Mid term Syllabus

Arts. 1-7, State of Pakistan

Pakistan Legal System

Lecture # 1:
 Critical thinking
 Interdisciplinary approach to law
 Introductory course – we will not look at statutes in depth
 50% of the course would be constitution – constitution is the basic law of the land
 25% of the course – learning about civil cases – what is a petition, how are cases
made? The procedure basically
 25% of the course – learning about the procedure of a criminal case – Pakistan Penal
Code
 Now, moving on to the lecture:
 Learning legal statutes and the constitution
 Articles 1-7, what is a state? Who has authority? What is treason?
 Constitution of Pakistan document
 Article 1 – The Republic and Its Territories (from the document on LMS)

 Islamic Republic of Pakistan – defines the name of the state
 The article also defines that it is to be a federal republic
 This article will describe the territories of Pakistan – law is applicable within a
territory
 Pakistani laws will not be applicable in India, only applicable across a certain area
 This is jurisdiction
 Jurisdiction – territorial and legal jurisdiction
 Article 1 describes territorial jurisdiction, legal is what tells us which court can hear
what type of case
 Kashmir is not included in article 1 as it is an independent land
 If some areas want to be a part of Pakistan, the last point in article 1 provides a
provision for them to become a part of Pakistan legally and constitutionally “Majlis-e-
Shoora”
 From article 1 we understand the name of the state, we understand the territories of
Pakistan, and we understand that Pakistan is a federal state
 The federal part is important
 National liberation and national question
 Article 2 – Islam to be State Religion

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 Does state have rationality? Does state have religion?
 Max Weber – State Theory – says that states have rationality
 What is a state? A state consists of institutions like constitution, judiciary, and
executive
 What is the difference between state and government?
 State is the name of a social contract; government is the body that governs the state
 Preamble of the constitution – the objectives resolution
 1949, Liaquat Ali Khan passed the resolution
 Constituent Assembly was given the role to make the constitution of
Pakistan
 1935 – first representative govt made in India and therefore first constitution
 Saadat Hassan Manto – Dastoor – his writing on the 1935 constitution
 1935 constitution gave some autonomy, but the British were still heavily present
 1942 – resolution of Pakistan (23rd March 1942)
 When Pakistan got independence in 1947, it could not immediately make a new
constitution, so the 1935 constitution was used with some amendments
 Constituent assembly was made, Jinnah gave speech to this assembly and gave them
the authority to make the constitution
 Jinnah’s speech – he was very clear on what the constitution of Pakistan should be
(focus was on secularism)
 1949 – Objectives Resolution passed by Liaquat Ali Khan
 Preamble of 1973 Constitution of Pakistan (the document on LMS), this preamble is
the Objectives Resolution
 In 1954, the constituent assembly was dissolved
 1956 new assembly, in 1958 the govt realised that they cannot win the elections
 1958, martial law
 Martial law continued for 10 years
 in 1973, the new constitution came into being
 Read the Preamble of the Constitution of 1973 – this is the Objectives Resolution
 The preamble says that Allah has authority and people of Pakistan will exercise this
authority
 The people of Pakistan will exercise powers within the prescribed limits
 People will choose their representatives who will exercise this power – this is
called legislature
 “Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice,
as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed”
 Representatives are to exercise their power as prescribed by the principles of Islam
 Islamic rules of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance, and social justice
 Who is going to defines these principles? This is a matter of debate
 What did minorities have to say to Liaquat Ali Khan on the objectives resolution
(OR)?
 Minorities were against the Objectives Resolution
 Objectives Resolution was mainly focused on Islam
 Islam was demanded in Pakistan because people said that Pakistan was made for the
Muslims
 Muslims of Punjab and Bengal demanded Islam
 Pakistani state was not always Islamic, it was liberal and anti-communist in the
beginning – this is not widely written in our history
 Anti-colonial struggles started from 1920, going all the way up to 1947
 Point to be made – Pakistani state was not Islamic at the beginning, it happened
slowly
 Bhutto made the OR the preamble of the constitution and not directly a part of the
constitution, because whatever happens to be a part of the constitution has to be
followed under all circumstances
 Some people said that this was undermining the power of the legislature
 Zia Ul Haq enters Pakistan’s history – Zia picked the preamble of the Constitution and
made it part of Article 2A
 “2A. The principles and provisions set out in the Objectives Resolution
reproduced in the Annex are hereby made substantive part of the Constitution
and shall have effect accordingly”
 Before Zia, the OR was only in the preamble and the preamble is not very significant,
by article 2A, Zia made the OR a substantive part of the constitution
 This was the history of article 2A, now moving to article 3
 Article 3 – Elimination of Exploitation

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 “From each according to his ability to each according to his work.”
