The issues of Dawn from Sept 1-7, 1947 chronicled the adoption of the Pakistan (Provisional Constitution) Order as the country’s working constitution, while the nation’s first commander-in-chief issued a stern call for order to control communal violence. Moreover, the city of Karachi — which has been no stranger to violence over the decades — saw its first curfew as the capital of Pakistan.
Constitutional underpinnings
Constitutional tinkering by powerful, often unelected forces has been a sad constant throughout Pakistan’s history. But as the pages of Dawn in the weeks after independence showed, the country’s founders wanted the country to be run as per the rule of law, not anyone’s personal whims.
The lede story in the Sept 3, 1947, edition noted that “the Pakistan (Provisional Constitution) Order, an adaptation of the Government of India Act, 1935” would serve as the dominion’s temporary constitution. Of course Pakistan would not have its first proper constitution until 1956, largely owing to the political tumult of the early years.
The Pakistan (Provisional Constitution) Order sought to do away with the vestiges of empire, and give a fresh direction to the country. The news story noted that the law “does away with expressions like “in his discretion” and “exercising his individual judgment”, found in the India Act.”
“Another important feature is absence of any reference to the King anywhere. All appointments including those of the provincial Governors and High Court Judges, will be made by the Governor-General.” Moreover, the oath of office would be sworn to the “Pakistan Constitution and not to the Crown.”
From these reports, it is clear that the original plan envisaged a farewell to British kings and queens, and constitutional supremacy. Little did the founders of Pakistan know that in the decades to come, many uncrowned local ‘kings’ would trample the Constitution, and attempt to dictate terms to the hapless populace of this country.
The general’s call
Two weeks after independence, the fires of communal violence continued to burn, despite repeated appeals by none other than the Quaid for calm. The situation was such that the Pakistan’s army’s first commander-in-chief — Gen Sir Frank Masservy, a British officer — issued a plea for peace in the Sept 1 issue.
In a special order to all ranks of the army, the C-in-C noted that “our main duty … in conjunction with the civil authorities and the police is the difficult and unpleasant one of maintaining law and order and of stopping bloodshed and murder, looting and arson. …”
The general told his men that there would be zero tolerance for law breakers and other undesirables that were stirring up trouble. “The first type of goondas are goondas, dakus and badmashes. These are enemies of the State and must be hunted out and captured or shot. …
“The second type are ignorant citizens and countrymen who get carried away by feelings of revenge … and vent their wrath on the opposite community with the utmost savagery. These two are also enemies of the State tough they may not realise it. …”
These were certainly stern words from the general. But perhaps desperate times called for desperate measures.
Petrol rationing
Pakistanis, as well as consumers around the world, are paying high prices for gasoline and other fuel products derived from hydrocarbons due to the situation created by the US/Israeli war on Iran. There is also the fear of shortages should things get ugly again in the Gulf; in other countries, there have been riots related to fuel shortages, though Pakistan has thankfully been spared such violence till now.
In Sept 1947, however, the state had to resort to rationing of gasoline as communal disturbances in India had disrupted supplies of coal, putting extra pressure on the available fuel stocks. As a news report highlighted in the Sept 2 issue, “the Government of Pakistan has decided to reduce the present ratio of motor spirit from two gallons per unit to one gallon per unit, in Western Pakistan. This step is taken in order to conserve all the available fuel supply. …”
The decision was made “owing to the disturbances in East Punjab” which had caused interruption in the regular supply of coal to Pakistan from India.
Karachi under curfew
Younger readers, particularly those born in the mid-1990s and thereafter, would not have any memory of a curfew clamped on Karachi. But older readers will recall with dread the days and nights the metropolis used to be placed under curfew during the 1980s and early 1990s due to the rampant political and ethnic violence of those bad old days.
In effect it was an order from the state to shelter in place; unless you had a curfew pass, the law-enforcement agencies — often including the military — would not let you move about freely to quell spasms of violence. But the first curfew in the history of Karachi after Independence was clamped on Sept 4, 1947, to help contain communal violence.
A report in the Sept 4 issued said that “Mr N.A. Faruqi, District Magistrate, Karachi, today enforced curfew on the major part of Karachi from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. The curfew will last for three days. It has been imposed under Section 144 CrPC.”
The next day, in the Sept 5 issue, the headline of the lede story on p1 declared, with some relief, that ‘Karachi’s first curfew night passes off peacefully’. The story went on to say that “No incident was reported in the city till Friday afternoon. Shops and other business quarters worked normally and except for the exodus of a large number of Sikhs and [Hindu] Marwaris by sea to ports in Bombay, there was nothing abnormal … in the city.”
The exodus, we were told, “was not because they were afraid of the Muslims in Pakistan, but of the “insanity” of their brethren in the Indian Union.”
Palestine partition
Overseas, the UN’s partition plan for Mandatory Palestine was igniting emotions across the Arab world. As the banner headline on p1 in the Sept 2 issue declared: ‘Arabs to resist Palestine plan by force of arms’. As Israel has expanded its illegal occupation of Palestine over the decades, the Arabs are still resisting.
A news report filed from London declared that “Arab leaders in Jerusalem, Cairo, London and New York last night rejected the recommendations of the United Nations Special Committee for the partition of Palestine as “blatantly unfair” and declared that the Arabs would resist the plan even by the force of arms.”
Meanwhile, armed Zionist gangs such as Irgun called for a “prolonged war against the British” who administered Palestine at the time.
With the advantage of hindsight, one has the opportunity to study the historical cycles in a nation’s life. Thanks to this newspaper’s unique, extensive archive of back issues, one can examine the major political, economic and social trends that have shaped Pakistan and the world over the last seven decades and counting. Cliched as it may sound, history repeats itself, and we — as a state and as a polity — largely refuse to learn from it.
Through this platform, we will look back at the ‘big’ stories that made it to the front pages of Dawn, as well as significant developments tucked away in the inside pages, from the birth of Pakistan onwards, and try to put them in perspective. We will study the critical issues of the week, starting from Aug 14, 1947 and examine the major themes and issues that made it to the paper.
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