18th Amendment

Eighteenth Amendment
E IGHTEENTH A MENDMENT 1973

TO THE C ONSTITUTION
E DITOR D R N OOR
UL
H AQ
A SSISTANT E DITOR M UHAMMAD N AWAZ K HAN
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C ONTENT
Preface 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. v Implementing Expectations 1 Presidents Speech at the Joint Session of Parliament 3 A New Beginning 13 Amending the Constitution 15 Provinces Must Bear Responsibility Now 17 The 18th and After 18 Listen to Hazara 19 FATA Forgotten 20 What the Provinces Gain 22 Its Time to Deliver; Senate Passes18th Amendment Bill 24 Rare Show of Solidarity at Presidency 27 Controversy over 18th Amendment 30 A New Controversy 32 PML-Q to Come out with 19th Amendment 35 A Summer of Discontent? 36 Who is Supreme? 39 Correcting a Historic Wrong 41 Health and the 18th Amendment 42 Time to Save the Higher Education Commission 45 Higher Education 47 18th Amendment: Implementation Commission Report Unveiled48 Text of Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 51 Text of 19th Amendment Bill 94 98
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P REFACE
The historic Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 was passed unanimously in the National Assembly on April 8, 2011. It amended as many as 102 articles. The basic features of the 1973 Constitution, i.e., Islamic Republic, parliamentary democracy, federal structure, independence of judiciary are retained. Besides, most provisions of earlier amendments, especially those relating to religion, are retained. For instance, the Second Amendment introduced in 1974 declaring Ahmadiya community as a nonMuslim minority continues. Similarly, Islamisation clauses of the Eighth amendment inserted by the government of General Ziaul Haq in 1985 were retained, e.g., making the Objective Resolution of 1949, which was earlier added as a preamble to 1956, 1962 and even 1973 constitutions, was made a substantive part of the Constitution, establishment of the Federal Shariat Court and the insertion in the oath of all legislators the vow to strive to preserve the Islamic ideology which is the basis for the creation of Pakistan. Similarly, certain provisions of 17th Amendment such as increasing the number of legislators were retained, while certain other provisions, e.g., the powers of the President to dissolve the National Assembly or the requirement of graduate qualification for legislators were deleted. An important provision was added introducing a new procedure for the appointment of judges through a Judicial Commission. The biggest beneficiaries are the federating units who have got full autonomy to legislate on 47 subjects enumerated in the Concurrent List, which now stands repealed from the Constitution. Several other benefits are given in the article What the Provinces Gain at page 22 of the Factfile. The renaming of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) as Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa which the Pakhtoons of the province celebrated, but the people of Hazara Division protested against; and the demand of the people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to change their name and status, and to discard the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) remains to be met. The IPRI Factfile provides the texts of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 and of the Nineteenth Amendment Bill, as well as some selected articles of public interest that appeared in the media between April 3, 2010 and May 4, 2011.
May 31, 2011.
Dr Noor ul Haq
I MPLEMENTING E XPECTATIONS
The recent constitutional package, if it goes through, will truly be a milestone in the constitutional history of Pakistan, and in this regard all the committee members, particularly its chairman, deserve full credit for developing a consensus among all political parties on the matter. The package carries out a constitutional cleansing of the amendments made by previous dictators and substantially implements the Charter of Democracy. With the passage of the 18th Amendment, the constitution shall stand restored closely to its original structure. The 18th Amendment package, when adopted, will make the provinces responsible for various affairs of the people. These pertain to items in the Concurrent Legislative List which once deleted will not only restrain the federal government permanently from exercising its legislative powers but also restrict its executive exercise of authority. This means that the provincial government will from then onwards become responsible for addressing and resolving problems of the common man regarding the items that stand devolved on it. This raises several technical and operational questions. Will the provinces immediately be in a position to act and take on this responsibility both at the executive and legislative level? This truly will be the real challenge for the provincial government and the provincial political forces. Remember, even before the 18th Amendment package, the provinces were concurrently exercising the right of legislation as well. However, they have never asserted or exercised that right meaningfully so far. The deletion of the concurrent list does not empower them anymore than what they already had before the deletion of the list and the 18th Amendment package only blocks the federal government from legislating further. Therefore, the provincial governments will immediately need to get into action because from the point of view of the man on the street the deletion of the concurrent list will be no less than a miracle that will be giving new powers to the province which he expects would transform his life with day-to-day issues being sorted out. The provincial governments will, thus, need to compete with the expectations of the common man. This requires the provincial government and the federal government to sit down together and plan the downsizing of the federal government. Due to the deletion of the concurrent list, various controlling ministries such as those of health, labour, tourism, environment, etc will need to be downsized. The respective ministries in the provinces will need to take over the reins with immediate effect. Some statutes that are linked to items of the concurrent list also contain regulatory and licensing framework such as the Arms Act and licensing for
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drugs and medicines. With the deletion of the list the right of grant of licensing shall devolve on the provinces. The provincial governments should be ready to perform these technical and operational licensing functions. If the federal ministries are not downsized, then the deletion of the concurrent list will be of no use to the provinces and the effects shall not trickle down to the common man. The idea of deleting the list is to hand over the governance of about 47 items completely to the provincial government to the exclusion of the federal governments interference. If despite the deletion the federal ministries continue to exercise control then this entire exercise shall be defeated in spirit. These points demand that apart from the political consensus that the committee has managed to evolve, an extensive exercise with reference to the operational aspects be commissioned or carried out by experts on provincial affairs and civil servants working for the federal government who could give their recommendations for downsizing to the political leadership at the earliest. The present committee should not be disbanded, but continue to function so that the operational aspects of the deletion of the list are also properly supervised. If there is a delay in implementing and clearing these operational snags, then the entire exercise can backfire because people will say that despite the pledges of the politicians, the promise of autonomy has not been fulfilled. No doubt we welcome the 18th Amendment. But it is equally important that the political leadership identifies within the existing constitution several pro-province provisions which have not been implemented faithfully. If the committee asserts itself to implement these, the feeling of deprivation in the provinces shall be substantially reduced. For example, Articles 28, 150, 151, 157, 158, 161, 162, 165, 251 still need proper implementation. Likewise, there are provisions in the constitution that provide for the appointment of arbitrators for issues between the provinces and the federal government. Nominating a panel of retired judges as available arbitrators will further reassure the provinces. It is a positive development that the 18th Amendment package has further strengthened the Council of Common Interest (CCI). However, it would be extremely useful if it is considered that rules be notified for the functioning of the CCI and National Economic Council. That way the constitution will provide a legal conveyer belt to the provinces to bring to the federal government in a systematic manner their complaints and grudges not only through government channels but also possibly through private channels.
Ahmer Bilal Soofi, Dawn (Islamabad), April 3, 2010, http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/thenewspaper/editorial/implementing-expectations-340
P RESIDENT A SIF A LI Z ARDARI S S PEECH S ESSION OF P ARLIAMENT

Following is the text of Presidents speech:BISMILLAH-IR RAHMAN-IR RAHIM
AT THE
J OINT
Madam Speaker I submit myself before Allah, in all humility, to address the Parliament at the beginning of its Third Year. It is a great honor for me, to share with this august House, the achievements of the government and the aspiration of our people. I wish to thank you for the honor shown to me. This is indeed a Benazir day, a Benazir moment. It is a moment enshrine in her philosophy, in her idea for Pakistan. Indeed, it is a milestone, in the struggle of the people. There were anxious moments when some people feared that we had failed. But collectively we were able to resolve differences. Making History by restoring the 1973 Constitution, and more. The Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment Bill has already been laid in the Parliament. I pause to congratulate each one of you. Because, today belongs to every Pakistani. I congratulate each and every member of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms, the Parliament and indeed the whole nation, on the laying of this Bill. I also congratulate all the political parties in the government and the opposition for displaying a true national spirit. They have all risen above partisan politics, in an unprecedented show of national solidarity. I wish to thank the Law Minister Dr Babar Awan, and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, for extending cooperation to the Parliamentary Committee, led by the honorable Raza Rabbani, adviser to the Prime Minister. I am truly appreciative of the commitment and hard work put in by Mian Raza Rabbani and all members of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms. Two years ago, standing here I had urged the Parliament, to revisit the 17th Amendment and do away with Article 58 (2) (b). And last year, repeating the request, I also urged you Madam Speaker, to form an All Parties Committee for this purpose, History will record, that it was achieved, when the first woman Speaker in the Muslim World, presided over this august House.
