ABSTRACT
The task of writing a constitution establishing and defining the political order proved to be difficult. The Constituent Assembly, consisting of 69 members later raised to 79, first met in Karachi on August 10, 1947. It was assigned a dual responsibility—to draft a constitution and to serve as a legislative body—until a government was created under the new constitution. Agreement on constitutional language remained elusive, and political confusion mounted. The Governor General, Ghulam Mohammed, who drew his authority from the Government of India Act of 1935, as did the Constituent Assembly, attempted to move the process along by changing the cabinet. The preamble of the constitution restated the principles of the "objectives resolution" of 1949. Similar language would be contained in the 1962 and 1973 constitutions. The constitution contained a lengthy list of fundamental rights to be guaranteed by the judiciary which could issue orders requiring compliance.