 Exploitation is being talked about in economic terms in this article
 Difference between exploitation and suppression? Suppression in social terms,
exploitation in economic terms, you are trying to benefit from someone’s work
 Important note: For exam, you have to study the simple articles only, the rest of the
debates are for learning only, discussions will help in the research paper
 Exploitation – class politics, in economic terms, suppression – social relations
 When women cannot go out alone and freely – that is suppression
 Economic power vs social power
 Nation building project – very important technical term
 New nations were being formed and those nations were coming out of anti-colonial
struggles, the people of these nations were told that British exploit them, if they gain
independence the exploitation will end, this did not happen
 The demand for the new nations was land distribution – land reforms
 Some people were against the new nations’ land distribution – a debate started
 Article 3 was the reflection of the aspirations of the socialists and people of Pakistan
 Feudalist vs socialist
 Article 3 is the definition of socialism
 Article 4 – Right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law, etc.

 Now, the constitution talks about the safety and protection that the state will provide
 The most sacred right in a capitalist system is the right to property
 In the laws of the British, there were 2 major dimensions: revenue collection and law
and order
 Post colonial laws: revenue collection = property and law and order = life
 Company – legal entity, artificial person
 What is the difference between a natural person and an artificial person? Human
beings are thinkers, corporations are not
 This article states that we can do everything except that which is not allowed by the
law (b)
 The Law consists of many don’t dos
 Article 4 is about protection of law
 Modern nation state – the constitution is made for a modern nation state
 What is modern nation state? It is the product of capitalism
 Rational, self-interested, individual – form the basis of every theory
 Thomas Hobbes – writer who talks about social contract theory
 Social contract theory – all individuals submit to the state by means of a social
contract
 Thomas Hobbes and John Locke – provide theory for the modern nation state
 Is nation an imagined community or a concrete thing? Nation is imagined
 When colonizers, the British, were leaving, people imagined a nation, this was the
nation-building project
 Internal colonization – India and Pakistan wanted to create nations and started
occupying different lands
 Continuity of colonisation – neocolonialism
 Postcolonial confusion – different ideas and contestation
 Postcolonial theory – in the 1970’s, there was realisation that there is actually no
freedom
 Article 5 – Loyalty to State and obedience to Constitution and law
 
 Article 6 – High Treason
 This article tells us what happens if a person is not loyal to the state and does
something unconstitutional
 Parliament – makes the constitution, judiciary – interprets the constitution
 Two important concepts: supremacy of the legislature and supremacy of the
constitution
 Whatever law or act the parliament makes, the judiciary has the right to judicial
review to see whether the act is valid or not according to the constitution
 The current constitution was made in 1973 and has lived for more than 50 years in
Pakistan

Lecture # 2:
 Article 7
 Understand the difference between the government and the state
 Basically, a government is that which can impose tax on you
 Tax related legislations can only be imposed in the National Assembly
 Any bill can be initiated in both the Senate and the National Assembly
 Now, moving to Fundamental Rights (Chapter 1) of the constitution
 Fundamental rights – most imp part of the constitution
 Fundamental rights are binding – your liberty, property, freedom etc.
