Pakistan wants to include a speech by Muhammad Ali Jinnah in its constitution. The speech contained: "You are free, you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed. That has nothing to with business of the state."

One of the dissenting voices in Pakistan argues the opposite:

Right-wing Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader Liaqat Baloch said: "Pakistan is an Islamic state and it was created in the name of Islam. We can't go against the ideology... Any bill that negates Pakistan's ideology will not be supported by the MMA. We will in fact reject it with full force."

Most nations have references to some form of deity in their constitutions or founding documents. Australia for instance has a head of state that is also a head of the church. Freedom of religion becomes one of absent executive force and legislative intrusion - ie a lack of discrimination.

This is an area where liberalism's pluralistic approach is far superior to mono-religious states like Saudi Arabia. The enlightenment identified religious coercion through the state as one of the main forms of tyranny and sufferance against a population. This is one of the reasons why freedom of religion is often elevated to the level of the constitution.

Pakistan doesn't appear to be placing freedom of religion as a constitutional restriction on the executive and legislative though, by putting the speech in there it is like a preamble, and not legally binding. It is more like 'Hooray for everything'.

For it to be useful as a political right it will have to be inserted into the constitution in such a way that it leaves no doubt that it is an area the executive cannot enforce in, and that the legislative cannot legislate over. I don't think this is what the Pakistani politicians are arguing for, so it is probably theatre.

This appears to be Muhammad Ali Jinnah's speech from 1947 that is referenced in the article.

A very interesting interview on the issues surrounding Pakistan, Afghanistan and American national security.

Pakistan has been under a state of exception for a long time now, Musharref suspended the constitution to install himself as President. Now it has gone into another state of emergency, formally continuing the current state of exception. Another issue is that the leadership of Al Queda which attacked the US on 911 is in Pakistan, so is the Taliban who are causing stability issues in Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan. Add to that the Pakistani military is becoming increasingly politically illegitimate. Plus the government has nukes, so it is pretty important that it does not become a failed state.

Another important point made was the India is becoming the important regional power mainly because of its government stability and economic reach. So the Pakistan military is losing the nationalist prestige legitimacy as well.

Josh Marshall is not a good interviewer but his editing is excellent, he lets those he interviews actually speak without interruption.

Musharraf has been amending the Pakistani constitution through executive orders. On December the 14th and 15th he issued three more executive orders; one which amends the constitution, one which amends the judicial constitutionally and the third which raises the state of emergency.

The Executive Order establishing the Islamabad High Court is to continue the state of emergency court which was brought into being, under executive control, for the state of emergency. This means that the executive has complete control over the High Court and Judicature now as the Judge's exist at the Executive's pleasure.

This means it will be a political court for the executive. Judges have opposed Musharraf's dictatorship and this serves two purposes; removing them politically as well as destroying the doctrine of judicial review. The latter is where the judicature is the body with the authority to interpret the constitution.

The order which modifies the constitution contains this dandy:

The validity of any provision made or orders passed under clause (1) and (2), shall not be called in question by or before any Court, including Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court, a High Court, any forum or authority, on any ground whatsoever.

It is executive rule at its most open. The order which modifies how the President is elected and the length of term is a bit more difficult to understand. Article 41 Chapter 2 contains:

The President to be elected after the expiration of the term specified in clause ( 7) shall be elected in accordance with the provisions of the Second Schedule by the members of an electoral college consisting of: (a) the members of both Houses; and (b) the members of the Provincial Assemblies

The order removes "to be elected after the expiration of the term specified in clause (7)". Clause 7 contains information on how the President is to be elected:

(7) The Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan-

(a) shall relinquish the office of Chief Executive on such day as he may determine in accordance with the judgement of the Supreme Court of Pakistan of the 12th May, 2000; and

(b) having received the democratic mandate to serve the nation as President of Pakistan for a period of five years shall, on relinquishing the office of the Chief Executive, notwithstanding anything contained in this Article or Article 43 or any other provision of the Constitution or any other law for the time being in force, assume the office of President of Pakistan forthwith and shall hold office for a term of five years under the Constitution, and Article 44 and other provisions of the Constitution shall apply accordingly.

I guess Musharraf amended that out so that if the Supreme Court determines his position as President unconstitutional he can ignore it.

All round it is pretty repugnant. It should be noted that the power of constitutionalism means that modern dictators have to seek constitutional legitimacy even if the pollute the constitution to absurd levels like this. Written constitutions are an excellent technology that cause dictators, and executives that would rule by permanent exception, increasing woes.