Topic: How do you understand the 18th Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan?

Word Count of the Content: 1200

BACKGROUND

The 1973 Constitution founded for a Parliamentary form of government, however powers were
later transferred to the Presidents, mainly under the military rule by Zia ul-Haq and Pervez
Musharraf. After the resignation of President Musharraf, the Speaker of the National Assembly
was ordered by President Zardari to constitute an all-party committee of both Houses of
Parliament. The main task of which would be to propose amendments to the Constitution. Hence,
18th Amendment was passed in both the houses, National Assembly and the Senate
unanimously. This amendment altered 97 articles of the Constitution. However, the key features
of 1973 Constitution were restored. Constitutional changes made previously were removed, on
the basis that these were not legal, so it repealed the 17th Amendment as well.1

IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT OF THE 18TH AMENDMENT

Incorporation of 18th amendment in Constitution of Pakistan 1973 deeply influenced different

legal and political aspects of Pakistan.

First of all it is imperative to mention that it is in favor of superiority of President over

Prime Minister. Prime Minister is no longer duty bound to consult with President for cabinet
decisions. Presidential powers regarding National Assembly’s dissolution has also been reduced
and he is now obliged to follow the advice of Prime Minister or Cabinet. His legislative powers
have been curtailed too, as power of holding referendum on matter of public importance has been
transferred to Prime Minister. 2

Secondly, it is inclined towards democracy and is against dictatorial rule. Both Legal
Framework Ordinance 2002 and Chief Executive’s Orders of 2002 had been repealed as a
consequence of it, as these were promulgated without any legal authority. Prior to this
1
The 18th Amendment To The Constitution And Electoral Reform In Pakistan, Democracy Reporting International,
August 2010, http://democracy-reporting.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/dri_briefing_paper_5_-
_comments_to_the_18th_amendment.pdf (last visited Sep 7, 2020)
2
Mahboob Hussain, Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan: Success and Controversies,
RESEARCH GATE, Dec 2011,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267784271_Eighteenth_Amendment_in_the_Constitution_of_Pakistan_Su
ccess_and_Controversies (last accessed Sep 7, 2020)

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amendment the emergency powers were conferred to military rulers but after its inclusion to the
constitution, emergency imposition procedure was made quite difficult. As consensus of both the
houses of parliament in separate sessions within only ten days, was made compulsory for
imposition of an emergency.3

Thirdly, protection of more fundamental rights was ensured. Right to fair trial to the
person who is arrested or detained by Police, right to education for the children of age 5 to 16
years and right to information about all matters of public importance were added in Constitution
and right to association clause has been repaired, he must be entrusted with the right to fair trial
and due process.4

Fourthly, it focused to empower the deprived communities of the country. Compensation

of downtrodden parts was ensured by entrusting the powers to provincial and further to local
government levels.5 In article 38, a sub-clause has been inserted that ensured share of the
provinces in all the federal services. A secretariat at Council of Common Interest (CCI) would
meet at least once in thirty days to resolve any conflict among the provinces. If an urgent matter
of conflict among the provinces, arises then on the request of a province, Prime Minister may
call up a meeting of CCI. An authority to resolve the disputes at Provincial and Federal levels
with regard to electricity has been entrusted to CCI. To ensure a balanced development and
regional equity, National Economic Council (NEC) has been given an obligation to convene a
meeting at least twice within a year. In order to ensure their active participation both CCI and
NEC have been obligated to submit to the Parliament, their annual reports.6

Fifth impact was that it minimized the control of Centre over provincial resources. More
autonomy has been granted to the provinces than before. Only a voter or resident of a province
could be its governor and no one belonging to a province could be the governor of the other
province. In article one, spellings of two provinces’ names have been corrected. Moreover, North
West Frontier Province (NWFP) has been renamed as Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. This was done to
indicate that an effort to recognize ethnic identities of provinces has been made.7

3
Id at 82.
4
Id at 82.
5
Id at 82.
6
Id at 83.
7
Id at 83.

2
 Sixth step that was taken through this amendment was to support the minorities.
Representation of the non-Muslims in senate was ensured by reserving 4 seats of senate for them.
So after the approval of this amendment, in the next senate election, from each province one
senator would be non-Muslim.8

Seventh and remarkable achievement of this amendment was the empowerment of

Parliament. This was done by granting its joint sitting the power of deciding the referendum
recommended by the Prime Minister. Prior to this amendment, its only function was to write
down referendum procedure and compilation of its results. Moreover, it narrowed down the
legislation process to only the Parliament and on the passage of laws governmental role was
diminished. In addition to this, the time limit for consideration over the bill passed by both
houses of the Parliament given to the President has been reduced to 10 days that was 30 days
previously. Senate’s role has been enhanced in way that its working days has been increased
from 90 to 110, now the President has to send the report on implementation of policy principles
to Senate too, as before this, he was bound to send it to National Assembly only. Similarly, now
Cabinet would be responsible to both houses. The time of consideration of Senate over the bill
has been increased to 14 days from 7 to ensure the best quality and quantity of debate.9

Eighth alteration was limitation of number of Cabinet members to 11 percent of total

parliamentarians. And Chief Minister’s advisers were reduced to 5 in numbers thus reducing the
expenses. To enhance impartiality and minimize biasness ninth step taken was that immediate
family members of Prime Minister and Cabinet members were not allowed to contest the
election. And the elections would not be held by secret ballot.10

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Amendment is a doctrine of immense importance that plays a pivotal role in flexibility of the
constitutions of the states or countries. Amendments are necessary to cope up with the changing
needs of time. However, amendment doesn’t constitute a complete change of a constitution
rather it is to alter some of its provisions which are required to be altered for betterment of the
country. As far as 18th amendment is concerned, it also introduced alterations in various clauses

8
Id at 83.
9
Id at 83.
10
Id at 84.

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of Constitution of Pakistan 1973, but it restored key features of the original constitution. Keeping
in view the intentions of founding fathers of Constitution, 18th amendment was proposed to
ensure democratic and Federal form of government. It again restored the powers of Federal
Government and Prime Minister that were undertaken by President with the passage of time.
However, to avoid centralization of power, provinces were granted autonomy in their matters.
So, in the view of aforementioned facts, it is concluded that 18 th amendment has played
phenomenal role in restoring the integrity of Constitution of Pakistan and has very aptly
addressed and protected rights of minorities at grass root level.