 Articles 8-28
 Article 8 – Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of Fundamental Rights to be
void
 Law – means written law, custom – not written but a common practice
 If any fundamental right is being infringed by a written law or by any custom, then
these laws will be declared as invalid
 Fundamental rights are so important that any laws going against them would be null
and void
 For example, if a law is made that no student under the age of 25 can have a twitter
account, the law will be invalid because individuals have a right to freedom of
expression, so the law can be contested in courts
 In article 8, the constitution says that if there is any such law that infringes upon the
rights of people, then that law can be contested in courts and taken down
 Article 8 highlights that there are certain rights that are not applicable to the armed
forces and the police because their duties are that of maintenance of public order
 For example, police officers cannot be a part of unions and organise strikes
 If any law exists that is against fundamental rights, that law will be suspended
 If there is made a new law that is against any fundamental right, then that law will be
invalid
 These fundamental rights cannot be suspended unless a person has acted beyond the
limits of the constitution, article 8(5)
 Article 8(5) says that fundamental rights are subject to limitations according to the
constitution, if you act beyond these limits then you cannot exercise your rights
 Chapter 1 talks about the rights, article 8 describes the importance of these rights
 Human rights basis is on individualism and freedom
 French Revolution – initiated the idea of equality and freedom, labourers went against
feudalism
 Human rights are individual in nature
 Human rights were followed by civil liberties
 Civil liberties are basically political rights – right to form a political party, right to
enter unions etc.
 Civil liberties wishes to establish democracies
 Social democracy period emerged after this, and so social rights came into being
 Human rights – are based on the constitution
 Political rights – based on political movements
 Social rights – based on social movements
 Article 8 is very important because it allows any individual to invoke article 8 when
any laws infringes upon their rights
 Article 9 – Security of person
 Article 8 was about importance of the rights, what these rights are? These rights are
explained article 9 onwards
 Article 9 – right to life and liberty (no except and but in this article)
 These rights exist, but are we actually free? “Freedom is the last thing which you are
going to get” – Rosseau, from the book called Social Contract
 Right to life – does not simply mean existing, it means living freely and fully – right
to life wide interpretation in Shehla Zia v Wapda
 Article 10 – Safeguards as to arrest and detention
 This is a very important article
 Article 10 is about arrest, detention, torture
 Article 10, lists down all of the protocols of arrest
 If you are arrested, then you must be informed of the reason for arrest or the charges
you have against you
 Second, arrested person must have access to a lawyer
 Third, the arrested person must be taken before the magistrate within a period of 24
hours
 When the arrested person is taken to the magistrate, the bail and remand can be
contested
 Remand – judicial custody
 In police terms, “remand” refers to the process of keeping a suspect or accused
person in custody while awaiting trial or further court proceedings. This occurs
after an initial court appearance where the judge decides that the person should
not be released on bail due to various reasons
 Physical remand – arrested person will be kept in a lock up and will be asked
questions
 Pre-arrest bail – when you know a case has been registered against you
 Individuals have a right to unlawful arrest and detention
 Read article 10 completely for exam
 Preventive detention cases must be taken to a review board
 Preventive detention means you are detained because of political reasons
 If a person is suspected to be an enemy or acting against the country, then the
preventive detention simple rules do not apply
 Summary of powers given by article 10: you cannot be arrested without being given
the reason for arrest, you will have access to a lawyer, you must be taken before a
magistrate within 24 hours period
 Furthermore, article 10 talks about the right to fair trial (this is a fairly recent
provision that has been added – Bhutto was not given a fair trial, Imran Khan is being
trialled in the jail – these are all violations of article 10)
 These rights are similar to the Miranda Rights in the USA
 Article 11 – Slavery, forced labour, etc., prohibited
 Slavery is forbidden
 Trafficking of human beings and forced labour is prohibited
 Forced labour – the government cannot force you to do any work
 Sex workers – human trafficking
 No child under the age of 14 will work
 Article states that forced labour can be taken under 2 circumstances:
 If it is for punishment sake (in prison, some people are told to do work as well as part
of their punishment)
 Forced labour can be taken if there is a public purpose behind it (public purpose is not
defined explicitly)
 However, the article cites that even under these 2 exceptions, the work must not be of
cruel nature
 Article 12 - Protection against retrospective punishment
 Prospective vs retrospective
 Retrospective means “before”
 If you committed an act and at that time when you committed it, it was not illegal, but
let’s assume that the act is illegal later, you cannot be punished in retrospect
 You cannot be punished for an act that you committed earlier, and which was not
illegal at the time when you committed it
 Prospective – you declare that acts conducted in the future will be illegal
 Punishment is applicable on both acts and omission
 Act – you do or commit something, omission – you were required to do something,
but you did not perform the act
 Something which was supposed to be done legally but you did not do it – omission
 Most of the crimes are illegal acts, what is legally required but is not done is omission
 Retrospective punishment cannot be applied to either acts or omissions
 Skip article 12(2)
 Article 13 - Protection against double punishment and self incrimination
 You cannot be punished for the same crime twice – double punishment
 No one shall have to be witness against himself – self incrimination
 Burden of proof is on the petitioner (person who brings case to court) in case of civil
cases
  Burden of proof is on the prosecutor (accused) in criminal cases
 In criminal cases, state is the other party, it is the job of the state to punish you
 If an accused is being released, then that is fine, but if an innocent is being imprisoned
then that is harmful for the society, “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that
one innocent suffer.”