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Congratulations Madam Speaker We have reasons to be proud. It is the first major Constitutional reform in more than three decades. Previously there were piecemeal constitutional amendments. But most of these were brought about to legitimize unelected leaders. And NOT for the cause of the people. This indeed is a great achievement of the democratic process. That has begun to take root. The amendments will make the Constitution, truly democratic and federal in character, and restore provincial rights and Parliamentary sovereignty. I need not repeat the salient features of the Constitution. The Seventeenth Amendment has been repealed subject to amendments and the provinces given autonomy as never before. We have, therefore, honored our pledge to restore the supremacy of the Parliament. Finally, the people of Pukhtoonkhwah will get their identity as their province is renamed as Khyber Pukhtoonkhwah. Madam Speaker We are witnessing the power of a democratic government in action. A democracy, that some people think is fragile. Fragile it may seem, but IRRESPONSIBLE it is not. Indeed we could have achieved much more, only if the democratic process had not been repeatedly buried. And, the Constitution not dismissed with contempt as a mere 15 page document. We all know, that the history of our Constitution is a history of subversion. The repeated suspension of the Constitution by undemocratic forces gravely undermined the Federation. It led to the tragic neglect of the provinces and disempowered the people. Sad is the history of our Constitution being abrogated. But sadder still, that the pillars of the state validated the subversion of the Constitution. The nation can take pride that it has closed that sorry chapter. Madam Speaker The first Constitution was given to the people in 1973 by the political leaders of the time, led by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the Pakistan Peoples Party. It was based on Parliamentary Democracy, Federalism and Islamic principles.
It had the support and backing of all provinces and major political parties. In a short span of five years, the people of Pakistan made great progress in Freedom, Democracy and Constitutionalism. The nation was filled with energy, a sense of purpose and shared destiny. The country was buzzing with ideas and enterprise. People were given their universal right to a passport, and the economy grew, as money poured in from expatriates. The people got jobs and had opportunities in all sectors. Fundamental rights were introduced for the first time, and people felt protected. The emancipation of women began as they entered the Police Force, Foreign Service and Subordinate Judiciary. Azad Jammu and Kashmir got autonomy with its own President, Prime Minister and Judiciary. Balochistan got Provincial status, with Provincial Assembly and a High Court. The emancipation of the people in the tribal areas and Northern areas began. The Simla Accord of 1972 bought the longest peace between India and Pakistan, and brought back the Pakistani prisoners of war, with safety and honor. The first PPP government led the historic OIC summit and gave Pakistan its nuclear program. But, just as people had begun to feel a sense of relevance, on the fateful day of fifth of July 1977, the Constitution was subverted. The hopes and dreams of a people were shattered, A process of national decay set in. Without learning from history, the Constitution was further distorted by yet another intervention in 1999. Madam Speaker The Pakistan Peoples Party and its allies had promised the nation, that distortions to the 1973 Constitution would be removed. That the powers of the Parliament would be restored. I am happy that Allah gave us the opportunity to rise to the expectations of the people. It shows that given political will, Parliament can deliver. That if we keep aside our prejudices and egos, we can move mountains. Strengthening Parliament has been the cornerstone of our political philosophy. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto refused to weaken democracy by rejecting offers made to her to boycott Parliament, when her Party had only 17 members in the National Assembly.
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In line with her philosophy in November last year, I gave up the National Command Authority, and placed it under the Parliament through the Prime Minister, Although I was neither asked nor required to do so. We are all answerable to history. I have said before that I have walked from the gallows to the Presidency. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had declared that he would prefer to die at the hands of dictator rather than at the hands of history. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will remain alive in history for standing up to the militants, despite threats and warnings, not only from ordinary people but also from heads of governments. As the custodian of their legacy I have my eyes on history. By standing in their shadows today and empowering the Parliament, I hope to walk into the annals of history, Inshallah. Madam Speaker Let us pledge that we will uphold the supremacy of the Constitution. This requires that each pillar of the state work in its constitutional limits, and does not trample on the domain of others. For stability and development, each organ of the state must work within the parameters of the Constitution. We believe in reconciliation, and not confrontation. I recall that after the martyrdom of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto some had advised confrontation. We were advised to boycott elections. And confront dictatorship in the streets. But we said that democracy was the best revenge. Today I hope they will admit that our stand has been vindicated to some extent. In the words of our great leader Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. I Quote, We did not come this far, we did not sacrifice this much, to fail. Together we will find a tomorrow better than any of the yesterdays we have ever known. (Unquote) I want to take this opportunity to say, that the Constitutional Reforms Package is not a favor to anyone. It is a national duty, our duty to the people of Pakistan. Let there be no doubt about it. Madam Speaker May I remind you, that from the first day our government inherited: An ailing economy compounded by the neglect of power sector, circular debt and global recession, Rising militancy and extremism; and
A crisis of confidence.
Indeed, time and history has placed a great responsibility, on our shoulders. We cannot abandon our duty. We have to give solutions and move on. I realize the economic burden on our nation. We are aware that prices have risen, and incomes are squeezed. Notwithstanding the boom in rural economy I realize the economic hardships faced by men, women and children. But I am confident that we will overcome the challenges left to us by the previous regimes. To stabilize the economy, the government had to take some very difficult decisions, even at the cost of its popularity, which no political government likes to do. As a result of those difficult decisions we hope to put the economy on road to recovery. The foreign exchange reserves have increased and the Karachi Stock Exchange has made impressive gains, without any artificial inducements. Remittances have increased by nearly 25% a year, due to new incentives. For the first time, remittances in one month, exceeded 800 million dollars, last September. A new policy of public-private partnership has been adopted. International credit rating agencies have upgraded Pakistan. The government has achieved, international financial respectability, despite all the obstacles. The crisis of confidence has been one of our most serious political challenges. That is why we apologized to the people of Balochistan, for the excesses done to them in the past. But we have done much more than tendering apology. The government has taken a number of significant measures. After long years, the NFC Award was finalized with consensus. I congratulate the government for once again making history. I had the honor of addressing the Parliament twice in one year. In my second address to Parliament, I had urged the setting up of a Committee on Balochistan. The Agahaz i Huqooq Balochistan has been announced. The government has set up a Commission on Missing Persons. Indeed once again, Madam Speaker, the honor is also shared with you. Political reforms have been launched, in Gilgit Baltistan. A woman has been appointed Governor Gilgit-Baltistan in the name of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The Council of Common Interests has been reconstituted.
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A lot more needs to be done. It can be done. It will be done. MAANA KEH NA ZAMEEN KO GULZAR KAR SAKAI KUCH KHAAR KAM TO KAR GAI GUZRAI JIDHER SAI HUM Madam Speaker Poverty has chained the creative potential of our people. The government introduced The Benazir Income Support Program, to break the cycle of poverty. Digital Smart Cards have been introduced for transparency. The Smart Cards will entitle the poor families to accident and health insurance, and many other social benefits. Interest free loan of Rs 300,000 named Waseela-e-Haq, is given to the female head of the family. This has been done to empower our mothers and sisters. These are ground breaking steps towards a welfare state. I am aware that a crippling power shortage has slowed economic and industrial growth. We inherited a shortfall of thousands of MW, but will not offer any excuses. We realize the suffering that load shedding causes to our people. We are painfully aware of the darkness it spreads, how children study by candlelight, and how the wheels of industry often stop. We will not dwell on the past, as to how the independent power projects launched by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, were made controversial. The government is addressing the problem with the help of the private sector, although some have tried to make the Rental Projects controversial. Construction of the Neelum Power Project in Azad Kashmir has started. The Basha Dam has been launched. It will generate 4500 MW of power, and store over 6.5 million acre feet of water. The Thar Coal Project has been revived. The government is mindful of the water issue. For the first time, a Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Water has been appointed. We have raised the issue with India. It was the first thing I raised with Indian leadership in my first contact and I have raised it on every occasion we have met. We will continue to raise it at every international forum, within the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty. The government is also addressing water issues between the provinces.
