THE 18TH AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN

SUBMITTED TO;
SIR AHMAD ALI

SUBMITTED BY
Presenters; MUHAMMAD UMAR (01-177182-027)
PARSA KHAN (01-177182-046)

Researchers; Mohammad Saifullah (01-177182-020)

Mudasir Khan (01-177182-021)
Shakeel Ahmad (01-177182-047)

Dated; JANUARY 24th, 2022

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND...................................................................................III
2. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................IV
2.1 DRAFTING OF 18TH AMENDMENT.......................................................................................IV
3. FEATURES OF THE 18TH AMENDMENT...................................................................V
3.1 DEMOCRACY...........................................................................................................................V
3.2 FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS......................................................................................................VI
3.3 EFFECT ON SUPREME COURT............................................................................................VI
3.3.1 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS....................................................................................................................VI
3.4 HIGHER AUTHORITY OF PARLIAMENT..........................................................................VII
3.4.1 INCREASE IN POWERS OF SENATE..................................................................................................VII

3.5 REDUCED PRESIDENTIAL POWERS.................................................................................VII

4. ADVANTAGES OF 18TH AMENDMENT...................................................................VIII
5. DISADVANTAGES OF 18TH AMENDMENT.............................................................VIII
6. PERSPECTIVE ON 18TH AMENDMENT...................................................................VIII
7. CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................IX
8. REFERENCES...............................................................................................................X
9. APPENDIX....................................................................................................................XI

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 1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Before the introduction of 18th Amendment within the Pakistani Constitution of Pakistan, 1973
the country was battling on its own because of the result of the political instability of President
Pervez Musharraf’s rule over the country leaving a highly volatile and unstable constitutional
framework which led to some alarms being raised regarding the structure and value of the shape
given to the 1973 constitution of Pakistan. The reason behind was because when the former
President Musharraf fled the country in 2008 as the 4 th military ruler, he had led to many changes
within the constitution to acquire absolute power over the country. This can be proven as he
raised the authority of the executive branch, reduced the powers of the Parliament as well as the
judiciary branch of the government. As in the thirst of his complete control over the country, he
was solely responsible for having an unhealthy control over the institutions of the state
completely diminishing authority of the Provincial Assemblies as well as allowing himself the
power to dissolve National Assembly at his discretion under Article 58 (2)(b) of the Constitution
by shaping his government in the form of centralization. Because of his excessive authority on
Pakistan, it led to many devastating effects like the lack of political freedom like the forced
disappearances of opponents which effected the democratic country as well as the constant
violation of human rights and its suppression which is why legislators quickly gathered to re-
evaluate and focus on the ruined foundational values of the country. 1
As a result of the disaster, the former President left behind it was necessary to improve the
transparency not only within the political system by the re-evaluation of the Constitution by
reducing powers the executive authority had and equally dividing and independency of all the
three branches of government, the powers that the Parliament and Provincial Assemblies shall be
strengthened and political autonomy shall be increased which was made possible by the
introduction and implementation of the 18th amendment.

2. INTRODUCTION

1
Imran Ahmed, The 18th Amendment: Historical Developments and Debates in Pakistan, Institute of South Asian
Studies, (September 04, 2020), https://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/papers/the-18th-amendment-historical-developments-
and-debates-in-pakistan/

III
Because of such devastating aftermath, President Asif Ali Zardari decided upon a joint sitting of
the Parliament to reevaluate the mess left behind which took place on September 20, 2008, with
the purpose to provide more transparency and to return and shape itself as a democratic country
which was done by focusing on the most important change which was giving higher authority of
the Prime Minister rather than the President giving him a form of ceremonial role to some
degree. This was one of the most highlighting features as for the very first time in history a
President voluntarily had given his consent to reduce the authority and power granted to him
under the Constitution by surrendering his powers to Prime Minister and granting himself a
ceremonial role who will need to predominantly act on the Prime Minister’s advice.

2.1 DRAFTING OF 18TH AMENDMENT

Initially, the main goal was to shape the text of the Constitution into a stable legal footing by
working on reducing the discretion of a person with authority and strengthening the fundamental
rights by bringing forwards different suggestions and proposals from the constituent members,
and private members that were introduced in Senate. All of this was possible by the
Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms with the purpose to reduce
authoritarianism. With such drastic changes and volatile conditions, the proceedings were made
private with the idea to ensure more open environment to be able to discuss these matters and
reaching consensus based on expert advice as well as numerous bills being introduced by so
many different experts the Committee met a total of 77 times by revising all Articles of the
Constitution out of which a total of 102 Articles were either amended, deleted, substituted etc.
By changing its course from a semi-presidential to a completely federal and parliamentary form
of government, the 18th Amendment Act, 2010 received its Presidential Assent by the active
President Asif Ali Zardari at the time on 19th April 2010. 2

3. FEATURES OF THE 18TH AMENDMENT

Passed by 292 of the 342 members of the National Assembly on April 8 th 2010, further passed by
the Senate on April 15th 2010 and finally gaining the assent of the President with his signature on

2
Mahboob Hussain & Rizwan Ullah Kokab, Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan: Success and
Controversies, 8(1) ASS 81, 81-82 (2012).