 Article 14 - Inviolability of dignity of man, etc.
 Dignity of man and privacy of home
 Arrest, detention, and then torture – this is the order followed
 Article 14 provides protection that any evidence that is gathered through torture will
be inadmissible in court
 Retracted confession – will be invalid in court
 Evidence gathered through torture will be invalid
 Law is the only restraint against power and abuse of power – one theory
 Instrumental theory of law – another theory by Marxists – law is an instrument in the
hands of the elite
 Moving to presentations:
 Quaid-e-Azam’s speech
 He mainly focused on the fact that Pakistan is to be a secular state – people can follow
whichever religion they want to
 A secular state is a country where the government is separate from any religious
institutions. This means that the government does not promote or favour any religion
and makes decisions based on laws and policies that are independent of religious
beliefs. In a secular state, people are free to practice any religion or no religion at all,
and religious groups do not have special influence over the government.
 Jinnah’s speech – few parts of his speech have been translated into articles and added
into the constitution
 Jinnah’s speech – focus on secularism, Objectives Resolution – focus on Islam

Lecture # 3:
 Article 15 - Freedom of movement, etc.
 For example, certain politicians are not allowed to come to Islamabad – this is
infringement on the right of freedom of movement
 According to article 15, Pakistanis can settle in any part of Pakistan – Pashtuns are not
allowed to settle in Sindh, Sindhis are against this – this is also a violation of article
15
 “Subject to any reasonable restriction imposed by law in the public interest” –
reasonable restrictions here are the limits to the freedoms of article 15
 Reasonable restrictions are usually for defence purposes – example of Cantt, freedom
of movement is restricted there but it is for security purposes
 Gwadar, many layers of entry there, locals became aliens in their own territory,
restricted freedom of movement
 Article 16 - Freedom of assembly
 You can assemble peacefully and without any arms
 Article 17 - Freedom of association
 This is related to forming political parties or unions, for example trade unions and
student unions
 Concept of social mobility
 1984 – student unions were banned in Pakistan; this was a judicial ban and not a
legislative ban
 Research essay topic: student union ban and reasons etc.
 This article says that every citizen can be a part of the political party except those
people that are within the service of Pakistan, for example those in bureaucracy
 You can form or join a political party, but if govt thinks that
 Constitution is the mother of laws – constitution gives the rights, how to access these
rights? They are given in acts of parliament and other legal statutes
 Every article of the constitution is giving birth to acts of parliament
 Political parties must inform from where they are sourcing funds for their parties,
these must be lawful means
 Article 18 - Freedom of trade, business, or profession
 This article provides the freedom to choose and enter into any lawful profession
 This article is subject to certain limits:
 “The regulation of any trade or profession by a licensing system” – this means that
regulatory bodies can exist for various professions, for example PEMRA is a
regulatory body related to the media industry
 Important concept for article 18 – “non-interventionist state” – state has nothing to do
with business, very little intervention by the state
 When you enter into a social contract with a state, there are 2 assumptions about the
liberal state:
 Liberal state – separation of state and civil society, separation of political from the
economic
 This is the ideal situation, but in Pakistan, this does not happen, the state does
interfere
 Article 18 can be invoked for business free from state intervention, even the
limitations that are there are not to hinder business but to support it
 Article 19 - Freedom of speech, etc.
