ISLAMABAD: Every year there are widespread celebrations on March 23 but not for what the day really signifies. On February 22, 1941, the Muslim League working committee decided that March 23 would be celebrated every year to publicise the Pakistan Resolution, which was moved at the Muslim League convention in Lahore on the same date in 1940, and was passed on March 24.
After Pakistan gained independence, it still had the status of a ‘dominion’, i.e., a self-governing territory of the British Commonwealth. When Pakistan’s Constitution was promulgated on March 23, 1956, it became a republic. Hence, March 23 became the Republic Day, which was celebrated until 1958 when President Iskandar Mirza abrogated the Constitution on October 7 and appointed Ayub Khan as the chief martial law administrator. In the absence of the Constitution, the celebration of the Republic Day would have been incongruous, so the day’s name was changed to Pakistan Day. The martial law authorities had no choice but to take such an action.
However, I fail to understand what prevented the elected governments that followed Ayub Khan’s dispensation, from restoring the Republic Day? Politicians of all hues, as well as the media, criticise military dictators no end but do not have the sense to work towards restoring the status of Republic Day. So much for the credibility of these self-styled democrats and the so-called independent media.
Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2012.
