Provisional Constitutional Order
| Provisional Constitutional Order | |
|---|---|
| Territorial extent | Whole of State of Pakistan |
| Enacted by | Martial law |
| Administered by | Chief Martial Law Administrator |
| Legislative history | |
| Bill published on | 25 March 1981 |
| Introduced by | Zia military Govt. |
| First reading | 14 October 1999 |
| Second reading | 7 November 2007 |
| White paper | Constitution Petition No. 8 & 9 of 2009 |
| Related legislation | |
| 18th Amendment | |
| Status: Repealed | |
The Provisional Constitutional Order (popularly term as PCO), is an emergency and extra-constitutional order that suspends either wholly or partially the Constitution of Pakistan— the supreme law of land. The PCO fulfills and act as the temporary order while the actual constitution is held in abeyance or suspension. Mostly, the orders have been enforced during the times of the martial law imposed by the armed forces of the country against the civilian governments.
Soon after the martial law went into immediate effect in 1977, the constitution of Pakistan was suspended. The first PCO was declared on 24 March 1981 by then-President and chief of army staff General Zia-ul-Haq. It was the first PCO having declared by the President General Zia-ul-Haq in the history of the country.
Under this new order, the senior justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan were asked to take an oath of office under the provisions set by the PCO. On March 1981, President Zia terminated 19 senior justices of the supreme court when they refused to take the oath.Chief Justice Dorab Patel and Senior justice Fakhrauddin Ebrahim declined to take the oath; thus opting for retirement. Interestingly, Senior justiceAnwarul Haq also resigned after refusing to take the oath whilst the Senior justice Mushtaq Hussain who was willing to take the oath was not asked to do so.
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