 Freedom of speech and freedom of press
 Ban on twitter, infringement on this right of freedom of speech
 Research essay topic: importance of written code in Pakistan, given that there are bans
on student unions, there is infringement on right of privacy (surveillance, we are
continuously being watched), and infringement on the right to freedom of speech
 Freedom of speech – limitations imposed here as well, “subject to any reasonable
restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity,
security or defence of Pakistan”, glory of Islam means there must be no blasphemous
content
 Law is a balancing act – rights always come with limitations
 Two main theories of law:
 Instrumental theory of law – law is an instrument in the hands of the elite
 Relative autonomy theory of law – when we are in trouble, it is the law that will save
us
 Freedom of speech is highly restricted by the constitution
 Every right is giving birth to many statutes
 Right to information – part of article 19 – public can request for state documents
 Article 20 - Freedom to profess religion and to manage religious institutions
 You may choose any religion that you want to and build related religious institutions,
example churches, temples, mosques etc.
 Article 21 - Safeguard against taxation for purposes of any particular religion
 Safeguard against tax, religious taxes cannot be imposed, example Zakat, can only be
demanded from Muslims, not can there be tax concessions based on religion, for
example Muslims cannot be asked to pay lesser tax
 Article 22 - Safeguards as to educational institutions in respect of religion, etc.
 You cannot impose any religious teachings on anybody else, admissions cannot be
denied on the basis of religion, no religious discrimination
 Article 23 - Provision as to property
 This is a very important article, property rights
 Article 24 - Protection of property rights
 Details of property rights, when can property be taken away from you, read this article
yourself
 Article 25 - Equality of citizens
 All citizens are equal before the eyes of the law
 Free education till the age of 16 years – right to education
 Article 26 - Non-discrimination in respect of access to public places
 Everyone should have access to public spaces, public spaces are slowly being taken
away from us, example in Bahria Town, lower class people such as servants are not
allowed to sit in parks
 Articles 27 and 28
 Read articles 20-28 yourself in detail
 Now, moving to research essay guidelines:
 Choose any topic related to political, legal, social discussions etc.
 Map out the idea in one page – submit this on 2nd June
 There will be a list of topics, you can choose from that as well
 Next, Literature Review – look at work that has already been done related to your
topic, search for keywords, example religious discrimination, blasphemy laws, these
are all keywords
 Use Google Scholar
 Literature Review – Secondary Research – due 8th June
 Interviews, surveys, legal cases – these are primary sources of research
 Lit Review is mostly about scanning and not reading entire articles – read abstracts of
articles and not entire article
 Look at the footnotes of these articles as well, from there you will be able to find
other relevant articles as well
 Books, articles, reports etc.
 There is no limit to lit review, you can do till when you are satisfied with the list of
sources
 From the entire lit review, let’s assume you find 5 books and 20 articles
 From these, make an:
 A list – most relevant
  B list – least relevant
 C list – may be relevant
 Annotations – you extract important points from each article and cite the article, these
are notes of articles you shortlisted
 Annotated bibliography – 16 June (5%)
 Now, you have reviewed existing work and realise the research gap, you may now do
field work such as surveys and interviews (but this is not required)
 First draft of paper – 6th July (5%)
 Presentation of paper – 9th, 10th, 11th July (10%)
 Final paper – 15th July (30%)
 Final paper and first draft – 3000 words
 Mid term – 13th June
 Presentations:
 Objectives Resolution (OR) and Liaquat Ali Khan’s Speech
 Non-Muslims did not support the OR, it was too Islam centric
 Chandra Mandal Speech
 This speech was against the OR, said that constitution should be secular and not
religious

Lecture # 4:
 We are moving to articles 41-63 that are concerned with legislature (skip articles 29-
40)
 Legislature consists of President, National Assembly, and Senate
 Article 41 – the President
 President + Parliament = Federation
 Parliament = NA + Senate (both houses)
 President gives oath to Chief Justice
 PM/Cabinet = Government
 Resignation of President = Speaker of NA
 If President is not in office, then Chairman Senate would be working in his place
 President – head of state, PM – head of govt. (very important)
 President is for all people, PM is elected through his own party
 President must be a Muslim, he must be no less than 45 years of age, and he must be
member of NA
 Provincial Assembly and National Assembly both vote for the President
 If one term for a President is expiring, the new elections must be held within 30 days
 If position of President is vacant then the position must be filled within 30 days
 The validity of the Presidential elections cannot be challenged in courts
 Article 42 - Oath of President
 Article 43 - Conditions of President’s office
 You have become the President, now what are the conditions?
