Pakistan Constitutional Amendments:

[ghazi52]

The road to the present

Other worrying explanations for how we have ended up here include a lack of resistance and truth-telling over the past several years, all the way up to the passage of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, and the 26th Amendment.

Dissonant positions born out of severe political partisanship and a deep-rooted national cynicism about “how things are” in Pakistan haven’t helped. Fear of a PTI populist wave and distrust of its leadership caused many ‘progressives’ to cheerlead and justify one encroachment on civilian supremacy after another.

Deep divisions within the senior judiciary following the reference against Justice Isa resulted in the inability to put aside personal agendas and opportunism to protect the institution. External actors didn’t have to try very hard when, at every juncture, judges stood ready to become collaborators, undermining each other and the court in pursuit of personal gain or animosity.

 

[Forsvaret]

The longterm effects of these changes remain to be seen…

So you learned absolutely nothing from General Ayub, Yahya, Zia, Musharraf etc when they made similar "changes" in the past?

 

[ghazi52]

Why should the average Pakistani care?

The 26th and 27th Amendments to the Constitution are the latest assault on fundamental rights and democratic freedoms in Pakistan. But they are part of the same coercive project that seeks to crush the will of the people, keep their elected representatives out of office, and entrench an unelected elite at the top.

No ordinary Pakistani, irrespective of political affiliation or ideological gymnastics, will remain unaffected or benefit from the collapse of the judiciary and the empowerment of military elites. This will not stop here.

We already know the damage an executive-controlled court can do, not just in our history, but in the conduct and decisions of the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench following the 26th Amendment. It reversed the SC’s reserved seats decision and gave an unrepresentative majority to an unelected government by denying reality. It allowed the secret court martials of ordinary civilians. It allowed the transfer of judges as an instrument of control. It argued in riddles and tautologies to justify the 26th Amendment.


In exchange, Justice Aminuddin, who led this bench, has been rewarded with the chief justiceship of the new FCC. As this piece is being written, he takes the oath for the new position.

Whenever there is a violation of fundamental rights or unlawful acts by the state, the matter will go before the FCC. When the state is being tried by a court that it has hand-picked, the citizens will lose every time.

The chaos created by artificially splitting constitutional and appellate jurisdictions in the context of the Pakistani legal system, with no precedent to guide it, will bring the entire system into deadlock.

The state’s ability to transfer or deselect a judge anytime they show defiance or “independence” will eliminate every judge’s ability to stand up for citizens and prevent rare public victories. The fight against the 26th and 27th Amendments is a fight for every Pakistani’s right to justice. It is not a fight to protect the judiciary for its own sake.

 

[Forsvaret]

It was a dire situation for Pakistan but that situation has considerably improved since then…

The so-called "Improvement" :

 

[Forsvaret]

Fear of a PTI populist wave and distrust of its leadership caused many ‘progressives’ to cheerlead and justify one encroachment on civilian supremacy after another.

One man’s irrational hatred aka BUGHAZ-E-IMRAN led to all this. Just say it openly already!

 

[Forsvaret]

Why should the average Pakistani care?

Yeah, why should the average Pakistani care when their votes are always stolen by the military establishment in every election and instead given to their own favorites — whom people have rejected in the same election?

 

[ARMalik]

The thing which surprises me is why all this hue and cry?? Many countries have separate constitutional courts. US, Asian countries, Most of EU countries have these courts.

 

[Forsvaret]

The thing which surprises me is why all this hue and cry?? Many countries have separate constitutional courts. US, Asian countries, Most of EU countries have these courts.

Because these countries have a functional democracy unlike Pakistan where unelected mandate thieves are passing these "constitutional" amendments for the benefit of those who brought them into power to begin with; the military establishment.

 

[Meengla]

The thing which surprises me is why all this hue and cry?? Many countries have separate constitutional courts. US, Asian countries, Most of EU countries have these courts.

After the 1973 Constitution was promulgated, most, if not all, subsequent amendments have faced vicious opposition, depending on which party was in power. Even Zia's notorious 8th Amendment was opposed while he was the Chief Martial Law Administrator cum President of Pakistan. He was the ultimate power in Pakistan but Pakistanis were/are democratic enough to publicly voice their dissent in forceful ways; Pakistan ain't no Egypt or Jordan or Saddam's Iraq.
I welcome the criticism of the latest changes even though I cautiously-welcome them.

