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18th Amendment: What Does It Say?

Posted on April 1, 2010
Filed Under >Adil Najam, Law & Justice, Politics

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Adil Najam
Late Wednesday night the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR) led
by PPP’s Mian Raza Rabbani signed the draft text of the “18th Amendment” to the
Constitution of Pakistan.
The News reports that some are describing this as “the best constitutional thing to happen since
the 1973 consensus Constitution. It is, indeed, a major – even a ‘historic’ – development.
However, given that this is Pakistan politics, it will be wise to wait until this actually passes
through Parliament, actually becomes reality and its provisions are actually made clear. After all,
we are quite used to things changing – dramatically at that – at the last minute, and sometimes
even after the last minute!

I have been searching for a full text of the current draft but have not found it yet,
meanwhile as I wade through the various reports of just what thsi means, here are a few
salient points that seem to be clear. Will appreciate if readers can add more on exactly
what changes are included and what they will mean for Paksiatn and its Constitution (from
various news sources):
• Reportedly the draft of what is to become the 18th Amendment itself includes 95
amendments to the 1973 Constitution. These 95 amendments will effect 70 Articles
of the existing Constitutions. There are three “schedules” and one “Annexure” in
the draft package.
In particular, the 18th Amendment will undo the impacts of the 8th Amendment
(enacted by Gen. Zia ul Haq) which had altered over 90 Articles of the Constitution,
and the 17th Amendment (enacted by Gen. Pervez Musharraf) which had altered 26
Articles of the Constitution.

• The famed article 58 (2) (b), which had first been inserted into the Constitution by
Gen. Zia ul Haq and allows the President to dissolve Parliament, and which was re-
enacted by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has been removed from the Constitution in the
draft.
• The new name of the NWFP is to be Khyber-Pakhtunkwa. The PML-N which had
long held out on this issue has reportedly agreed to this name change, although
PML-Q has maintained some reservations to it as has PPP-Sherpao.
• On the other controversial issue of the composition of the Judicial Commission, the
PML-N proposal of adding a seventh member who is a retired Supreme Court
Judge has been accepted.
• The draft proposes removal of many past amendments added by military rulers,
including the 17th Amendment.
• The draft abolishes the “concurrent list” and gives much more provincial autonomy
than is now available to the provinces. The Council of Common Interest has been
given additional powers and the provinces have been given more say on national
matters by enhancing their representation in the council.
• Reportedly the draft “purges” the name of gen. Zia-ul-Haq as President from the
Constitution (it is not yet clear what this means in practice).
• The next step in the process is for the draft to be now presented to the National
Assembly after which the Government is expected to move the 18th Amendment for
Parliamentary approval. It is expected that the draft will be tabled in Parliament
within the next couple of days.
 • The committee which worked on this draft for nine months includes representatives from
all the political groups having representation in the two houses of parliament. It included:
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, Syed Naveed
Qamar, Babar Awan, Haji Lashkari Raisani, Ishaq Dar, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan
Abbasi, Wasim Sajjad, S M Zafar, Humayun Saifullah, Farooq Sattar, Haider Abbass
Rizvi, Ahsan Iqbal, Afrasyab Khattak, Haji Muhammad Adeel, RehmatUallah Kakar,
Abdul Razaq Taheem, Mir Israr Ullah Zehri, Professor Khursheed Ahmed, Hasil Bizenjo,
Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Abdul Rahim Mandokhel, Shahid Bugti, Munir Khan
Orakzai, and Mian Raza Rabbani.
• The original Constitution was passed in the first PPP government, which has also been
the architect of the first amendments to it

Eighteenth Amendment to the

Constitution of Pakistan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the
talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.
(April 2010)

Amendment XVIII (the Eighteenth Amendment) of the Constitution of Pakistan, was

passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan on April 8, 2010, removing the power of the
President of Pakistan to dissolve the Parliament unilaterally, turning Pakistan from a semi-
presidential to a parliamentary republic, and renaming North-West Frontier Province to Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.[1] The package is expected to counter the sweeping powers amassed by the
Presidency under former Presidents General Pervez Musharraf and General Muhammad Zia-ul-
Haq and to ease political instability in Pakistan.[2][3] The 'historic' bill reverses many
infringements on Constitution of Pakistan over several decades by its military rulers.[2] The
amendment bill was passed by the Senate of Pakistan on April 15, 2010 and became an act of
parliament when a smiling President Asif Ali Zardari put his signature on the bill on April 19,
2010. It was the first time in the history of Pakistan that a president relinquished a significant
part of his powers willingly and transferred them to parliament and the office of the prime
minister.