 The President cannot have any other governmental job from where he gains his salary
 Article 44 - Term of office of President
 President will hold office for 5 years, but if for some reason the next President cannot
come, then the President can hold office until the next President joins
 No president can hold office for more than two consecutive terms
 If President wishes to resign, he must resign to the speaker of the National Assembly,
because he took oath from the speaker of the NA as well
 Article 45 - President’s power to grant pardon, etc.
 Article 46 - President to be kept informed
 Article 46 is repeated again and again in the constitution in different words
 The position of President is a very ceremonial position, in reality there are no real
powers
 President usually works on the advice of the PM, so there are no real powers, PM has
the most power
 Presidential system vs Parliamentary system (President powers vs PM powers)
 President must be kept informed, but the govt will be taking the real decisions
 Article 47 – Removal [or impeachment] of President
 Physical or mental incapacity, then the President can be removed
 Impeachment – this is when the President has done some misconduct against the
Constitution
 Either half members of the Senate or half members of the NA request for the
President to be removed, then it is a request for impeachment
 President – has symbolic importance, is a symbol of unity for a nation, so
impeachment of President is very serious
 For impeachment of President – write to the speaker of NA or to the chairman of NA,
must be a written notice that the house (Senate or NA) requests for impeachment of
President
 Within 3 days, the notice of impeachment will be sent to the President
 Joint sitting – discussion on the misconduct of the President
 Senate v NA – National Assembly members are directly elected by the people; Senate
is indirect election – Senate usually consists of elite and educated people
 Both Senate and NA have equal powers, but only the NA can impose taxation
 For President elections, both houses (NA and Senate) + provincial assemblies vote
 Article 47(7) gives President the right to appear in front of the investigation bodies
 2/3 of the total members (of both Senate and NA) should vote against the President
for him to be impeached, one half of either senate or NA can initiate the request but
majority must vote for impeachment
 Article 48 - President to act on advice, etc.
 PM – head of government, government is ministry/cabinet
 President acts on the advice of PM or cabinet
 President needs to act on the advice of the cabinet within 15 days
 President must act on the advice of the cabinet/PM, but the constitution also gives the
President the right to act on his own on some matters as well
 The advice provided to the President by the PM cannot be contested in courts
 Article 48(6) gives the President the power of referendum
 A referendum is a way for people to vote directly on a specific issue or question.
Instead of elected officials making the decision, everyone who is eligible to vote can
have their say. Foe example, Zia initiated a referendum to ask people whether they
wanted him to stay in office
 Chapter 2 – Majlis-Shoora
 Article 50 – Parliament – President is a part of the parliament
 Article 51 – National Assembly
 Remember the qualifications of the voters:


 Punjab has the greatest number of seats in the National Assembly
 60 seats are reserved for women
 10 seats are reserved for non-Muslims
 Reserved seats are allocated based on proportion
 Parties have non-Muslim people, so they extend seats to them then (which is how
non-Muslim representation takes place)
 PPP has Hindu leaders for example
 Seats in NA are based on population, which is why Punjab has the highest number of
seats
 How to elect members of the National Assembly? Article 51(6)
 Members of the NA must be elected directly
 Women seats will be divided on the basis of provinces
 An Independent candidate must join a political party within 3 days and then the
reserved seats will be given to the parties, proportional representation happens on the
basis of parties (read up on what happened with PTI during this election)
 Proportional representation – based on number of votes you receive a proportionate
role in the government, more votes means you get a greater role in the government
 Article 52 - Duration of National Assembly
 The NA will last for 5 years from the day of its meeting
 Article 53 - Speaker and Deputy Speaker of National Assembly
 The first thing that the assembly has to do is to elect the speaker and deputy speaker
 If speaker is absent, then the deputy speaker must take over
 The speaker, if he wishes to resign, then he must give his resignation to the President
