Abstract
The creation of Pakistan may be said to have involved activities carried out by persons who had acquired modern Western education. During the crucial years of their struggle, they explicitly made use of Islamic symbols for mobilization of the Muslim populace in the subcontinent. In this, they were joined by a number of Muslim ulama who had initially opposed Western modern education and institutions. After independence in 1947, divergence of views between the two, emerged on several occasions. In the case of Report of the Commission on Marriage and Family Laws, 1955, divergence was embodied in a majority report and a Note of Dissent. This article discusses the divergence between them as expressed in two documents, namely Report and Note of Dissent, both published in The Gazette of Pakistan Extraordinary, the former in June 1956 and the latter in August, the same year. The article advances the view that arguments of both largely became an exercise in polemics. The article speculates on the way, whereby, the two could have undertaken a more serious analysis and could have resolved the difference.