The issues will be resolved through available constitutional and legal mechanisms. Thirty two small and medium dams will be built in the country. Work on three of the dams has already started. For the first time, state land in their command areas will be irrigated and distributed free, among the women of that area. For the first time in over four decades, agriculture is being revolutionized, through hybrid seed, improved technology and high intensity cultivation. Madam Speaker Women and minorities are the most vulnerable groups. The government enacted legislation against the harassment of women at the workplace. We will pursue the pledges made by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto at the Beijing Conference, and in the document on CEDAW. Women have been made beneficiaries, of the Benazir Income Support Program. The job quota for women has been increased. Efforts are continuing, to draw the minorities into the mainstream of national life. The blasphemy law will not be allowed to be misused, against any one for settling personal and political scores. An Inter-Faith Complex is being planned in Islamabad, and interfaith Harmony Committees are being established at district level. Steps have also been taken to integrate the special people in the mainstream of national life. Madam Speaker The second parliamentary year witnessed an exceptionally dynamic Parliament. It passed a record number of bills. The Prime Minister personally attended the Parliament session 96 times. It is a record. Congratulations Mr. Prime Minister. Laws have been passed, to protect the weak and the vulnerable, and undo the wrongs done by dictators. The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace, is one such landmark piece of legislation. It was our obligation to the women of Pakistan, in the name of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. I wish to compliment the Parliament on its performance. The Government believes in transparent accountability of all. That is across the board, and NOT selective. Let everyone be judged by the same yardstick.
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Let there be no different laws for different people. I am happy to state that after consultations with the stake holders, reforms in FATA and amendments to the FCR have been finalized. These reforms will soon be implemented. The UN Commission of Inquiry in the assassination of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, will be submitting its report very soon. We are also mindful of our obligation to carry out a national investigation. Madam Speaker I can assure you that, health and education and population planning will receive far greater attention and resources than ever before. We need to work collectively to combat hunger and disease. For Labour also, the PPP manifesto has guided our action. After restoring the sacked employees, the government also regularized contract employees. Now a worker can no longer be dismissed from service for no reason, as was the practice in the past. The workers have been given the right to seek legal remedies against dismissal. Trade union activities have been restored. The Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme has been introduced. It offers 12% stock shares to workers in state run enterprises. It benefits 5 hundred thousand families. For the first time, workers have been made part of the national productive process, through ownership. Madam Speaker Militancy and extremism have been the greatest threat to our national security in recent times. I assure you we will fight militancy to the finish. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said, and I quote, We are prepared to risk our lives. But we are not prepared to surrender this great nation to militants. (Unquote) The nation has risen to her call. We will make peace with those, willing to give up violence. But use force against those, who challenge the writ of the state. The Government will not allow the use of its soil, for terrorist activities against any other country. We will also not allow anyone to violate our sovereignty. I assure you that the sovereignty of Pakistan has been protected and solemnly pledge that it will be safeguarded at all costs.
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The nation is proud of the sacrifices made by the members of the Armed Forces, Para-military forces, Police and specially the citizens in fighting militancy. Their sacrifices will not go in vain. I also commend the Ministry of Interior led by Mr. Rahman Malik for their courage in confronting militancy. Madam Speaker Our brothers and sisters working abroad are a source of great strength. They need to be recognized and honored. Last year the Prime Minister had announced, to give the right to vote to the Pakistanis abroad. The modalities of giving the right to vote will soon be finalized. It is a matter of great satisfaction that, 87% of the population has been issued computerized national identity cards. Compared with only 44 % of what we inherited. It is a great leap forward towards documentation. In this regard I appreciate the performance of NADRA. We are committed to upholding the freedom of media. The government plans to work with all stake holders, to create an atmosphere of self regulation without state interference. We respect the majesty of the law. The government has enhanced the pay scales, allowances and perks of members of judiciary. We hope to provide easy access to justice, for everyone. Madam Speaker Pakistan seeks a stable regional environment. We believe in investing in relationships. Our relationship with China remains the bedrock of our foreign policy. Measures have been taken to promote peace and stability in brotherly Afghanistan. We strongly support an Afghan-led reconciliation and reconstruction process. We have improved relations with all countries in the region. For durable peace we consider it essential to normalize relations with India. We want an honorable and peaceful settlement of all outstanding disputes, including the water issue, and the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir, in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people. We do not want an arms race in the region. However, a disproportionate increase in military budget by the largest democracy, does not help the cause of arms reduction.
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We believe that dialogue alone can ensure peace and understanding. We can fight militancy better, through dialogue and cooperation instead of doubting each other. We will continue to strengthen cooperation within the SAARC framework. We greatly value our relations with all Muslim countries, and will continue to strive for enhanced ties with them. Partnerships with the United States and Europe have strengthened over the past year. For the first time the Pakistan-EU Summit was held which was addressed by the head of state. This is in sharp contrast to the isolation we inherited. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom wrote to the heads of the European Union requesting them to address urgently our concerns about market access. I thank Prime Minister Gordon Brown for this. The strategic dialogue with the United States is aimed at addressing core issues of Pakistan. I welcome President Obamas new initiatives toward Pakistan. Our focus has been, and will remain, - Trade and NOT Aid, The international community is increasingly realizing the importance of Pakistan, and our commitment, in fighting militancy and strengthening democracy. Madam Speaker This is not the end of the road. Our journey has only just begun. It is with a sense of purpose that I look ahead. I call upon the Parliament to pass the Eighteenth constitutional amendment Bill without delay. The people of Pakistan are keenly watching and waiting for this crucial reforms Bill to pass. This initiative must lead to new beginnings. As representatives of the people, let us make common cause to address urgent needs of our people. The benefits of democracy must translate into a tangible dividend that is visible in peoples lives. As we move on, let us also learn from our mistakes. The year 2010 should be the year of building of national consensus, on holding elections to local bodies. It should be the year to mobilize the youth, and draw them into the mainstream of national life.
