration and through deliberation arrived at the conclusions which are given in the Annexure and which the committee recommends to the Assembly for acceptance.
The Committee has authorized me to place on record their appreciation of the valuable assistance which the members of the Committee received from Mr. K. Ali Afzal, Joint Secretary of the Constituent Assembly, and the members of the Staff of the Constituent Assembly Secretariat who were associated with the work of the Committee.
ANNEXURE
RECOMMENDATIONS
PARTI
SAFEGUARDS FOR MINORITIES
The following safeguards should be provided for the Minority Communities of Pakistan:
1. Representation in the Legislatures.- The Minority Communities of Pakistan specified below shall be represented in the Central Legislature and the Legislatures of the federating Units of Pakistan through separate electorates for everyone of them:
Scheduled Castes,
Hindus other than Scheduled Castes,
Buddhists, and
Pakistani Christians including Anglo-Pakistani Christians:
Provided that the question whether any community in view of its small number is or is not entitled to be represented in a particular Legislature and the quantum of representation for such a community is a matter to be determined by the Franchise Committee.
2. Safeguards for language, etc.- Any minority residing in the territory of Pakistan or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall not be prevented from conserving the same.
3. Safeguards in respect of educational institutions. - The State shall not, in granting aid to educational institutions, discriminate against any educational institution merely on the ground that it is mainly maintained by a religious minority.
4. Portfolios for Minority Affairs:— There shall be a Minister for Minority Affairs both at the Centre and in the Provinces to look after the interests of the minorities and to see that the safeguards provided in the Constitution for the minorities are duly observed.PART II
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
To the Fundamental Rights already adopted by the Constituent Assembly, the following Articles may be added:
1. No discrimination in admission to educational institutions. No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution wholly maintained by the State on the ground only of religion, race or caste:
Provided that nothing in this Article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially or educationally backward class of citizens.
2. Safeguards against discrimination of religious institutions in taxes:— There shall be no discrimination against any community in the matter of exemption from or concessions of taxes granted with respect to religious institutions.
PART III
DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY
The following may be provided as Directive Principles of State Policy:
1. Protection to places of worship, etc:—Protection shall accord to all duly established places of worship, burial and disposal of the dead.
2. Promotion of educational and economic interests:— The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the backward classes and, in particular, of the scheduled castes and the people of the Tribal Areas.
TAMIZUDDIN KHAN
ZAFRULLA KHAN
A.R. NISHTAR
FAZLUR RAHMAN
ΥΑΗΥΑ ΒΑΚΗΤΙΑR
PHANI BHUSHAN BARUA
JAMSHED NUSSERWANJEE
C. E. GIBBON
*RAJKUMAR CHAKRAWERTY
*PREMHARI BARMA
ABID HUSSAIN
M. A. KHUHIRO
*BIRAT CHANDRA MANDAL
I. H. QURESHI
MAHMUD HUSAIN
A.K. KHAN
J. A. SHAH NAWAZ
B.L. RALLIA RAM
K. ALI AFZAL,
Secretary to the Committee.
22nd May, 1952.
£Note of Dissent
We strongly dissent from the decision of the majority that the Caste Hindus, the Scheduled Castes, the Buddhists and the Pakistani Christians should have separate electorates in the constitution of Pakistan. This is good neither for any of the above sections of the public nor for the State. While during the British rule there were two divisions among the people, now in their place there will be at least five divisions. Members elected by such separate electorates are likely to have sectional and communal outlook which will impair the unity among the different communities and the solidarity of the State. Such electorates will cause a perpetual communal majority and communal minority, most unsuitable for a democratic country as also for the freedom, growth and self-expression of its component pans. Under separate electorates, the minorities will live under permanent sense of insecurity and inferiority, as they will feel that they live on sufferance. We are in favor of a joint and common electorate for all sections of the people with reservation of seats for a limited period for the backward classes like the Scheduled castes, Buddhists and others. All separate electorates, whether for a limited period or otherwise, should be given up.
*Subject to Notes of Dissent.
N.B.-Signatures of the Honorable Khan Sardar Bahadur Khan and Chaudhuri Na2ir Ahmed Khan could not be obtained up to the time the Report was sent to press.
£This Note of dissent was tendered soon after the meeting held on 22nd April 1952 and it was circulated to members along with the draft report of the Committee containing the recommendation. Mr. C. E. Gibbon, a representative of the Pakistani Christians including Anglo-Pakistanis, and Mr. Phani Bhushn Barua, a representative of the Buddhists, dissociated them from the Note of dissent and appealed to the members Concerned to withdraw their Note of Dissent. This, they further explained, they were doing as they were not member of the Constituent Assembly and as such may not get an opportunity to express their views on it.Note of Dissent
We sign this report subject to this note of dissent. We consider the safeguards for the minorities, embodied above, are inadequate.
1. There should have been recommendation giving due weight age to the minorities in (a) all Legislatures, Central and Provincial, and in (b) Services, both in the Central and Provinces. In pre-partition days under a system of separate electorates, the Muslim minority enjoyed such weight age. (Wide the Lucknow Pact, the Communal Award and the Government of India Act, 1935).
2. There should have been a recommendation that there should be in some part of the Constitution or the Schedule an exhortation to the Central and Provincial Governments to keep in view the claims of the minorities in the formation of the Cabinet, as it can be found in paragraph VII of the Instrument of Instructions issued to the Governors under the Government of India Act, 1935, and reproduced below:
"VII. In making appointments to his Council of Ministers our Governor shall use his best endeavors to select his Ministers in the following manner, that is to say, to appoint in consultation with the person who in his judgment most likely to command a stable majority in the Legislature those persons (including so far as practicable members of important minority communities) who will best be in a position collectively to command the confidence of the Legislature. In so acting, he shall bear constantly in mind the need for fostering a sense of joint responsibility among his Ministers."
3. There should have been a recommendation that no Bill or Resolution or any part thereof which operates against the interests of the minorities shall be passed in any Legislature if three-fourths of the minority representatives in that Legislature oppose such Bill or Resolution or part thereof on the ground that it would be injurious to the religious, cultural or social interests of the minorities. In pre-partition India the Quaid-e-Azam claimed such a right for the Muslim minority.
We beg to add with a view to safeguards for the minorities, it was proposed by us in a meeting of the Committee that there should also be a recommendation that “no Bill, unless it is supported by three-fourths majority should be moved in the Legislature which adversely affects any of the Safeguards provided for the minorities in the Constitution." The Committee did not vote it down, but opined that the matter might be more appropriately considered when we consider the provisions for the amendment of the Constitution. We hope and trust, it will receive due consideration.