West Pakistan Fifth Synopsis (post) Print

Provincial Assembly of West Pakistan 1962
Jun 9, 1962 to Jun 8, 1965

After imposition of Martial Law in 1958, General Muhammad Ayub Khan introduced the concept of basic democracy through the Basic Democracy Order, 1959. The first BD elections to elect forty thousand representatives each from the East Pakistan and the West Pakistan, were held in December 1959. An Advisory Council was constituted instead of a legislature (for details, see Part 3 of this book). On February 14, 1960, these BD members authorized General Muhammad Ayub Khan to promulgate a Constitution who promulgated it on March 1, 1962 and it came into force on June 8, 1962.

Article 70 of the 1962 Constitution provided that there would be a provincial legislature comprising of 155 members for a term of five years. However, Article 230 envisaged that the term of first legislature would be three years.

The BD members served as electoral college for the election of the President and National and Provincial Assemblies. The Provincial Assembly of West Pakistan comprising 155 Members was elected by the BD Members and was constituted on June 9, 1962 which ceased to exist on June 8, 1965 on the completion of three years’ term. It held 218 sittings over 7 sessions with the last session held from December 21, 1964 to January 31, 1965.

Its first Speaker, Mr Mubin-ul-Haq Siddiqui was elected unopposed on June 12, 1962 and was removed from the office of Speaker as a result of a ‘No Confidence Motion’ against him on July 4, 19631 and was succeeded by Ch Muhammad Anwar Bhinder.

Mr Chou En Lai, Prime Minister of Peoples Republic of China, addressed this Assembly on February 24, 1964 and Marshal Abdul Salam Arif, President Republic of Iraq, addressed it on March 24, 1964.