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April 19th 2010 the 18th amendment finally came into existence and in force which had some
drastic features like the President completely lost his power to dissolve the National Assembly
unilaterally, North-West Frontier Province was renamed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the demand
of the Pashtuns. Aside from this no court situated within the jurisdiction of Pakistan will have the
authority to declare the suspension of the constitution, a Judicial Commission shall appoint
judges, President shall neither have the authority to elect the head of Election Commission nor
have the power to announce emergency rule in any provinces of Pakistan unilaterally. Aside
from this President Zia ul Haq’s name has been removed from the Constitution, 17th
Amendment and Legal Framework Order has been repealed, suspending the constitution is liable
to high treason, Prime Minister shall be the chairperson of Council of Common Interests which
shall meet once in 90 days, Islamabad High Court was established, the introduction of Article
25(A) which makes it the State’s duty to grant free and compulsory education to all till they
attain 16 years of age. 3

3.1 DEMOCRACY
To ensure a smoother democratic country the very first highlighting feature which has a diverse
effect was to eliminate the suspension, abrogation and subversion of the constitution as action
upon any of these will result in high treason which is to be able to ensure that no act is
committed which will damage the constitution as this is why no courts of Pakistan have the
authority to validate high treason. Similarly, Pakistan has also focused on improving its
democracy via ensuring that declaring emergency needs approved by the Parliament within 10
days instead of the President acting alone. 4
3.2 FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

With the development being made in a democracy, there was amendment and addition made in
many fundamental rights with the introduction of free and compulsory education under the
newly added Article 25(A), fair trail necessary even when an individual is arrested or in
detention as well as the right to the association being re-constructed which made Pakistan stricter
in terms of protection of the basic rights of its citizens and residents. This amendment also

3
Colin Cookman, The 18th Amendment and Pakistan’s Political Transitions, Center for American Progress, (April
19, 2010), https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/news/2010/04/19/7587/the-18th-amendment-and-
pakistans-political-transitions/
4
Mahboob Hussain & Rizwan Ullah Kokab, Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan: Success and
Controversies, 8(1) ASS 81, 82 (2012).

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introduced Article 19(A) which grants every citizen to have access to information especially
those which is a matter of public importance. 5

3.3 EFFECT ON SUPREME COURT

With the balance of powers changing because of the amendment, it left an impact on Supreme
Court as with the addition made under Article 6 it eradicated the doctrine of necessity by
ensuring that interpretation was an exercise for both the Parliament and the judiciary by giving
authority to the former to step in and clarify any interpretation to the Supreme Court. Before the
amendment was introduced there were two legislative lists, Federal which had the authority to
legislate and Concurrent which had the authority to deal with matters that were shared by
provinces and federation. With the introduction of the amendment the latter was abolished and
the power oof federation was reduced to subjects mentioned under the 4th schedule of the
Constitution with the rest being handed over to the provincial governments. 6

3.3.1 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS

The judicial appointments were also one of the prominent features in the amendment’s reform
agenda as it was through this amendment that a new procedure was laid down in terms of
appointment of judges of superior courts which is to be processed by two forums. Firstly, it is the
Judicial Commission led by Chief Justice of Pakistan have the main duty to assign judge for each
vacant seat available that consists of two Supreme Court Judges, Chief Justices, two senior
judges of High Court, Attorney General, Ministers of Federal and Provincial Law and one
representative Federal and Provincial Bar Councils. After it goes through Judicial Commission it
is passed onto Parliamentary Committee for confirmation which consists of eight total members
four from each House as it is equally divided between the Treasury and Opposition Benches
which is then sent to President through Prime Minister for the official announcement of their
appointment. 7

3.4 HIGHER AUTHORITY OF PARLIAMENT

5
Mahboob Hussain & Rizwan Ullah Kokab, Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan: Success and
Controversies, 8(1) ASS 81, 82-83 (2012).
6
Hassan Niazi, The 18th Amendment and the Supreme Court, The Express Tribune (May 19, 2020),
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2224292/18th-amendment-supreme-court

