Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, wanted a country for Muslims of the sub-continent which, according to him, will be democratic and its people will be free from the oppression and exploitation of Hindu zemindars, loan sharks and from other forms of oppression. On 14 August in 1947 a new country named Islamic Republic of Pakistan was born.
In his maiden speech in the newly born Pakistan, Jinnah however announced that Pakistan will be a country of people of all faiths and religious beliefs. Unfortunately, after 71 years of its existence, the country has been ruled by military dictators for 33 years and none of its 18 elected Prime Ministers could complete their full five year terms. The country witnessed at least three coup d’états, in 1958, 1977 and 1999. However the first coup d’état was staged not by the military but by its judiciary in 1954 when the Pakistan’s Federal Court overturned a decision of the Sindh High Court which held the unilateral dissolution of the Constituent Assembly (CA) of Pakistan by the Governor General Ghulam Muhammad was ultra vires of the India Independence Act 1947. The decision of the Governor General to dissolve the CA was challenged in the Sindh High Court by the President (Speaker) of the Assembly Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan from Faridpur, who succeeded Jinnah after his death in September 1948. The Sindh High Court Presided over by Justice George Constantine unanimously ruled in favour of Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan which was later challenged in the Federal Court (Supreme Court) by the Government. Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan had a difficult time filing his deposition before the Federal Court as the government practically put him under an undeclared house arrest while barristers were flown in from England to appear on behalf the Government. The Federal Court Presided over by Justice Mohammed Munir overturned the decision of the Sindh High Court invoking for the first time in the twentieth century the infamous ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ (an act that would otherwise be illegal becomes legal if it is done bona fide under the stress of necessity, the necessity being referable to an intention to preserve the constitution, the State or the society and to prevent it from dissolution). In Pakistan this derogatory statement has been reiterated time and again to subjugate democracy and the rule of law so that dictatorship and evil forces could survive next six decades
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