ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s State Minister for Law Aqeel Malik confirmed on Monday that the government is discussing a new constitutional amendment with coalition partners, saying the plan includes creating a constitutional court and revising the federal role in education and population planning.
Constitutional amendments in Pakistan require two-thirds approval in both houses of parliament and have historically been used to redefine the balance of power between the legislature, judiciary and provinces. The proposed 27th amendment follows the 26th constitutional amendment, passed in October 2024 amid stiff resistance from opposition parties and the legal fraternity. That measure empowered parliament to appoint the Supreme Court’s chief justice for a fixed term and created a new panel of senior judges to hear constitutional cases, changes critics say have weakened judicial independence.
Pakistan’s constitution, adopted in 1973, has been amended more than two dozen times, often reflecting the country’s shifting balance among civilian governments, the military and the judiciary. Provisions such as the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, which governs how federal revenue is shared among provinces, are especially sensitive because they underpin Pakistan’s federal structure and provincial autonomy.
In a post on X on Monday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a major coalition partner, said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had approached his party for support in passing the 27th amendment. He said the proposals included creating constitutional courts, restoring executive magistrates, amending Article 243, which defines the command and control of the armed forces, removing protection for provinces’ share in the NFC and returning education and population planning to the federation.
“These discussions with the passage of time keep on happening and whatever improvement is required in the law and the constitution, work is done in this regard,” Malik told a private news channel when asked about Bhutto Zardari’s X post.
He said the law ministry was not currently drafting text for the 27th amendment but described the creation of constitutional courts as an “unfinished agenda” of the 26th amendment that now needed to be addressed.
Malik backed granting magisterial powers to the executive, saying such a change could ease the judiciary’s workload in handling minor offenses and price-control cases.
The minister also confirmed the government was consulting the PPP on proposals to return population and education planning to the federation.
“I think we should take a national, cohesive approach related to population,” Malik said. “Every year there is a manifold increase in your population so I believe it needs a federal approach.”
He added that Pakistan lacked consistency among provinces in education quality and curriculum, which justified a stronger federal role.
On Article 243, Malik said the prime minister’s recent promotion of the army chief to field marshal “has to be addressed in the constitutional scheme of things.”
The promotion of army chief General Asim Munir in May 2025, following a brief military standoff with India, made him only the second officer in Pakistan’s history to hold the rank, a move widely viewed as reinforcing the military’s institutional influence.
Regarding the NFC award, the minister said the government was building political consensus to review the formula for distributing funds among provinces.
Bhutto Zardari has said his party’s Central Executive Committee will meet on Nov. 6 to decide its position on the 27th amendment proposals.
Legal experts say that if passed, the amendment could significantly alter Pakistan’s power structure, reshaping how judges are appointed and how provincial funding is allocated, issues central to the country’s governance and political stability.
