Pakistan’s rulers are once again proving that no constitution is safe from their hunger for control. The proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment is not governance — it is a coup in legislative disguise.
Under the pretext of reform, the amendment would strip the provinces of their fiscal autonomy, dissolve what remains of judicial independence, and extinguish even the faintest flicker of civilian authority. If passed, Pakistan will no longer resemble a federal democracy but a centralised, military-dominated state masquerading as one.
The amendment’s core design is unmistakable: reclaim provincial powers over education, population planning, and the NFC Award, the crucial mechanism that ensures fair distribution of national revenue. By depriving provinces of their share, Islamabad seeks to suffocate regional governments and bring every policy lever under federal—and by extension, military—control.
The judiciary, too, is being methodically dismantled. Having survived the 26th Amendment, which already weakened its independence, the courts now face a more existential threat. The 27th Amendment would grant the executive branch sweeping powers to transfer judges and create a Federal Constitutional Court designed to rubber-stamp the government’s dictates. In such a system, judges become enforcers, not arbiters; the law becomes a tool of repression, not justice.
Even more alarming are the proposed changes to Article 243, which governs control of the armed forces. The amendment would effectively formalize the military’s supremacy over civilian leadership. It represents a quiet but complete transfer of Pakistan’s constitutional soul to the army chief, General Asim Munir, whose grip on power grows as democratic institutions crumble.
Pakistan’s democracy has long teetered on the brink. With Imran Khan, the country’s most popular politician, languishing in jail, and a pliant political class unwilling to challenge military authority, the 27th Amendment could mark the end of even the illusion of democracy.
This is not reform. It is state capture. It is the dismantling of Pakistan’s fragile constitutional order by those too afraid to face the will of their own people.
The tragedy is not just Pakistan’s. The collapse of democratic institutions in a nuclear-armed nation of 240 million threatens regional stability and global security. The world must recognize what is happening in Islamabad for what it is: the methodical construction of a military autocracy under the guise of legality.
If Pakistan’s Parliament passes this amendment, it will not be an act of legislation — it will be an obituary for democracy.