Contents
[hide]
• 1 Background
• 2 Impact
• 3 Response
• 4 References
• 5 External links

[edit] Background
The power of the President to dissolve the Parliament was enacted by the Eighth Amendment to
the Constitution of Pakistan during the presidency of Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, before it was
removed by then-Prime minister Nawaz Sharif during his second term by the Thirteenth
Amendment. It was finally restored during the presidency of Gen. Pervez Musharraf by the
Seventeenth Amendment.[1] No elected government in Pakistan has ever completed its full term.
[3]
This bill is the first bill since 1973 to decrease the powers of the President.[4]

[edit] Impact
292 of the 342 members of the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, voted in
favour of the amendment, in a vote that was described as historic and shown live on television.
The amendment turns the President into a ceremonial head of state and transfers power to the
Prime Minister,[5] and removes the limit on a Prime Minister serving more than two terms,
opening the way for Nawaz Sharif to run again. The North-West Frontier Province is renamed
Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, in accordance with the wishes of its Pashtun-majority population.
Among other changes, courts will no longer be able to endorse suspensions of the constitution, a
judicial commission will appoint judges, and the president will no longer be able to appoint the
head of the Election Commission.[2] The bill also enhances provincial autonomy.[6] The President
will no longer be able to declare emergency rule in any province unilaterally.[4]

[edit] Response
Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, speaking after the passage of the bill, stated that "it is
dividend of the politics of reconciliation that the Nation and the Parliament are united today and
we have repealed undemocratic laws inserted to Constitution by dictators."[7] An editorial
published in Dawn welcomed the amendment and urged to parliament to go further and undo the
destructive legacy of General Zia's rule and re-examine the Hudood Ordinance and Blasphemy
law in Pakistan.[8] Ahmed Kurd, former president of Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan,
said "We fully support the 18th Amendment. It is tantamount to the overhauling of the
constitution, which had been subverted by military dictators since its inception. In the past,
parliaments have just been 'rubber stamps', whereas the present parliament seemed to be well
aware of its obligations, and therefore, was 'throwing out' the 'unconstitutional' amendments."[9]
However violence broke out in the North West Frontier Province's Hazara Division where the
Hindko-speaking population opposed the attempts to rename the province Khyber
Pakhtoonkhwa.[10]

[edit] References
1. ^ a b "Pakistan lawmakers approve weakening of presidential powers". CNN.
April 9, 2010.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/09/pakistan.constitution/.
Retrieved 9 April 2010.
2. ^ a b c Pakistan's national assembly passes key constitutional reforms, The
Sunday Telegraph, 2010-04-08
3. ^ a b Pakistan Weighs Changes to Revise Constitution, The New York Times,
2010-04-06
4. ^ a b
Pakistan parliament agrees to curb presidential powers, BBC, 2010-04-
08
5. ^ Pakistani National Assembly Votes to Limit Presidential Powers, Voice of
America, 2010-04-08
6. ^ Constitution bill sent to Senate, Dawn (newspaper), 2010-04-10
7. ^ NA passes 18th Amendment Bill, PM felicitate the Nation, Associated Press
of Pakistan, 2010-04-08
8. ^ The next round, Dawn (newspaper), 2010-04-10
9. ^ Lawyers' majority endorses 18th Amendment, Daily Times (Pakistan),
2010-04-08
10.^ Protests erupt over Pakistan NWFP name change, BBC, 2010-0413

[edit] External links

• Text of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 on pakistani.org
• Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan
[hide]
v • d • e

Constitution of Pakistan

Main body Parts · Annex · Schedules

By year 1956 · 1962 · 1973

Amendme 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17
nts · 18

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