23 March is a gazetted holiday in Pakistan – mandated by the federal government, meaning that the directive transcends individual provinces and will be observed across the country. But a calculated assumption reveals that not many people know what all 23-March represents in Pakistan's history – or are divided, at best, over its origin.
The first disagreement occurs over what to call 23-March. Many people celebrate it as Pakistan Day since the start of times, and then there are some who call it Republic Day. But before plunging into whether 23-March is Pakistan Day or Republic Day, let's take a step back and first understand the difference between the two.
Legend has it that the Resolution was tabled on 23-March-1940, at the Muslim League Convention in Lahore and passed the following day: 24-March-1940. The Muslim League Working Committee had reportedly decided (in its session on 22-February-1941) that 23-March would be annually marked, as when to publicise the Pakistan Resolution – initially passed as Lahore Resolution.
This was pre-1947 independence and once the country came into existence in August-1947, 14-August came to be known as Pakistan Day – as Pakistan's independence and (therefore) national day.
But despite Pakistan having been in existence for a few years post August-1947, the country wasn’t entirely independent – because post-independence, Pakistan had the status of a “dominion”: one of the self-governing territories of the British Commonwealth. To elaborate, if the Pakistan government would require an approval from the Queen of the United Kingdom – for any strategic move it made. So, for example, if an appointment was to be made for the post of Prime Minister, Pakistan's cabinet would send the nominations for the Queen’s approval.
Fast forward to a few years later – on 23-March-1956, that Pakistan promulgated its first Constitution and formally became a “Republic” — severing its formal link with Britain, in the process. The day was then (also) marked being Pakistan's Republic Day – commemorating the promulgation of the country’s first Constitution.
23-March was celebrated as Pakistan Day till 1958 – when in an interesting turn of events on 7-October-1958, the then President Iskandar Mirza revoked the Constitution and appointed General Ayub Khan as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. So: with the Constitution having now officially been abrogated, marking a day to commemorate its promulgation would have been interesting – to say the least. But the martial law authorities changed the name of day to “Pakistan Day” from “Republic Day” and kept the date as 23-March.
At the time, it was probably a desperate attempt at face saving. But in the 67 years since, can we consider that just maybe, it was a smart move by the martial law authorities. In a sense, a very important chapter of Pakistan's history got rewritten – so that many people (today) have no idea what Republic Day is.
Question, along the same tangent, though. Did Pakistan ever have a Republic Day?
A few years ago, I spent some time asking acquaintances to identify what the 1965 war means to the current generation of Pakistanis; if they knew why the war was fought or the lessons learnt from that conflict? I recently tried replicating that experience – but applying it to 23-March and its history. I mentioned the above two points to people I assumed were not old enough to have totally forgotten what they learned in their educational institutions; but please remember that that was the general assumption that I relied on.
A friend who is a mechanical engineer by profession, said that 23-March was Pakistan's Resolution Day, the day when Muslims leaders of the sub-continent resolved to form a separate country where "some people" (quote, unquote) could live peacefully, according to their beliefs. When asked to explain who he meant by "some people", he quickly mentioned some minorities. And when asked whether he celebrates it or not, he said his practice has varied over the years. “I sometimes wake up to watch the special broadcast, while other times I have volunteered to work that day,” he said.
In all the celebrations that mark the Resolution part of 23-March, the Constitution part of the day quietly goes by every year
A neighbour had probably forgotten the significance of the day. She was asked twice, but both the times she ended up giving two different responses. She first said “Defence Day” and then said it was day when Allama Iqbal had first conceived the idea of a separate nation. Recall that this happened at the annual gathering of All India Muslim League in 1930. She later admitted that she was taught the significance of 23-March at both school and university level, but she had (conveniently) forgotten it - #facepalm situation in action. Now, there was really no point asking whether she celebrated it or not.
Another ex-colleague said 23-March was a national holiday in the country and it was celebrated to mark the passing of Lahore Resolution which later led to the making of Pakistan. She mentioned celebrating the day by watching the Pakistan Day military parade but gave a resounding NO when asked whether she was ever told that 23-March was Republic Day too.
I did, however, meet people who knew the dual representation that 23-March had.
One person relayed what I already knew:
“After Pakistan's first Constitution was abrogated in 1958, 23-March ceased to be ‘Republic Day’. Since then, it is observed as ‘Pakistan Resolution Day’ to mark the day when All India Muslim League moved a resolution for the formation of a separate homeland.”
Others added that when the constitution was passed, Pakistan became the world's first Islamic Republic and that they were taught this at school and university level.
In talking to people, the responses I got were very surprising – alluding to the question that I, myself initially put forth:
Did Pakistan's Republic Day ever exist?
There is clearly not much awareness about 23-March also being a Republic Day – apart from Resolution Day, that everyone knows about. And this is possibly because people usually tend to remember and register events that are observed as a holiday and flanked with much fanfare. And in all the celebrations that mark the Resolution part of 23-March, the Constitution part of the day quietly goes by every year.
This year marks 69 years to the passing of Pakistan's first constitution in 1956. Going back to what someone told me during my discourse – that that when Pakistan adopted this first constitution on 23-March-1956 and became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (and the world's first Islamic Republic), the parade held back then was started to celebrate the end of the dominion status. And that should be reason enough to register 23-March as Republic Day, alongside it already being marked as Resolution Day.