Constitution Day of Pakistan has been celebrated since 2015. Former chairman Senate, Raza Rabbani, took this initiative to mark 10th of April as our Constitution Day by highlighting the importance of land mark date of 10th April. It is dilemma of our constitutional history that after the span of 42 years, we decided to celebrate our constitution day but better late than never. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was passed by the Parliament on 10th April and ratified on 14th August, 1973.
Americans usually observe
Constitution Day on September 17th, the day in 1787 that delegates
to the Constitutional convention signed the document in Philadelphia. The law
establishing public holiday regarding this day was passed in 2004 with the
passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd[1] to
the Omnibus Spending Bill of 2004. While Indian Constitution Day, also known as
Samvidhan Divas, is celebrated on 26th November of every year to
commemorate the adoption of Constitution of India. Indian government declared
26 November as Indian Constitution Day in 2015, as 2015 marked the 125th
birth anniversary of Ambedkar, who chaired the drafting committee of Indian
Constitution and played a pivotal role in drafting Indian constitution.
I had been teaching the
importance of US constitutional convention of 1787 held at Philadelphia for
past couple of weeks to my students. It had a significant position in US
constitutional history. While on the other hand, importance of Pakistan’s
constitutional convention of 1972 attended by leaders and constitutional
experts of the Islamic political parties, conservative parties, socialist and
communist parties was not part of my legal education as US constitutional
convention was. Thus, it is need of an hour to teach our young law graduates
about our constitutional history in detail.
Since we had been celebrating our
Constitutional day from 2015, it is the responsibility of our Government to
spread awareness regarding it and our Bar associations should also play their
active role in celebrating this day across the country. Last year’s theme of commemoration of
Pakistan’s Constitutional Day was:
“Enhancement of the
role and powers of Senate of Pakistan; to protect the rights of the Federating
units.”
I contacted the officials of
Senate and asked about this year’s theme and they told me that it’s
confidential. Then what is the purpose of celebrating a day when our public do
not have any kind of access to official statements of the state. National
Assembly Speaker, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq issued the statement to celebrate this year
Constitution Day:
“The supremacy of the constitution should be our
ultimate aim because it will guarantee democracy, fundamental rights and
security for each and every citizen of the state.”
To conclude it, I humbly request
our political leadership and legal fraternity to make arrangements to celebrate
Constitution Day in our law schools
and in our Bar associations across the country. These celebrations will help to
appreciate the efforts of the members of constitutional convention of 1972.
This will be an excellent way to commemorate the constitutional history of our
beloved country.
[1]
‘Constitution Day and Citizenship Day’ (LOC.GOV 2017) < https://www.loc.gov/law/help/commemorative-observations/constitution-day.php>
accessed on 10 April 2018
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