7
Saroop Ijaz, Judicial Appointments in Pakistan: Coming Full Circle, 1(1) LLJ 86, 87-88 (2014).

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For a democratic institution, it was necessary to increase the power that the Parliament held
which was justly done so under this amendment by focusing on joint sitting authorization to take
place by deciding upon themselves on the referendum as suggested by the Prime Minister. The
Cabinet is responsible to both the Houses and the powers regarding the legislative process were
solely granted to the Parliament with each House having the power to decide upon the passing or
rejection of the legislation which led to the elimination of the Meditation Committee. The
National Executive Committee, as well as Council of Common Interest, are now obliged to
submit to Parliament its annual report for consideration, the Parliament is also responsible for
having a role in appointing judges and Election Commissioner. 8
3.4.1 INCREASE IN POWERS OF SENATE
In terms of increased authority of Parliament, the Upper House or Senate has gained a handful of
advantages as its roles have been enhanced by representing units of federation by increasing their
working days to 110 as well as an increase in the time allocation on a bill of the budget from 7 to
14 days. The report regarding the principles of policy regarding its observance and
implementation will now also be laid down before the Senate as previously National Assembly
only had the power to do so. In terms of promulgating ordinance can only be done so when both
the Houses are not in session as well as including Senate shall have the right to receive the report
of Auditor General for consideration. 9
3.5 REDUCED PRESIDENTIAL POWERS
Another highlighting feature of the 18th amendment is the power reduction the President has by
giving him a ceremonial role to some degree while shifting the majority of the power to the
Prime Minister. The prime examples of this are the reduction in power of the President in the
dissolution of National Assembly which is a discretionary power that has been removed as the
President will now act on the advice made by the Prime Minister and in case of dissolution
President will only appoint newer members of Cabinet on the advice of Prime Minister.
Moreover, the amendment also reduced his powers to request reconsideration within 15 days and
whatever the result maybe will have to act on it without withholding his assent which decreases
discretion of President. 10

8
Mahboob Hussain & Rizwan Ullah Kokab, Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan: Success and
Controversies, 8(1) ASS 81, 83-84 (2012).
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid 84-85.

VII
4. ADVANTAGES OF 18TH AMENDMENT
As one of the most essential amendments ever made to the 1973 constitution it allowed Pakistan
to become a proper federation which further promotes an efficient division of labor that allows
provinces to be more aware with issues in their areas by holding them responsible to resolve
those issues which allow the Federal Government to only concentrate on national issues such as
national security, debt etc. One of the biggest advantages is the restructure of National Finance
Commission (NFC) Award which ensures provincial autonomy by allocating that the share of
each province in the award shall not be less than the share given in the previous award where the
Federal Government could not intrude upon the fixed 57% share of fiscal resources belonging to
provinces. 11

5. DISADVANTAGES OF 18TH AMENDMENT

While the introduction of NFC award is the biggest advantage it is also the biggest disadvantage
as it has been problematic especially for Finance Ministers to be able to navigate in the allocation
of the budget because of the provincial limitation implemented on them which is why it is not
done properly. Another problematic feature was the removal of Concurrent Legislative List
because it led to the Federal Government losing all authority over legislation resulting in the lack
of uniform legislation especially in terms of health, education and fundamental rights. 12

6. PERSPECTIVE ON 18TH AMENDMENT

Overall, this amendment was one of the most prominent changes made within the history of
Pakistan to its constitution which has shaped the country into a more democratic state by setting
a condition for the application of every member of the Parliament to be righteous and if found
contrary to this by any court can result in their disqualification with some essential changes
being made for a smoother constitution which is why the features, as well as the history of 18 th
amendment, is of such fundamental importance because it completely changed the course of
Pakistan and its political system. Because it was through this amendment that twisted the course
of the country towards democracy by empowering federation and the functioning of Parliament
based on institutions.

11
Hassan Niazi, In defence of the 18th Amendment, The Express Tribune (November 06, 2018),
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1841228/defence-18th-amendment
12
A Case For Reversal, The Nation (October 29, 2018), https://nation.com.pk/29-Oct-2018/a-case-for-reversal

VIII
7. CONCLUSION
In short, this journey has led to political peace and has been one of the key components that
highlighted the flaws within the weaknesses of the 1973 Pakistani Constitution by increasing the
rate of success with the downfall that it also increased the risk and cost of failure . This entire
passage has also made prominent the sources behind resilience embedded in culture by
establishing dependencies that even though highlighted the criticism but also led towards a rather
efficient state by focusing on citizen participation.

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8. REFERENCES
1. A Case For Reversal, The Nation (October 29, 2018), https://nation.com.pk/29-Oct-2018/a-case-for-
reversal
2. Colin Cookman, The 18th Amendment and Pakistan’s Political Transitions, Center for American Progress,
(April 19, 2010), https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/news/2010/04/19/7587/the-18th-
amendment-and-pakistans-political-transitions/
3. Hassan Niazi, In defence of the 18th Amendment, The Express Tribune (November 06, 2018),
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1841228/defence-18th-amendment
4. Hassan Niazi, The 18th Amendment and the Supreme Court, The Express Tribune (May 19, 2020),
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2224292/18th-amendment-supreme-court
5. Imran Ahmed, The 18th Amendment: Historical Developments and Debates in Pakistan, Institute of South
Asian Studies, (September 04, 2020), https://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/papers/the-18th-amendment-historical-
developments-and-debates-in-pakistan/
6. Mahboob Hussain & Rizwan Ullah Kokab, Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan:
Success and Controversies, 8(1) ASS 81, 81-85 (2012).
7. Saroop Ijaz, Judicial Appointments in Pakistan: Coming Full Circle, 1(1) LLJ 86, 87-88 (2014).

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9. APPENDIX
 2214-word count without Table of Contents, Footnotes & References Page
 Overall Plagiarism Report:

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