By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Senate approved a contentious constitutional amendment on Monday that elevates the army chief to the top command of the armed forces, establishes a new constitutional court and alters the distribution of federal revenues among provinces, capping weeks of heated debate that has deepened divisions over the balance of power in the country.
The 27th Amendment passed with a two-thirds majority in the upper house of Parliament, with 64 lawmakers voting in favor and none against after opposition members staged a noisy walkout. The changes, which critics say undermine judicial independence and provincial autonomy, now head to the National Assembly, where the ruling coalition holds a commanding majority.
Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani presided over the proceedings, holding votes on each clause of the bill in televised sessions. “I now announce the result of voting, 64 members are in favor of the motion regarding passage of the bill and none against it,” Gilani said. “So, the motion is carried by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of the Senate and consequently the bill stands passed.”
The amendment rewrites Article 243 of the Constitution, creating the new post of Chief of Defence Forces and abolishing the longstanding role of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Under the revised framework, the army chief would assume the constitutionally recognised top command of Pakistan’s armed services, while the president would formally appoint the chiefs of the army, navy and air force on the advice of the prime minister.
It also proposes establishing a Federal Constitutional Court, revising procedures for the transfer of judges and altering the National Finance Commission award, which governs how federal tax revenues are shared with provinces. Those changes to the commission are particularly sensitive, as they underpin Pakistan’s federal structure and the fiscal autonomy of its provinces.
The vote followed the defection of two opposition members, helping the government secure its majority. One of them, Senator Saifullah Abro of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, resigned shortly after voting in favor. Speaking on the floor of the upper house, Abro said he “voted only for Syed Gen Asim Munir,” referring to the current army chief. When Abro tendered his resignation, the Senate chairman said, “We will make you a senator again.”
The passage stirred one of the most politically sensitive constitutional debates in years, coming on the heels of the 26th Amendment, adopted in October 2024, which gave Parliament a formal role in appointing the chief justice and created a panel of senior judges to hear constitutional cases — measures that critics argued weakened judicial independence.
Constitutional amendments in Pakistan require a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament. Since its adoption in 1973, the Constitution has been amended more than two dozen times, often reflecting shifts in authority between civilian governments, the judiciary and the military.
Opposition lawmakers have warned that the latest changes would undermine civilian oversight and provincial rights. Before the vote, opposition members chanted slogans, tore apart copies of the amendment bill presented by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and tossed them toward his table. Most then walked out of the chamber, with a few lingering briefly to continue protesting before exiting.
Shortly after the bill’s passage, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar addressed the house, calling the amendment a “historic bill” and an “unfinished agenda” of the 2006 Charter of Democracy signed by almost all political parties. “There was a feeling to maintain balance, and thus a constitutional court is being formed for the betterment of the judiciary,” Dar said. He added that the rank of field marshal was now included in the Constitution, creating space for the rank of a five-star general in all three military forces. “The seniority of the current SC judges and the chief justice would not be impacted by the amendment,” Dar clarified.
The bill had been tabled in the Senate on Saturday amid outcry from the opposition, hours after receiving approval from the federal cabinet. On Sunday, a joint meeting of the Senate and National Assembly’s law and justice standing committees — boycotted by the opposition — approved it with minor changes. Senate Standing Committee of Law and Justice Chairman Farooq H. Naek presented a report on those adjustments before the upper house. Naek told the house that the joint committee deliberated on the bill for two days and made “many changes.”
Sharing details, he said the bill proposed the establishment of a Federal Constitutional Court, which the committee “unanimously” approved with some modifications to the relevant clause. Outlining those changes, he said there would be equal representation of all provinces in the court, and it would also include a representative from the Islamabad High Court. The initial draft stated that a judge could be nominated for the court after serving on a high court for seven years; the committee reduced this qualification to five years.
Naek further said that the committee agreed that if an appointment was made to the court from among sitting Supreme Court judges, the inter-se seniority of the appointee would remain the same as at the time of the appointment. However, in the case of a fresh appointment of a lawyer or a high court judge, the seniority would be reckoned from the date on which they would assume office. Moreover, if multiple judges would take the oath on the same day, their seniority would be determined on the basis of their age.
He added that the Judicial Commission of Pakistan was reconstituted under the 26th Amendment, with the speaker authorised to nominate a woman or a non-Muslim candidate to become a member. The committee changed this to include a technocrat, Naek said. “So now, the speaker can nominate a woman, non-Muslim or technocrat who qualifies to be a member of Parliament for the JCP.”
Naek highlighted that currently, the Supreme Court had suo motu powers and could invoke Article 183 of the Constitution to take up a case at its discretion. As for the new court, “we have retained the suo motu powers […] but we would exercise these powers when an application is submitted. The case will be taken up for hearing after the FCC decides whether the application for exercising suo motu powers is valid and needed.”
On the transfer of judges, the senator said that previously, even after the 26th Amendment, judges could be transferred by the president, but the consent of the judge was required, and two chief justices of the relevant high courts were consulted. “The amended bill has changed the method of transfers, as now, a judge will be transferred from one high court to another through the JCP, which was reconstituted under the 26th Amendment and has the representation of all — the executive, parliament, judges, civil society, and lawyers.”
Several former senior judges and prominent lawyers have voiced alarm over the amendment’s implications for the judiciary. In a letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi on Monday, the signatories warned that the changes would “permanently denude” the Supreme Court of its constitutional authority. “With deep sadness and with the deepest regret, this letter is being written by us not in normal times but in times that present the greatest threat to the Supreme Court of Pakistan since its establishment in 1956,” the signatories wrote, adding that the proposed amendment would be “the biggest and the most radical restructuring of the Federal Appellate Court structure since the enactment of the Government of India Act, 1935.”
“We say this without any fear of contradiction that no civilian or military government in Pakistan’s history has even tried, let alone succeeded, in relegating the Supreme Court of Pakistan as a sub-ordinate court and permanently denude it of its constitutional jurisdiction, as is being done through the proposed Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Act, 2025,” the letter said. The signatories requested that Chief Justice Afridi “call a Full Court Meeting immediately and without any delay” to deliberate on the amendment before Parliament votes on it.
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