 

[ARMalik]

Translation: I am a proud boot licker but believe me when I also claim to be a democrat.

Come one dude, stop using red chilies up your rear end and then jumping on everyone with an opinion. It makes you sound HYPER !

 

[Forsvaret]

Come one dude, stop using red chilies up your rear end and then jumping on everyone with an opinion. It makes you sound HYPER !

And what about yourself? What you just said about me sounds like you’re being judgmental!

 

[Vkdindian1]

And the Modi regime is very democratic?? I hear that your Jaishankar has been reduced to being a Yes Man of Modi because everyone who enters into the small cabinet meeting is basically Modi's Yes Man--and it shows in India's disastrous foreign policy since Modi came to power.
Your tears for Pakistan's judicial reforms somehow don't sound sincere and once again India's views align with certain political views inside Pakistan. Either you are not aware of or ignoring what was done by the topmost Judges of Pakistan since the mid 2000s and the kind of damage that caused to Pakistan's politics and its economy. Pakistanis are too civilized otherwise some of those 'honorable' Judges would be put in prison for what they did!
As for the dictatorship vs democracy argument: Democracy in Pakistan died when Bhutto was deposed. Since then, barring a very short period in the 90s when Nawaz enjoyed real power, all the govts in Pakistan have been in alliance with the Establishment.
Finally, some members, notably the expats, in this forum are upset because the same long term strategy which their Messiah Khan was devising to rule for ten years is given the Constitutional cover now. I can absolutely assure you, if he was the PM and Bajwa the Army Chief then these changes would be oh-so-wonderful.

The premise for all these amendments is a looming conflict with India.

-Why would he need lifetime immunity against any wrong doing if conflict with India is the reason of his extention and the amendments?

- All previous military rulers had also quoted similar reasons for putting themselves at the top.

- Are there no capable military officers who could take over the PA after Munir and PAF after Sidhu? Is the institution so weak that it couldn’t produce viable future leaders?

PA and PAF are professional forces and the next guy could have easily done the job as good or better than the current ones. And they wouldn’t have dropped from Mars, wherein they wouldn’t have been aware of what is happening at your borders for the sake of continuity.

These are lame excuses to usurp power.

 

[Meengla]

The premise for all these amendments is a looming conflict with India.
-Why would he need lifetime immunity against any wrong doing if conflict with India is the reason of his extention and the amendments?
- All previous military rulers had also quoted similar reasons for putting themselves at the top.

Nope, a war with India is not the only reason: There is much more than that, including preventing the misuse of power by the higher Judiciary which has caused huge damage to Pakistan's politics and economy over the last two decades. There is also a focus on stabilizing Pakistan's politics because the dramas since Zia's death in 1988 hasn't worked for Pakistan--you know, the definition of 'madness' per Einstein.
As for Asim Munir's role: While he occupies a central position due to his many engagements with key foreign players in last 5-6 months and Pakistan wants to capitalize on those engagements, he may die tomorrow of a heart attack but there are operational changes being introduced to prepare for the next conflict against. It is also a fallacy that Munir's 'immunity' is to protect against Imran: The military knows how to protect their Chiefs, if you have studied the history and even the Messiah Khan is saying that given the power back, he won't be 'vindictive' (not that anyone can trust him).

BTW, you are wrong that all the previous military power grabs were because to prepare for a war against India. Ayub, Zia, Musharraf--all the past dictators had issues with the civilian leadership over power share. Even in case of Munir's power grab, preparing better against India is just one aspect in the many changes being introduced.

 

[UndercoverJIX]

The thing which surprises me is why all this hue and cry?? Many countries have separate constitutional courts. US, Asian countries, Most of EU countries have these courts.

If it was only related to FCC then you would not see so much opposition, 50% of opposition will die down if the life long immunity was not attached to it.

Which other countries you mentioned, granted immunity to their Military commanders???

 

[Gripen9]

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