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We need to protect them from sliding into militancy. We will continue efforts for a Marshall Plan for rebuilding Pakistan and the region. We will invest in modern technology for better governance and mass out reach. Pakistan faces serious issues of poverty, water shortages and energy deficits as well as tax collection. We urgently need to create jobs, increase exports and invest in infrastructure. I am confident that Inshallah by the end of our term the democratic government will deliver on many more promises. Madam Speaker Allow me to recall the words of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto which he said in his address to the Nation on April 14, 1972. He said, and I quote, History beckons us, and our people are ready to march forward. Do we, the members of this distinguished Assembly, have the courage and wisdom to lead our people towards their cherished goal, DEMOCRACY? As Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah said, democracy is in our blood. It is in our marrow. When the fruit of democracy is within our reach, shall we now fail to grasp it? Unquote. Thank You Pakistan Paindabad
Press Information Department, Government of Pakistan, April 5, 2010, http://www.pid.gov.pk/
A N EW B EGINNING
Prime Minister Gilani congratulated the nation on the passage of the 18th Amendment Bill and praised the armed forces for supporting democracy and not interfering in political matters. Apparently, the military establishment has taken a backseat for a change and given enough space to the politicians to settle affairs. This is indeed a turning of the corner as far as civilian-military relations are concerned and a break from the past practices of the military establishment. Two years ago, Prime Minister Gilani had rightfully said that todays world calls for a new and balanced relationship between the civilian and military institutions, based on mutual respect and dignity. In Pakistans context, redefining the contours of the civilian-military relationship is of utmost importance, considering that the country for the most part of its existence has remained in the throes of undemocratic rule because of the conflict emerging between the political and military class. This paved the way
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for many a usurper to stride into power after abrogating the constitution. Pakistan was turned into a praetorian state due to successive military coups, consequently relegating civilian institutions to a secondary status in clear defiance of democratic norms. Now that a democratically elected government is in place, it is up to the politicians to prove that political governments are better than military dictatorships. A new beginning in the civilian-military relationship has been witnessed after the February 2008 general elections. It can be said that the war on terror has played an integral part in mitigating the tension between the government and the military establishment. The PPP-led government created across the board consensus politically and at the public level against the threat of the Taliban. This made it easy for the military to get considerable local and national support during its offensive against the terrorists. We cannot of course overlook the contribution of the military in breaking the back of the Taliban. We have seen retaliatory terrorist attacks in the actual war theatre as well as elsewhere in the country, but that was not unexpected. What is different this time is that the militants who used to rule the roost in Swat and the tribal areas have now been either killed or forced to flee their strongholds. The government and the military are now on the same page as far as fighting terrorism is concerned. It is also gratifying to know that the armed forces have apparently decided to keep away from political matters. This may just prove to be the best thing to have happened to Pakistan since its inception. Military dictatorships are inherently bad for a country and Pakistan has had its fair share of coup-makers. In the past, the judiciary has played a controversial role in giving legitimacy to every military dictatorship, citing the notorious doctrine of necessity. Apart from all the other positive things in the 18th Amendment, one of the most significant changes is that it would put a stop to such judicial endorsement. As per the new amendment, any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or holds in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance, the constitution by use of force or show of force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason. The judiciary or any other individual or institution would in future not be allowed to validate a military coup against any government. An ideal prescription to set Pakistan on the road to institutional supremacy would be a harmonious relationship between the politicians and the armed forces. A democratic Pakistan with an appropriate civilian-military architecture would go a long way in eliminating extremism from the country and the region.
Editorial, Daily Times (Lahore), April 11, 2010, http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\11\story_11-42010_pg3_1
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A MENDING
THE
C ONSTITUTION
The most innovative change relates to the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, neutralising the chief justices acquired power to make binding recommendations for appointment. This power was acquired by the chief justice through different judgements starting with the 1996 judgement in the judges case. There is a need to celebrate the current consensus among the political parties represented in parliament on the text of the 18th Constitutional Amendment. The Parliamentary Committee for Constitutional Reforms (PCCR) took over nine months to evolve a consensus document, although different parties have added separate comments to outline their individual party positions. This consensus is a rare development because the political parties and leaders are known more for polemical exchanges and conflict-prone interaction. The only occasion in the past when the political leaders demonstrated extraordinary capacity for consensus building was the formulation of the 1973 Constitution. Parliament approved the 1973 Constitution without any negative vote. This constitution was an advance over the previous constitutions in terms of social, economic and political rights, provincial autonomy and identity and distribution of economic resources between the Centre and provinces. Now, the 18th Amendment seeks to go several steps further on these issues, stipulating measures to increase administrative and financial autonomy of the provinces and shifting some areas of administration to the provinces. The position of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) has also been strengthened. If we read these changes along with the new NFC Award and the Assistance Package for Balochistan, the 18th Amendment can be described as a turning point in Pakistans constitutional and political history. The passage of the 18th Amendment Bill in the National Assembly on April 8 was generally smooth. However, there were some political fireworks on the new name for NWFP because the members from the Hazara area took exception to this. The same issue is going to cause some controversy in the Senate. The PML-N may decide to withhold its support to the amendment on the name issue in order to strengthen its electoral position in the Hazara area. The provisions of the 18th Amendment Bill can be divided into three major categories. Some amendments are based on the provisions of the Charter of Democracy (CoD). Most provisions of the 17th Amendment (2003) are being repealed or modified; some of its provisions have been retained. Several new amendments were proposed by the PCCR that do not relate to the above-mentioned two categories. These include a change in
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Article 6 regarding high treason, provincial autonomy, and the share of the provinces in natural resources, including coastline resources. It is noteworthy that the reforms committee retained most provisions of the 8th Amendment inserted in 1985 by parliament on the initiative of the military government of General Ziaul Haq. His government increased emphasis on Islam as part of his effort to appease the conservative and orthodox Islamic clergy and their followers. General Ziaul Haqs Islamoriented constitutional provisions were the inclusion of the Objectives Resolution in the main text of the constitution, establishment of the Federal Shariat Court and the Shariat Appellate Bench in the Supreme Court, and religion and ethnic-based vague eligibility criteria for candidates in parliamentary elections. The committee did not go into these provisions to avoid confrontation with religious political parties that continue to support General Zias Islamisation. The most innovative change relates to the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, neutralising the chief justices acquired power to make binding recommendations for appointment. This power was acquired by the chief justice through different judgements starting with the 1996 judgement in the judges case. The constitution did not make the recommendation of the chief justice binding on the president. There was a long consultative process that left discretion to the president. In practice, both the chief justice and the presidency accommodated each other on appointments through consultations. This procedure caused political controversies and the superior judiciary used its judgements to increase its hold on the appointments procedure. The Legal Framework Order (LFO) issued by the military government of General Pervez Musharraf (2002) acknowledged the primacy of the chief justice in the appointments process. However, some of the recent appointments by the chief justice after a standoff with the president were subjected to criticism by a section of lawyers and the media for being skewed by non-professional considerations. The new procedure for the appointment of judges of the superior judiciary assigns the power to a judicial commission of seven people headed by the chief justice. It also includes two senior judges of the Supreme Court, the attorney general, the federal law minister, one representative of the designated bar council and a retired judge of the Supreme Court. Its recommendations are subject to a time-bound review of a joint parliamentary committee that would have equal representation of the government and the opposition. A section of lawyer activists are critical of the proposed procedure and want the chief justice to continue exercising the exclusive power to appoint judges. They maintain that the change in the appointments procedure amounts to changing the basic structure of the constitution, which parliament is not authorised to do. They are hoping that the Supreme Court would use the
17
basic structure argument to knock out this procedure and thus protect the powers of the chief justice. The 1973 Constitution neither assigns superiority to some articles over the others nor does it restrict the power of parliament to amend it through the prescribed procedure. Therefore, the argument of the basic structure has no basis in the constitution and parliament has the sole power to amend the constitution. Even if we go by the basic structure argument, the basic features of the constitution are an Islamic republic, parliamentary democracy, federalism and independence of the judiciary. It is parliament that decides about the ways and means to protect and promote these attributes. These methods can change over time. For example, the18th Amendment envisages far more powers to the provinces. Does this mean that the basic structure of the federation as written down in the original constitution has been violated? The answer is no. Pakistan remains a federation, but the operationalisation of this principle has been updated to meet the changed situation. The primacy of the elected parliament needs to be respected. Judicial activism cannot be used to infringe the domain of the elected parliament and, especially, to question its powers to amend the constitution. The new procedure for appointment of judges is more transparent and consultative, giving a pre-eminent role rather than sole power to the chief justice. The judiciarys independence is not affected by this amendment. Pakistan needs an independent rather than a dominant judiciary.
Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi, Daily Times (Lahore), April 11, 2010, http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\11\story_11-42010_pg3_2
P ROVINCES M UST B EAR R ESPONSIBILITY N OW

After the consensus NFC Award and the expected passage of the 18th constitutional amendment this week, the Provinces will have more financial resources and enjoy full autonomy. But the matter would not end there as Federating Units would now be required to bear more responsibility as the Concurrent List would be repealed from the Constitution and several important subjects would go under the jurisdiction of the Provinces. However according to reports in the media, the Provinces have sought a delay in the transfer of some Federal Ministries and Departments falling under the Concurrent List to the Provincial Governments on the ground that they need time to build capacity. We think there is still enough time for the Provincial Governments to prepare for taking over the additional responsibilities from July 1, 2010 when they will start receiving enhanced financial allocations under the NFC Award. The Centre would be transferring
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IPRI Factfile
revenue resources from the next financial year and it would be financially impossible for the Federation to do the jobs that fall under the jurisdiction of the Provinces. The increase in the provincial share in the divisible pool of taxes is linked to the transfer of functions under the repealed Concurrent List to the Provinces. If they would not take the additional responsibilities, then how could they ask for the share they are entitled to under the NFC Award. The Federal Government would be left with very little resources to meet the demands like defence, repayment of loans and interests, administrative expenses of the Ministries and mega development projects that would be left with it. So we are of the opinion that the Provincial Governments which had been demanding Provincial Autonomy and more resources under the NFC must gear up, build their capacity and take over the charge of the Ministries and departments that are to be transferred to them. Their inability to do so would be considered as incompetence on their part. Therefore we would urge all the Provincial Governments to rise to the occasion and shoulder responsibilities and deliver to the masses.
Editorial, Pakistan Observer, (Islamabad) April 12, 2010, http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=25273
T HE 18 TH
AND
A FTER
The successful passage of the 18th Amendment in the National Assembly has proved that our politicians of different shades can work together if the goal is political stability and national harmony. It was a considerable achievement considering the fact that the PPP, the largest party in the National Assembly, with 124 members, faces a shortfall of 50 votes to command even a simple majority. However, for ordinary legislation all decisions of the National Assembly shall be taken by the majority of the members present and voting. According to this proviso the government needs only one-fourth of the total membership (86 MNAs) to carry out the legislative business. A number less than 86 would invite a quorum objection, obliging the Speaker to suspend the proceedings. The number of votes required for the passage of a constitutional amendment is considerably higher. It has to be passed by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of the House. Thus, the minimum requirement for a successful passage would be 228 votes in the National Assembly and 67 votes in the Senate. It is for good reason that the procedure for amending the Constitution has been made relatively difficult. The Constitution, 73 is the basic document of the state, was made promulgated by an elected assembly with the consensus of the provinces. Therefore, it becomes essential for the sake of provincial harmony that constitutional bills are backed by provincial consensus. The Special Committee
19
had representation from all the provinces. The constitutional package that it recommended to the National Assembly had the consensus of all the provinces. The military dictators, Zia and Musharraf, made fun of the Constitution 1973 by amending it at will. Zia had publicly said that he considered the constitution a piece of paper, which he could throw away at his own sweet will. They both had disfigured the Constitution 73 beyond recognition. It was the promise of the PPP and other political parties that they will restore the Constitution to its original form. Once the Senate passes this bill, this promise will stand fulfilled. The stinking amendments made by Zia and Musharraf will stand repealed, bringing back the fragrance of Constitution 73. For the successful passage of the constitutional amendment in the National Assembly, the government needed 228 votes, which it collected with apparent ease. In the Senate the government might face difficulties in securing two-thirds votes of the total number of votes, which comes to 66 votes. However, no party in the Senate is in a position to block the amendment. Moreover, the senators will vote for the amendments as their party colleagues have done in the National Assembly. The issue of provincial autonomy often crops up, giving rise to acrimony between Islamabad and the provinces and Islamabad. The present government has given serious thought to the solution of this recurring problem. The removal of the Concurrent Legislative List is the first tangible step towards provincial autonomy. It gives the provinces exclusive right to legislate on 47 subjects enumerated in the Concurrent List. It does reduce the number of subjects from the federal jurisdiction. But the Centre is still left with the Federal Legislative List of 67 subjects, which include taxes and duties of various kinds. It also includes fearful subject like migration from or into, or settlement in, a province or the Federal Capital. It gives federal government the constitutional right to control the movement of the population within the country. For instance, it could make laws to organise and control the migration of people to the overcrowded cities. By restoring the Constitution Pakistan has taken an important step forwards to national cohesion. It bodes well for democracy if the Constitution is applied in letter and spirit.
Mir Jamilur Rahman, News International (Rawalpindi), April 13, 2010, http://www.thenews.com.pk/editorial_detail.asp?id=234005
L ISTEN
TO
H AZARA
With emotions running high among the people in Hazara for loosing their identity in the renamed Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa Province, the death of seven protestors and injury to more than 100 others has added fuel to the fire. For
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the last ten days the protestors remained peaceful and aired their resentment over the renaming issue to draw the attention of the Government and other parties in Parliament that while Pakhtoons have got identity, people residing in resource rich vast lands of Hazara have lost their existence. To cash on the popular uprising PML-Q is spearheading the movement while other parties particularly the PML-N is highly perturbed over the situation in its stronghold. The ANP-led Government also failed to realise the gravity of the situation and imposed Section-144 in an attempt to suppress the protests. The PML-N, which had a strong base in Hazara, is at the receiving end and it would be difficult for it to retain this strong base unless and until it asserts its political standing in Parliament for reconsideration of the renaming issue. The decision to hold a PML-N convention in the streets of Abbottabad on Monday when people were expressing their opposition against it and the ANP was also politically a wrong move. The only way out for the PML-N is to hold fresh round of talks with PPP and ANP on the renaming of the Province. The movement has now spread to more places and emotions are running high following the death of innocent people. It is time to listen to the demand of Hazara people as the 18th Amendment is still being debated in the Senate and the damage done could be controlled. We would caution that if delayed, similar movements could be launched in other areas for creation of more provinces and the situation would go out of control.
Editorial, Pakistan Observer (Islamabad), April 14, 2010, http://www.pakobserver.net/201004/14/detailnews.asp?id=25611
FATA F ORGOTTEN
While the political parties are jubilant that they have delivered what the people expected of them in the form of the 18th Amendment, the people of FATA are bemoaning the fact that they have been left high and dry, not knowing what to do. Should they join in the celebrations or should they mourn the passing of an amendment that contains nothing for them. They were hoping that their decades-long demands concerning their areas would be incorporated in the amendments through changes to the Article 247 of the Constitution. They were dreaming that the draconian laws of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) would be amended and the Political Parties Act would be extended to their areas as promised by the president. The prime minister had also made similar promises earlier. The Reforms Committee itself is on record as having proposed that the Article 247 be amended, saying that "the government should take immediate steps to implement the reforms announced by the president in respect of FATA, particularly about major changes in the FCR and providing opportunities to the national political parties to organise their activities in that
21
area. The government may also associate other parties who are stakeholders in the ongoing consultations regarding administration of tribal areas." That this recommendation has not found place in the draft is in itself a mystery. It seems some invisible yet powerful force prevented the committee from including the recommendation in its final list. The members of the committee, particularly those from FATA, would be in a better position to explain as to which force was so powerful to do that. What has happened to the leadership of political parties championing the cause of Pashtoons? What stopped them from raising their voices against maintaining the status quo in FATA? What stops them from joining hands to demand the abolition/amendment of the FCR? When are they going to show solidarity with the people of FATA who stand deprived of the fundamental right to protest against injustice? If the name of NWFP could be changed with relative ease because it was given by our colonial masters and did not represent the major ethnic group living in that province, the name FATA was also given to the tribal areas by the colonial masters and it doesn't represent the people in any sense. If Lyallpur could become Faisalabad, Montgomery became Sahiwal and NWFP became Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, why isn't FATA given a name representing the people living there? Why is the leadership of the nationalist parties of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan silent on the injustices done to FATA in the 18th Amendment bill? Why have they maintained a stony silence by not raising the issue? The members in parliament from FATA have won elections on individual basis or with the support of invisible hands. They prefer making money over changing the condition of the common man of the areas they represent. They do not support extending the Political Parties Act to FATA because once political parties start functioning in those areas, these pygmies will have no role to play. Notes of reiteration or dissent were recorded by various parties and individuals but there is no mention of any such thing from the representative of FATA in the committee. He was either asleep during all meetings or was simply not interested in political and economic reforms for his area. Some members from FATA did wake up from their deep slumber and threatened to withdraw their support for the bill in the Senate, only to take it back later. The people of FATA have seen, over the years, what their so-called elected representatives have done for them. If they were to resign from parliament they should have done so when they were ignored by the government while the latter undertook military operation in FATA. In the last nine years of war against terror, fingers were pointed at FATA for acts of militancy elsewhere in the country. The inhabitants of the tribal areas were accused of breeding militants, providing them with training camps and indulging in acts contrary to the interest of the state. All this was attributed to the backwardness of that area. Now when there was a golden
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opportunity to get rid of that backwardness by introducing reforms in the FCR, it was missed. Let's not waste any more time to rid the people of the tribal areas of the reviled FCR which keeps them totally isolated from the outside world. Let us pave the way for the tribesmen to join the mainstream by giving them equal rights and opportunities. Let's bring them at par with the rest of the people of Pakistan. Only then will peace come to them and to the rest of the country.