 If deputy speaker wishes to resign then he must submit resignation to the speaker
 Speaker seat can be vacant if:


 If the NA is dissolved, then the speaker will still continue till the next assembly comes
into office
 Article 54 - Summoning and prorogation of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)
 Who can call the meetings of the NA? The President can call meetings of the NA
 There must be 3 sessions of the NA every year
 The gap between two sessions must not be more than 120 days (4 months)
 If members wish to summon the NA, then 1/4 of the members at least must write to
the speaker to call a meeting
 Article 55 - Voting in Assembly and quorum
 Decisions of the NA, majority votes of those present will be counted
 Speaker of the assembly cannot vote unless there is a tie, then he can vote for a
decision to break the tie
 Article 55(2) – 1/4th members of the NA must be present for the meeting to continue
(quorum)
 Such a meeting where there are not enough members of the NA will be suspended
until there are at least 1/4th members present
 Article 56 - Address by President
 President may send a notice to both houses (senate and NA) that he wishes to address
them
 The President can also send a notice to the houses that there is a bill that is pending
and that they must look into it
 Once the NA has been established and the speaker has been elected, the President will
come to address the NA and the Senate (this is mandatory)
 Article 57 - Right to speak in [Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)]
 Article 58 - Dissolution of National Assembly (important)
 PM is elected by the parliament, PM feels that he has lost his power and confidence,
vote of no confidence initiated, but if the vote of no confidence has not yet been
initiated and the PM knows that he has lost confidence, then he may advise to the
President to dissolve the NA
 If the vote of no confidence has been initiated against the PM, then the NA cannot be
dissolved
 If PM advises the President to dissolve the NA, then the NA can be dissolved within
48 hours, provided that vote of no confidence has not yet been initiated against the
PM
 If vote of no confidence has been passed, and a second PM cannot be elected because
there are no majority votes, then the NA can be dissolved on the discretion of the
President
 Vote of no confidence has to be initiated secretly
 There used to be article 58(2)(b) in the Constitution where if the President feels that
the govt is not being run properly, he could dissolve the NA, this was removed by the
18th amendment
 When 58(2)(b) was in the constitution and if President dissolved the NA, then the
courts would look at the case and see if it was justified, but all in all this gave the
President too much power
 Pakistan’s judiciary is highly politicised, although judiciary and politics should be
separate
Lecture # 5:
 Article 59 – the Senate
 104 members written in document, but there are total 96 members now (updated)
 14 from each provincial assembly (14 x 4)
 Every province will also send 4 women for the Senate
 How will they be elected? Proportional representation
 The Senate is never dissolved
 A term of 6 years for the Senate
 Article 60 - Chairman and Deputy Chairman
 Elect the two in the first meeting of the Senate
 Article 61 - Other provisions relating to Senate
 These provisions are the same as that of members of the NA
 Article 62 - Qualifications for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)
 62(1)(d) onwards are questionable qualifications, related to Islamic teachings
 (d) and (e) is specifically about Islamic provisions, these will not apply to non-
Muslims
 Article 63 - Disqualifications for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora
(Parliament)
 This was the article that was used against Nawaz for Panama Leaks
 Disqualified if person is of unsound mind
 Undischarged insolvent – when someone has to return money to the government
or any other body
 One cannot become a MNA if they have citizenship of another country (dual
citizenship)
 The person should not have any other govt job
 Azad Jammu Kashmir residents cannot become MNA
 One will be disqualified if they have ridiculed the judiciary or any other armed
forces of Pakistan
 1(g) was used against Yusuf Raza Gillani
 If anybody has been removed on the basis of misconduct from the service of
Pakistan, he cannot become MNA either
 Skip the rest, move to (m)
 If a person has not repaid his loan, even then he will be disqualified
 Speaker of the NA or Chairman will write to the election commission of Pakistan
within 30 days once it is known that an MNA or MPA is to be disqualified, within
90 days the election commission must make their decision
 Article 63(A) - Disqualification on grounds of defection, etc.
