The Objectives Resolution was adopted by the
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on March 12, 1949. Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, had presented it in the assembly on March 7, 1949. Out of 69 members of the assembly, 21 voted for it. All the amendments proposed by minority members were rejected. Consequently, all of them voted against it. Hamid Khan , senior vice-president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, writes that it cannot be denied that some of the proposed amendments to the objectives resolution were quite reasonable and moderate and the minorities’ point of view ought to have been accommodated in the larger national interest. [1]
The resolution proclaimed that the future constitution of Pakistan would not be modeled entirely on a European pattern, but on the ideology and democratic faith of Islam . The resolution, in its entirety, has been made part of the Constitution of Pakistan under Article 2(A).
Objectives Resolution
The Pakistani Objectives Resolution proclaimed the following principles:
1. Sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Allah Almighty alone and the authority which He has delegated to the state of Pakistan, through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust. [2]
2. This Constituent Assembly representing the people of Pakistan resolves to frame a constitution for the sovereign independent state of Pakistan.
3. The state shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people.
4. The principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed.
5. The Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy
Quran and Sunnah .
6. Adequate provision shall be made for the minorities to freely progress and practice their religions and develop their cultures.
7. Pakistan shall be a federation and its constituent units will be autonomous.
8. Fundamental rights shall be guaranteed. They include equality of status, of opportunity and before law, social, economic and political justice, and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and association, subject to law and public morality.
9. Adequate provisions shall be made to safeguard the legitimate interests of minorities and backward and depressed classes.
10. The independence of the judiciary shall be fully secured.
11. The integrity of the territories of the federation, its independence and all its rights, including its sovereign right