Ayaz Wazir, News International (Islamabad), April 14, 2010, http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234072
W HAT
THE
P ROVINCES G AIN
The biggest beneficiaries of the 18th Amendment would be the federating units and this should be made known to the people of these units, otherwise the reform measures will not receive the kind of public support that is needed for their successful implementation. Let us take a look at the salient features of the deal offered to the federating units. The constitutional reform package not only meets the federating units demand for abolition of the Concurrent Legislative List it also allows the units some say in respect of a few matters that have so far been in the Federal List. For instance, census, major ports, use of the police force belonging to one province in another province and estate duty on property have been shifted from Part I of the Federal List to Part II. Since all matters listed in Part II of the Federal List fall under the purview of the Council of Common Interests the provinces will be able to discuss matters related to these new entries. The change proposed in Article 172 makes the federating units joint and co-equal owners with the federal government of mineral oil and gas within the provinces or the territorial waters adjacent thereto. At present ownership of these resources vests in the federal government alone. The amendments proposed in Articles 128 of the constitution envisage a most welcome increase in the powers of the provincial assemblies. At present a governor can extend the life of his ordinance by reissuing it before its normal life (three months) expires. This privilege is to be transferred to the provincial assemblies. Only they can extend the life of a gubernatorial ordinance for 90 days and this only once. Any curtailment of the powers of the governor, who is essentially the centres agent, is a step towards increased provincial autonomy. Similarly, an amendment proposed in Article 232 will make it impossible to proclaim emergency on the ground of internal disturbance beyond the power of a provincial government to control, because any such action will require a resolution by the provincial assembly.
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The provincial assemblies will also get powers to intervene if the provincial governments entrust any of their functions to the federal government. All such transactions will have to be ratified by provincial legislatures. The provincial assemblies are fortunate that unlike the members of the National Assembly, who must elect a Muslim as the prime minister, they will be free to elect any member (not necessarily a Muslim) to be their chief ministers. Two proposed changes in the provisions of the chapters on Fundamental Rights and Principles of Policy are specifically in the interest of the federating units. An amendment proposed in Article 27 (Fundamental Rights) will enable the parliament to make laws in order to redress a provinces grievance regarding its under-representation in the services of Pakistan. The proposed addition of a paragraph to Article 38 (Principles of Policy) is likewise significant. It says: the shares of the provinces in all federal services, including autonomous bodies and corporations established by, or under the control of, the federal government, shall be secured and any omission in the allocation of the shares of the provinces in the past shall be rectified. The proposed increase in the number of days the Senate should meet (110 days instead of 90 days) and the bar on issuance of presidential ordinances while the Senate is in session enlarge the provinces right to oversee the federations working. Following the enactment of the 18th Amendment no province will have as its governor a person belonging to another province. This policy has been adopted in the post-Musharraf period and it will now get the essential constitutional cover. Significant changes have been proposed in the articles related to the Council of Common Interests. The composition of the Council (Article 153) remains more or less unchanged the prime minister and his three nominees represent the centre and the four chief ministers will represent the provinces. But the changes proposed in Article 154 are quite important. The council shall be constituted within 30 days of the prime ministers swearing-in; the council will have its own permanent secretariat (and not merely a desk in the cabinet division) and it shall meet at least once in 90 days. An amendment to Article 157 will oblige the federal government to consult the provincial government concerned before taking a decision to build or sanction a hydro-electric power station in any province. Article 160 is to be amended to ensure that the share of a province in an NFC award will not be less than the previous award. Equally important is the new facility offered to the provinces to raise domestic or international loans. That all these benefits to the provinces fall short of the expectations of the people of the federating units is no secret. But if politics is the art of the possible it is necessary to realise the limitations of the present parliament. A
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IPRI Factfile
parliament truly representative of the pluralist society that Pakistan is perhaps could have offered the federating units a better deal. To persuade the present lawmakers to offer the provinces more than the National Assembly did vide the 1973 Constitution is quite an achievement. The issue of securing the units the maximum possible autonomy must wait till the people can elect their genuine representatives or find a way to change the polity through a revolution. Quite a few parties/groups in the less populous federating units may consider it politically expedient to denounce the 18th Amendment. They have a right to take a stand on the principle of self-determination. Instead of quarrelling with them the federal government should make serious efforts to remove the barriers to a normal discourse with the people of the provinces. They must be enabled to believe that this constitutional reform will not be subverted the way the 1973 Constitution was no sooner than it was signed. The federal government is likely to discover that implementation of the Raza Rabbani committees reforms will be more difficult than their formulation. And its hardest job is to convince the people, especially in Balochistan, that constitutional guarantees are not only sacred, they are also enforceable.
I.A. Rehman, Dawn (Islamabad), April 15, 2010, http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/thenewspaper/columnists/i-a-rehman-what-the-provinces-gain-540
PM G ILANI S AYS : I T S T IME TO D ELIVER ; S ENATE P ASSES 18 TH A MEND B ILL

The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed the 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill to restore Constitution in its real shape by erasing the imprints of dictatorial regimes. In third and final reading of the Bill, all the 90 members present in the House showed appreciable consensus to vote for the motion. Earlier, during the second reading members from PML-Q and Safdar Abbasi of PPP respectively proposed amendments in clauses relating to renaming of NWFP and intra-party elections which were rejected with majority vote. The House adopted these clauses with two/third votes of its total membership. The PML-Q argued to reconsider renaming of NWFP and Safdar Abbasi desired amendment in Clause six by incorporating the provision of holding intra-party elections. The Chairman put the consideration motion to the House that was also adopted unanimously. It is time to deliver. Let us ensure that dividends of 18th amendment reach the masses. I congratulate the nation, the Parliament and the Committee
25
on this landmark achievement, said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in the Senate soon after passage of the Bill. It is victory of democracy. Passage of the bill is an answer to allegation of rubber stamp levelled against the Parliament. Now we need to ensure optimum distribution of resources and the provinces will have to do more, he said.
Time to Deliver
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Thursday said after passage of 18th Amendment Bill, now it is time to deliver and put in extra efforts to resolve masses problems. After fulfilling the constitutional requirements, now it is time to deliver. We all share this responsibility and people should now enjoy the dividends of the 18th amendment, he said addressing the Senate soon after passage of 18th amendment bill from the Senate. The Prime Minister hoped that upcoming Accountability Bill will be a consensus bill. We are answeravle to the parliament and the people. Nobody is above accountability. We shall have to continue with the same exemplary work we did in amending the constitution. The Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani felicitated the nation, political leadership, National Assembly and the Senate on the unanimous passage of 18th amendment bill, 2010 by both Houses of the Parliament. Speaking in the House, he said that the unanimous passage of the bill has proved that the Parliament is sovereign and not a rubber stamp as some quarters used to think about it. It is a dividend of the politics of reconciliation that the nation and the parliament are united today and we have repealed all those laws which were introduced by dictators, the prime minister said. He felicitated the President of Pakistan, Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms, Speaker National Assembly, Chairman Senate, members of the Parliament, Civil Society and the nation over the passage of bill. Today we have established that only the Parliament is supreme and there is balance of power between the Parliament and the Presidency. Eighteenth Amendment is not an ordinary achievement. Rather this House repealed the dictatorial amendments in the Constitution made over the time, in just one day, he added. He said the Parliament has done its bit and has come up to masses aspirations as well as to the aspirations of Quaid-i-Azam, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as well as Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif who had evolved the Charter of Democracy and the whole leadership of the country. He said, we did it together and this is not the end but it is the time to deliver as masses are still waiting resolution of their problems. He said that all available resources would be utilized to resolve the problems of the people.
