KARACHI: A key coalition partner in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration said Friday it was willing to support three clauses of the proposed 27th constitutional amendment, after expressing its willingness to back one related to the armed forces a day earlier, though it continued to oppose changes to a provision related to provincial rights.
According to political leaders privy to the issue, the amendment proposes creating a new constitutional court, restoring executive magistrates, revising the distribution of federal revenue among provinces under the National Finance Commission (NFC) and making changes to how senior judges and military leadership appointments are structured within the constitution.
An important part of the coalition administration, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) resumed the Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting on Friday afternoon to further deliberate on the changes proposed under the constitutional amendment.
Addressing a news conference after the CEC meeting, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the party’s leadership had now agreed on “three main points” amending Article 243 governing military command, forming a constitutional court and managing judges’ transfers through consultation.
“There are mainly three points in the constitutional amendment that the PPP is considering supporting: the amendment to Article 243, constitutional courts… and the transfer of judges as long as the incoming and outgoing chief justices are members of the [judicial] commission,” he told reporters.
Sharif’s administration in Islamabad has already been holding consultations with its coalition partners to secure the two-thirds parliamentary majority required to push the amendment through.
While the draft of the 27th amendment is yet to be tabled in parliament, its most contentious element involves potential revisions to the NFC, which determines how federal tax revenue is shared among provinces.
The PPP, which spearheaded the 18th amendment in 2010 to expand provincial autonomy, has consistently opposed any measures that would dilute the financial or administrative powers of the federating units.
In the news conference, Bhutto-Zardari said the party would not support proposals other than the three points agreed by the CEC, saying it did not want changes affecting the NFC award.
“NFC allocations can increase for provinces but cannot be reduced,” he said, stressing that the constitutional protection of provincial financial rights “cannot be compromised.”
He stressed that PPP support on judicial reforms would depend on guarantees that both incoming and outgoing chief justices are members of the judicial commission deciding judges’ transfers, a safeguard which he said was to preserve balance in judicial appointments.
“With the votes of the incoming and outgoing CJ, along with the judicial commission, if the PML-N agrees, then we will accept this and the PPP will vote on it,” he added.
While the government’s discussions with coalition partners continue, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)— the main opposition party led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan— has vowed to oppose the 27th amendment and demanded full disclosure of the draft before it reaches parliament.
In Pakistan, constitutional amendments have historically been used to reshape the balance of power between the legislature, judiciary and provinces.
The proposed 27th amendment follows the 26th amendment passed in October 2024, which gave parliament a role in appointing the chief justice and created a new panel of senior judges to hear constitutional cases, measures critics said weakened judicial independence.
Pakistan’s constitution, adopted in 1973, has been amended more than two dozen times, often reflecting shifts in authority among civilian governments and the military. Provisions governing the NFC award are among the most politically sensitive because they underpin the country’s federal structure and provincial autonomy.
