Finally, 27th amendment bill tabled in Senate

ISLAMABAD: The treasury side on Saturday moved the proposed bill regarding the 27th Constitutional Amendment in the Upper House of the Parliament, which grants constitutional protection to the top slots of the armed forces, besides creating a federal constitutional court, allowing the transfer of high court judges, and amending/ substituting other crucial constitutional provisions.

However, the draft constitutional amendment received an outright rejection from the opposition side shortly after being moved in the House. Law Minister Azam Tarar presented the related bill in the Senate session, presided over by Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani.

The legislative draft comprises 49 clauses dealing with five subject areas containing three main subject areas and two ancillaries, Tarar said on the floor of the House.

The proposed draft shared by the minister reveals that the constitutional amendment bill seeks to amend Article 243 of the Constitution. “In the Constitution, in Article 243 – for clause (4), the following shall be substituted, namely: ‘The President shall, on advice of the Prime Minister, appoint – the Chief of the Army Staff concurrently the Chief of the Defence Forces: - the Chief of the Naval Staff; and – the Chief of the Air Staff; and shall also determine their salaries and allowances,’ and – after clause (4), amended as aforesaid, the following new clauses (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10) and (11) shall be inserted, namely: ‘Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (4), the office of the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee shall stand abolished with effect from the twenty-seventh day of November two thousand and twenty-five,” reads the bill, in implied reference to the retirement of the incumbent chairman joint chiefs of staff committee on 27 November, indicating that the post of CJCSC would stand abolished after the retirement of the outgoing CJCSC.

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In addition, the legislative draft provides that the Prime Minister shall, on the “recommendation of the Chief of the Army Staff concurrently the Chief of the Defence Forces, appoint the Commander of the National Strategic Command from the members of Pakistan Army and shall also determine his salaries and allowances.”

This bill allows the top armed forces officials to “remain in uniform for life,” and that they, being the “national heroes,” cannot be removed from their official positions by the government, but can be impeached by the Parliament in accordance with Article 47 of the Constitution.

“Where the Federal Government promotes a member of the Armed Forces to the rank of Field Marshal, Marshal of the Air Force or Admiral of the Fleet, such officer shall retain the rank, privileges and remain in uniform for life— Field Marshal, Marshal of the Air Force and Admiral of the Fleet, being national heroes, shall not be removed from office except or the ground or charges and in the manner provided under Article 47,” reads the proposed law.

Moreover the chiefs of the three armed forces will have protection like that of the President of Pakistan, as they would not be answerable to any court of law for the exercise of powers and functions of their respective offices in accordance with Article 248, under the proposed law.

“The provisions of Article 248, as applicable to the President shall mutatis mutandis apply to Field Marshal, Marshal of the Air Force and Admiral of the Fleet— upon completion of the term of his command, under the law, the Federal Government shall determine the responsibilities and duties of Field Marshal, Marshal of the Air Force or Admiral of the Fleet in the interest of State— The President shall, on advice of the Prime Minister, determine the salaries, allowances and privileges of Field Marshal, Marshal of the Air Force and Admiral of the Fleet,” reads the proposed amendment in the Constitution.

The draft of this constitutional amendment was prepared in the light of the Charter of Democracy that was agreed upon by all the mainstream political parties when military dictator General Pervez Musharraf was in power, Tarar said in the Senate after presenting this bill.

He said the federal constitutional court would only hear the constitutional cases. “Presently, there are only six percent constitutional cases (in Supreme Court) that consume 40 percent of the court’s time— there is a need to establish a separate constitutional court to hear the constitutional cases,” the law minister said.

Almost 40 clauses of the proposed constitutional amendment are consequential in nature, related to the federal constitutional court, Tarar said.

The transfer of high court judges is permissible in the 1973 Constitution, and the draft amendment provides for referring this matter to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan to make a decision in this regard, said the minister. The proposed law also provides constitutional cover to the Senate elections on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa seats that were held after over a year-long delay, Tarar told the House.

Some amendments related to the respective provinces proposed by Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) and Awami National Party (ANP) are also part of the legislative draft, he said. In addition, after the constitutional amendment bill was presented, the chairman Senate referred the bill to the standing committees of the law and justice of the Senate and the National Assembly, which would convene as a joint committee, to review this bill.

However, Parliamentary Leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Ali Zafar opposed referring the bill to the committee, saying the bill would be bulldozed from the committee.

Instead, he demanded, an open debate should be held in the House. “The way this bill has been presented, and its draft has been shared with us after the bill’s presentation, is unacceptable to us. We need to first read this draft before sharing our input,” he said. Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the House Ishaq Dar responded that an open debate would be held on this bill in the House, but, he argued, it is necessary to refer the bill to the committee to finalise the modalities. “Anyone from this House can attend the committee meetings as a special invitee,” Dar said.

Opposition leader Allama Raja Abbas also spoke in strong rejection of the proposed constitutional amendment. “We totally reject this amendment. The draft of this bill is shared with us only after the bill has been presented in the House. This bill is presented in total haste— in an extremely dubious manner. What’s the haste? Why are you insistent to have this amendment passed in four or five days? There should be a thorough political consensus over this amendment, even if takes months— is this the way to deal with such an important constitutional matter? This is not acceptable to us at all,” he said.

“There was a thorough consensus when the 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed. But it is very unfortunate to see how the 26th Constitutional Amendment was passed, and now the 27th Constitutional Amendment is trying to be passed while totally bypassing the will of the Parliament. The dignity of the Parliament is being crushed under the feet,” Abbas said.

“Today is the day which would cause pain and regret whenever we would remember it,” said Kamran Murtaza from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F).

The House was adjourned till today (Sunday).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025