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IPRI Factfile
The Prime Minister said, the political leadership is not thinking for themselves but for the future generations. We have given a direction to the coming generations. Our aim was to put the country on right path and we have done it. He said masses problems are numerous but not out of our reach and if proceed together, we shall be able to fulfill our promises made to masses in our manifestos. After passage of this Bill, now the Cabinet is also answerable before the Senate. Gilani said that Pakistan Peoples Party started the policy of reconciliation for the supremacy of the Parliament but some people used to say that there were other institutions which were stronger than the parliament. Today we have succeeded in maintaining the supremacy of Parliament, he added. He said that education and health are the priorities of the government and Parliament has given it constitutional cover by passage of bill. He also appreciated the role of Armed Forces of Pakistan and said that they have proved that they too are in favour of democracy. Gilani said that provincial autonomy would strengthen the federating units as well as the federation. He said it is also a responsibility of the provinces to do their capacity building and resolve the problems of the masses. The Prime Minister congratulated Former Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen on presenting a consensus NFC award, adding that it would bring prosperity to the provinces. Referring to Hazara, he said that the provincial government should hold dialogue with Hazara people so that they could also be benefitted from the of 18th amendment bill. An interesting situation was witnessed when PPP Senator Safdar Abbasi voted in favor of amendment related to intra-party elections as a mover, along with the PML-Q. However, he also voted for the same clause when it was put to the House for adoption. Leader of the Opposition Waseem Sajjad and members Naeem Hussain Chattha, Jamal Leghari, Nilofer Bakhtiar, Saleem Saifullah, Seemi Siddiqui, S M Zafar and others moved amendment in clause three relating to renaming the NWFP. They recorded their concerns on prevailing disharmony in the province with hopes that the government and the ANP would address the concerns of Hazara people. Let us make harmonious decisions, taking on board all stakeholders and addressing concerns of Hazara people, the members underlined. Salim Saifullah, Javed Ali Shah and Nilofer Bakhtiar said intra-party election would end deprivation of workers and strengthen democratic process. Safar Abbasi said the country can be run through institutions and we have to continue institutionalization by conducting intra-party elections. MQMs Senator Babar Ghauri, JIs Prof Khursheed Ahmed, JUIs Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, ANPs Haji Adeel and PKMAPs Abdul Rahim
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Mandokhel referred to holding of elections in their respective parties and supported the idea of holding intra-party elections citing that the provision might have been deleted mistakenly. Ghauri also mentioned to a note of reiteration submitted by his party. But, two major parties PML-N and PPP advocated that this provision was discussed at Committee level and deleted because it was already provided in Political Parties Act. Interestingly the members from different parties described this clause against the spirit of democracy but at the same time they voted in its favour. It was an historic day in the countrys history as members expressed broader harmony to restore the constitution in its original form. As every party in the House appreciated the Committee for performing this gigantic task, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announced highest civil award for its members for putting in extra toil to prepare Constitutional Reforms Package that has now been passed by both the Houses of Parliament. This bill will become an act once President Asif Ali Zardari signs it and stands true to words of great PPP Leader Benazir Bhutto that democracy is the best revenge. It will also fulfil the decades old demand of provincial autonomy though the provinces will have to shoulder much more responsibilities once it becomes an act and is implemented within stipulated time elaborated in the recommendations of the Committee. By all means, it is a great achievement that will set the future course to strengthen democracy and block the doors for dictators, to power corridors.
Pakistan Times (Islamabad), April 16, 2010, http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=10315
R ARE S HOW
OF
S OLIDARITY
AT
P RESIDENCY
Whether or not the 18th Constitutional Amendment proves to be historic, the diversity of politicians who gathered at the presidency to watch President Asif Ali Zardari sign it into law appeared truly unprecedented. President Zardari ceded on Monday his controversial powers including the ones to sack the prime minister and dissolve the National Assembly as well as the right to appoint the chief of army staff when he gave the assent to the 18th Constitutional Amendment bill at a grand ceremony, the likes of which are rarely held in the presidency. Every high-profile politician and bureaucrat was present on the occasion. It was indeed a veritable whos who of Islamabad and the countrys political world. But the star among the bigwigs was surely Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif whose presence made the document signing ceremony all the more significant.
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Other prominent politicos in the gathering included Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Senate Chairman Farooq H. Naek, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, ANP chief Asfandyar Wali, provincial govenrors and chief ministers, PPP-S chief Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and federal ministers and secretaries. Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had also been invited, but he chose to stay away. Others who were conspicuous by their absence included Pakistan Muslim League-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. But despite the wide range of politicians who were present, there was no doubt that it was a PPP ceremony. With speeches by the president, prime minister and Raza Rabbani and Law Minister Babar Awan moderating the event, the focus remained on the ruling party. Sources in the presidency told Dawn that earlier Nawaz Sharif had been informed that he too would deliver a speech during the ceremony, but the schedule was changed at the eleventh hour and his name was excluded from the list of those who commemorated the historic moment with their pithy speeches. And once President Zardari signed his name on the bill turning it into a law, the hall echoed with slogans such as Zinda hai Bibi zinda hai, Zinda hai Bhutto zinda hai and Zardari sada sher hai. The PPP workers present in the audience did not miss their cue. The beaming president then went around the large room to greet most of the guests. All eyes were on him especially when he approached Nawaz Sharif for a handshake and then a hug hearty in comparison to the embrace he offered Rabbani. But the smiles the two leaders exchanged appeared more forced than genuine. Clad in a blue suit, President Zardari looked a bit tense at the beginning of the ceremony and when he delivered his speech announcing the end of his presidential powers. But later when he spoke to the press, he put on a brave face. I do not find myself powerless because my power is democracy and people of the country. In his speech he said he had closed the doors on dictators taking over the country by signing the 18th Amendment. But mishaps can take place, he said, meaningfully though he did not elaborate any further. The president congratulated parliament, the parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms and its chairman Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, whom he had forgotten to commend in his address to the joint session of the two houses of parliament, an omission that had been widely commented upon. He also acknowledged the sagacity of political leaders for rising above partisan politics, which reflected not only their patriotism but also their ability to rise to great heights.
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Once again, the president recounted his governments achievements: national reconciliation, progress in the war against militancy, the seventh NFC Award, autonomy for Gilgit-Baltistan, the Aghaz-i-Haqooq-i-Balochistan package and the reconstitution of Council of Common Interest. A list to which he added the constitutional amendment in this particular speech. It was indeed a moment of great satisfaction that the Constitution was made federal in character, besides repealing the 17th Amendment and the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gaining their identity, he said. Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Gilani said the signing of the 18th amendment bill into law reflected the political parties belief in the supremacy of rule of law. Terming it a rare and unprecedented smooth transition, he said that the crowning achievement will be remembered for all times to come. The prime minister described the political leadership as the catalyst that led to the passage of the bill. He too did not forget to praise the parliaments committee on constitutional reforms, which he said deserved all the credit for making it possible. He paid homage in particular to Senator Rabbani, calling him a democrat and a constitutionalist. But acknowledging the existing challenges, the prime minister said the government was making every effort to overcome the energy shortage, poverty and rural backwardness, adding that these were the gigantic task facing the public representatives. The man of the moment, Senator Rabbani paid tribute to the political sagacity of the president and to the leaders of political parties. Saying that three features made the amendment unique, he recounted them as the willingness of an incumbent president to give away his powers, removal of the wrongs of previous military dictators and the resolution of the provincial autonomy issue. He also referred to the fact that the Islamic and parliamentary character of the Constitution had been maintained, besides ensuring the independence of judiciary and the trichotomy of parliament. He ended by hoping that the document, stained as it was by the blood of Benazir Bhutto, will bind the nation as did the 1973 Constitution.