 Article 64 – Vacation of seats
 As a member of the NA, you have to resign to the Speaker
 If a member is absent for 40 days, seat is automatically declared as vacant
 Article 66 - Privileges of members, etc.
 This is very important article, because it gives the members to talk about anything
within the Parliament, whatever you say cannot be actionable in court, this is
important because this is what gives legislature its power
  The Parliament can summon any individual that they wish to call for investigation
or for evidence, if the individual refuses that can be punishable
 Skip article 67
 Article 68 - Restriction on discussion in Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)
 The parliament cannot make any comments on the conduct of the judges in the
courts, you can only comment on the decisions made by the courts
 Supreme judicial council – responsible for looking after the conduct of the judges,
Parliament is not for that
 Separation of Powers concept

Lecture # 6:
 Starting with legislative procedure
 Article 70 onwards
 Article 70 - Introduction and passing of Bills
 “May originate in either house” – NA or Senate
 There are some subjects of legislation that are made by Na or Senate and then there
are some matters that are dealt with provisional assemblies (look at the fourth
schedule in the constitution, this shows federal legislative lists and provincial lists)
 First point of legislation – can be originated in either house of the Parliament
 Second step, once the legislation has been approved in the house in which it was
originated, it will be passed to the other house (if started in NA, then will be passed
on to Senate, if started in Senate, will be passed on to NA)
 If amendments from the other house are suggested, the bill is sent back to the house
where it was originated for amendments
 After both houses approve, the bill will be passed to President to offer approval
 If the house which originated the bill refuses to make amendments within 90 days,
then the bill will be considered in a joint sitting by both houses and if majority of the
members present approve the bill, then the bill goes to the President
 Article 71 is omitted
 Article 72 - Procedure at joint sittings
 Article 73 - Procedure with respect to Money Bills
 Restriction, money bills will only be originated in the NA – the logic for this is that
the NA consists of people who are directly elected, and so only they have the
authority to tax people
 The money bills can be passed on to the Senate for recommendations, but it will only
be originated within the NA, exclusive power of NA, Senate only discusses money
bills
 The recommendations of the Senate may or may not be incorporated by NA, and bill
will be passed on to President
 There may be a dispute whether a bill is a money bill or not, which is why article
73(2) deals with the definition of a money bill
 “For the purposes of this Chapter, a Bill or amendment shall be deemed to be a
Money Bill if it contains provisions dealing with all or any of the following matters,
namely:” (look at list (a)-(g))
 Tax related bills are money bills
 Two most important aspects of the definition of money bills are: how to collect tax
and how to keep tax money
 Article 73(3) states what is NOT a money bill – fines, fees etc are not money bills
 If there is dispute whether a bill is a money bill or not, then the speaker of the NA will
decide what is final
 The decision of the speaker of the NA will stand unchallenged – if courts cannot
intervene in most things, then what is the power of the judiciary? Class discussion on
judicial review
 Punishment can be of two kinds – retributive (revenge) and preventive (for others as a
lesson)
 A bill should not go against any fundamental rights, if it does then judicial review
comes into play – courts mostly do not scrap the entire bill or act, they usually suggest
amendments
 So, in short, judiciary does have power on every bill
 Article 74 - Federal Government’s consent required for financial measures (skip)
 Article 75 – important
 Article 75 - President’s assent to Bills
 This article shows that in case of a money bill, whatever the NA says is final, the
President cannot suggest any changes
 If President gives some recommendations when the bill is sent to him for assent, then
both houses will sit in a joint sitting and consider those amendments and then move
the bill back to the President
 The President must assent the bill in 10 days, and failure to do so means that the bill
has been passed to become an act of parliament
 When the President’s assent is received (or assumed after 10 days), the bill becomes
an act of parliament
 Bills cannot be contested in courts, only acts of parliament can be contested
 Article 76 – important
 Article 76 - Bill not to lapse on prorogation, etc.
 A bill passed by NA and then moved to the Senate for review, and in the meantime the
NA is dissolved, then the bill will lapse – why? Because the house which made the
bill no longer exists and so after Senate review, the bill had to go back to that house
but there is no house in which it can go to