November 12, 2025
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari gave his assent to the contentious 27th Constitutional Amendment on Thursday, enacting it into law.
“The Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2025, is assented to, as advised by the prime minister, at para 5 of the summary,” reads the document signed by the president, a copy of which was shared on the official X account of state broadcaster PTV News.
The development came hours after the Senate approved the bill on a second vote amid opposition protests. The bill passed with 64 votes in favor and four against.
Key provisions of the amendment
The amendment aims to create a Federal Constitutional Court, overhaul Article 243 to recast the military command hierarchy, and establish a Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) position. The CDF will have overall command of the army, naval, and air force services.
The bill was initially presented in the Senate for voting on Monday and passed the same day. It was then referred to the National Assembly, which approved it with amendments on Wednesday. The revised legislation was presented again in the Senate to consider the latest changes.
Key changes include provisions that the incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) will continue to hold the post until retirement, after which the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court and Federal Constitutional Court will assume the CJP role. The CJP will administer oaths to the president, chief election commissioner, and auditor general.
Opposition defections and protests
Two opposition senators—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Saifullah Abro and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl)’s Ahmed Khan—voted in favour of the amendment, breaking party lines. Opposition PTI lawmakers boycotted the vote, chanting slogans against the bill.
Senator Ali Zafar raised concerns about defection, citing Article 63-A, and requested that votes from defecting senators be excluded. Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani ruled that he had not received any written resignations from the defecting senators and therefore their votes would be counted.
Concerns within judiciary: Third SC judge writes to CJP
Coinciding with the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, Supreme Court Justice Salahuddin Panwar wrote to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi requesting a full court meeting to deliberate on the proposed amendment. He became the third judge to express concerns about the bill’s impact on judicial independence.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah had earlier written to the CJP on the same matter. In his letter, senior-most judge Justice Shah urged CJP Afridi to engage with the executive and clarify that no constitutional amendment should be passed without prior consultation with judges of all constitutional courts. He also called for a full court meeting, or preferably a joint convention of all constitutional court judges, to discuss the amendment’s implications.
In a detailed letter, Justice Minallah called for a judicial conference to openly discuss threats to the judiciary and reclaim public trust in the constitutional institution.
Justice Panwar’s concerns
“I write, my Lord, not in protest but in duty; the duty that binds every judge who has sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973,” Justice Panwar wrote. “There comes a time when silence is not caution but abdication. I believe such a time may now be upon us.
“The proposed Twenty-Seventh Constitutional Amendment, as publicly discussed, appears to touch the very foundations upon which the edifice of our judiciary rests. It speaks of changes that may, whether by design or consequence, bring the executive and legislature into areas long reserved for judicial independence. Judicial independence, my Lord, is not a matter of privilege. It is the very condition upon which liberty itself depends. If the judiciary is not free—free from fear, free from influence, free from control—then the rule of law becomes but a phrase, hollow and without breath.”
Justice Panwar referenced constitutional provisions in Articles 175, 175A, 189, 190, 191, and 209, along with the solemn oath in the Third Schedule, as safeguards of judicial independence.
“From what has been foreshadowed, this amendment may unsettle the careful balance that the framers intended. It may touch upon the security of tenure, the composition of benches, the appointment and removal of judges, or even the financial and administrative autonomy of our courts. Each of these is a pillar; weaken one, and the structure trembles. Allow encroachment today in the name of efficiency, and tomorrow independence will be lost in the name of expedience. Even the appearance of interference is enough to erode public confidence—and ‘confidence,’ my Lord, is the very soul of justice.”
Justice Panwar urged the CJP to convene a full court meeting to examine the proposed constitutional amendments, focusing specifically on their impact on judicial independence. He suggested evaluating each provision by asking whether it strengthens or diminishes judicial independence, commissioning a technical brief, and engaging with relevant committees and the Pakistan Bar Council and Provincial Bar Councils.
Lawyers announce day of mourning in Sindh
Bars across Sindh announced a Day of Mourning for the 1973 Constitution and a complete strike in courts across the province on Friday, November 14.
The Karachi Bar Association shared a resolution from the lawyers’ convention held on November 12. The resolution called for observing a day of mourning on Friday and asked lawyers to take out processions and travel in convoys to Sukkur for the next convention on Saturday, November 15, where further action against the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment will be announced.