page_title: Ayub Khan (general)
section_title: Constitutional and legal reforms
hierarchical_section_title: Ayub Khan (general) / President of Pakistan (1958–1969) / Constitutional and legal reforms
caption_attribution_description: Muhammed Ayub Khan and Alexei Kosygin
context_page_description: Muhammad Ayub Khan, was a Pakistani army general and the second President of Pakistan who forcibly assumed the presidency from the first president Iskander Mirza through coup in 1958, the first successful coup d'état of the country. The popular demonstrations and labour strikes which were supported by the protests in East Pakistan ultimately led to his forced resignation in 1969.
  Trained at the British Royal Military College, Ayub Khan fought in World War II as a colonel in the British Indian Army before deciding to transfer to join the Pakistan Army as an aftermath of partition of British India in 1947. His command assignment included his role as commander of the 14th Division in East-Bengal and elevated as the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 1951 by then-Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in a controversial promotion over several senior officers. From 1953 to 1958, he served in the civilian government as Defence and Home Minister and supported President Iskander Mirza's decision to impose martial law against Prime Minister Feroze Khan's administration in 1958.
context_section_description: A Constitutional Commission was set-up under the Supreme Court to implement the work on the Constitution that was led by Chief Justice Muhammad Shahabuddin and Supreme Court justices. The commission reported in 1961 with its recommendations but President Ayub remained unsatisfied; he eventually altered the constitution so that it was entirely different from the one recommended by the Shahabuddin Commission. The Constitution reflected his personal views of politicians and the restriction of using religions in politics. His presidency restored the writ of government through the promulgated constitution and restored political freedom by lifting the martial law enforced since 1958.
  The new Constitution respected Islam but did not declare Islam as state religion and was viewed as a liberal constitution. It also provided for election of the president by 80,000 (later raised to 120,000) Basic Democrats who could theoretically make their own choice but who were essentially under his control. He justified this as analogous to the American Electoral College and cited Thomas Jefferson as his inspiration. The Ayub administration "guided" the print newspapers though his takeover of key opposition papers and, while Ayub Khan permitted a National Assembly, it had only limited powers.
  On 2 March 1961, he passed and signed the "Muslim Family Laws" bill through the ordinance under which unmitigated polygamy was abolished, consent of the current wife was made mandatory for a second marriage, brakes were also placed on the practice of instant divorce where men could divorce women by saying:"I divorce you" three times under Islamic tradition.
  The Arbitration Councils were set up under the law in the urban and rural areas to deal with cases of: (a) grant of sanction to a person to contract a second marriage during the subsistence of a marriage; (b) reconciliation of a dispute between a husband and a wife; (c) grant of a maintenance allowance to the wife and children.
caption: President Ayub Khan meeting Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in 1960s.
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