ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday formally presented the 27th constitutional amendment in the National Assembly, a day after it cleared the Senate with the two-thirds majority required for constitutional changes.
The amendment introduces sweeping revisions to Pakistan’s judicial and military command structure. It rewrites Article 243 to create a new post of Chief of Defense Forces, abolishing the role of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC). Under the new framework, the army chief becomes the constitutionally recognized head of Pakistan’s armed services, while the president will appoint the service chiefs on the prime minister’s advice.
The legislation also establishes a new Constitutional Court, transferring select judicial powers from the Supreme Court. The government argues the move will reduce case backlogs and ensure quicker decisions, while critics say it will weaken Pakistan’s top court. The amendment further outlines new procedures for transferring judges between high courts.
Explaining the legislation in parliament, Tarar said the 26th constitutional amendment, passed last year, had attempted to address judicial workload through special constitutional benches, but “the opposition criticized it, accusing the government of forming a court within a court.”
“Finally we reached the consensus that a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) should be formed,” he said.
Tarar said Article 184(3), which governs the Supreme Court’s power to take suo motu action on matters of public importance, “has not been terminated.”
Instead, he said the clause’s use would shift to the Constitutional Court through “a pari materia provision introduced after Article 175-B.”
“It should be a matter of public importance and should not be used to grill a specific person,” Tarar said.
He added that under the proposed amendment, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan would have authority to transfer judges, but if a judge refused, “the matter would be ultimately decided by the Supreme Judicial Council.”
Addressing revisions to military command in Article 243, Tarar said Pakistan had decided to bestow the rank of Field Marshal on General Syed Asim Munir, the army chief, following Pakistan’s “victories over India during the May conflict.”
“These titles are lifetime and if there are valid grounds due to which you think they should be withdrawn, then the parliament has that right to take that decision through voting in a joint sitting after consultations,” he said.
Debate in parliament is expected to continue this week on the amendment as the government seeks final approval.
The 27th amendment follows the 26th amendment of October 2024, which gave parliament a role in appointing the chief justice and created a senior judges’ panel to hear constitutional cases, measures that were also widely criticized as weakening judicial independence.
Opposition lawmaker Gohar Ali Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rejected the new legislation, alleging political motives.
“The prime minister will appoint its first chief justice and the prime minister will appoint its judges,” he said. “You are picking and choosing. This process is outright wrong.”
The amendment has also prompted sharp criticism from sections of the legal community. In a letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, several former senior judges and prominent lawyers warned the proposal would “permanently denude” the Supreme Court of its constitutional authority, calling it “the biggest and the most radical restructuring of the Federal Appellate Court structure since the enactment of the Government of India Act, 1935.”