Syed Irfan Raza, Dawn (Islamabad), April 20, 2010, http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/thenewspaper/front-page/18th-amendment-signed-into-law-rare-show-ofsolidarity-at-presidency-040
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C ONTROVERSY
OVER
18 TH A MENDMENT
The claim: parts of the 18th Amendment should be struck down for violating the basic structure of the Constitution. The object of ire is the new process for appointing judges to the superior judiciary (Article 175A). The question: does the Supreme Court have the power to do so? And if so, in what circumstances? The answer: its complicated. In constitutional matters, the first port of call is the text of the Constitution itself. Article 239(5) reads: No amendment of the Constitution shall be called in question in any court on any ground whatsoever. The very next clause (6) is: For the removal of doubt, it is hereby declared that there is no limitation whatever on the power of the Majlis-eShoora (parliament) to amend any of the provisions of the Constitution. The two clauses were inserted by Gen Zia and validated by the 8th Amendment. The idea was to give parliament confidence, explained Wasim Sajjad. It was a way of suggesting, Do whatever you like, its your business now. Another reason was that in India the courts had appeared to suggest that they had the power to strike down changes to the constitution, and the clauses were introduced to suggest that was not the case for Pakistan, Sajjad continued. Case closed, then? Not quite. The relevant parts of Article 239 amount to what in legal parlance are known as ouster clauses, i.e. the legislature tells the judiciary that it has no power to examine the legality of the laws concerned. But courts the world over have tended to be dismissive of such clauses, either voiding them outright or defining their scope very narrowly. So we have to move on to the case law. According to Feisal Naqvi, a Lahore-based lawyer, There is no categorical statement anywhere in Pakistani judgments that says the Supreme Court has the power to strike down an amendment. What has happened on at least three occasions, though, is that the Supreme Court has mentioned the existence of salient features and basic characteristics in the Constitution. In one of those judgments, Wukala Mahaz (1998), then-chief justice Ajmal Mian posed a tantalising question: If the parliament by a constitutional amendment makes Pakistan as a secular state, though Pakistan is founded as an Islamic ideological state, can it be argued that this court will have no power to examine the vires of such an amendment. Naqvi argued that even if there is such a thing as a basic structure that the Supreme Court must protect, justice Ajmal Mians question suggests the court can only act in extreme cases. Complete rewriting of the Constitution appears to be the touchstone, Naqvi said.
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But such fundamental rewriting of the Constitution does not lie at the heart of the complaint in the petition filed by Karachi-based lawyer Nadeem Ahmed. Rather it is the role of the present government: Article 175A... represents the fourth attempt of the executive to acquire control over the judicial organ, Ahmed alleges in his petition. Both Ahmed and his lawyer, Akram Sheikh, emphasise the circumstances and background to the 18th Amendment. The secretiveness, haste and timing are relevant. The judiciary is under attack by the government. Half the cabinet is facing charges, the law minister has said hed rather die than implement judgments, there have been three attorneys general in quick succession, argued Ahmed. It is with these circumstances in mind that the amendment should be viewed. Even otherwise, there was no need for a new process. Not a single judge appointed under the old process has been accused of any wrong. Left unsaid was the fact that it was under the old process that judges such as Abdul Hameed Dogar, Gen Musharrafs emergency-era pick for chief justice, were appointed. An incensed Athar Minallah argued: All those whove suddenly remembered the basic structure were more than happy to appear before the Dogar court. Where were their concerns about structure then? Raza Rabbani was also dismissive: I can say very emphatically that the basic structure of the Constitution has not been affected. When we were toying with the idea of the judicial commission, we were very clear on two things: one, independence of the judiciary should not be touched; and two, the trichotomy of powers, which had earned a mention in two recent cases of the Supreme Court, not be disturbed. Rabbani also posed this question: If anything, the 8th and 17th amendments altered the basic structure of the Constitution and yet they were subsequently validated by the judiciary. How can the judicial appointment process be compared to those amendments? It will be awkward for the Supreme Court to strike down the (18th) amendment, Wasim Sajjad observed. Nobody has ever set aside a constitutional amendment. This one was passed unanimously by parliament. Athar Minallah went further: I challenge anyone who claims Article 175A is against the interests of the judiciary and democracy. It enhances transparency. (Those arguing against it) look down on the elected representatives and are expressing their contempt for the people of Pakistan. Difficult or not, advisable or not, the bottom line is this: the Supreme Court is the decider here. Notwithstanding past judgments, it alone will decide whether a constitutional amendment can be struck down and whether anything in the 18th Amendment deserves to be struck down. So whats next? A lawyer requesting anonymity because he appears before the superior judiciary claimed, Well know very soon if the court intends to take this
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further. If a larger bench, seven members, is formed, then the court may be in the mood to reverse itself on the position taken in the Pakistan Lawyers Forum case. (That case, a 2005 judgment and the latest on the subject, notes that the basic structure needs to be enforced not by the judiciary but by the body politic, i.e. the people of Pakistan. A certain Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was part of the five-member bench.) Ather Minallah pleaded for caution: We are at a juncture where everyone must act with wisdom and set aside dislike for certain individuals. He added, There is a very strong undemocratic mindset behind these petitions. They must not be allowed to succeed in making the Supreme Court controversial. But controversy is embedded in Pakistans DNA. It, more than democracy or the process for appointing judges, is part of our basic structure. What else can explain the fact that applause for the 18th Amendment has barely subsided and already the land of the perennial crisis is bracing itself for the next round?
Cyril Almeida, Dawn (Islamabad), April 22, 2010, http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/thenewspaper/front-page/controversy-over-18th-amendment-240
A N EW C ONTROVERSY
The week has been cathartic for those who believe in the supremacy of parliament and the rule of law. President Asif Ali Zardari signed the Eighteenth Amendment Bill into law in the presence of all the politicians who matter, with much fanfare and bonhomie. And, finally, the long-awaited United Nations Commission report on the assassination of Ms Benazir Bhutto was also released. The group photograph taken on the occasion of the signing of the law becoming part of the 1973 Constitution enabling transfer of political power from the presidency to the prime minister published in most newspapers captured the true historic significance of the event. Rarely have politicians demonstrated such solidarity and unanimity in the service of democracy. As expected, various petitions challenging the constitution of the judicial commission for the purpose of appointing judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court under the amended Constitution have been challenged in the apex court. As expected, the plea has been taken that the procedure is tantamount to changing the basic structure of the Constitution. The stalwarts of the judges' movement barrister, Aitzaz Ahsan and Ali Ahmed Kurd, amongst others, however strongly disagree.
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Aitzaz Ahsan fears another confrontation between the judiciary and parliament if the Supreme Court strikes down the 18th Amendment. However, a senior lawyer and one of the former stalwarts of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, who played a pivotal role in evolving a consensus on the 1973 Constitution, thinks that parliament has overstepped its mandate by amending the Constitution. He thinks the basic structure of the Constitution has been changed, which cannot be done without a referendum. Pirzada, who bid adieu to the PPP long ago, is these days perceived to be close to the dictator-in-exile, Gen Musharraf. Maverick lawyer Akram Sheikh and Supreme Court Bar Association president Qazi Anwar vociferously support his view. Hamid Khan, a prominent jurist, a stalwart of Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf, feels that there is nothing odd about the Supreme Court striking down constitutional amendments, as has happened many times in India. Notwithstanding the hiccups, all political parties present in parliament rallied around in support of the 18th Amendment in the final analysis. PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who had absented themselves when the National Assembly passed the amendment, were present at the Presidency for the signing ceremony. Nawaz Sharif, who has come under severe criticism from his own party for supporting the change of name of NWFP to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, was seen being warmly embraced by President Asif Ali Zardari. This was a good gesture, especially in the backdrop of the music Nawaz Sharif has been facing from his self-styled mentors for conceding on the Khyber-Pkhtunkhwa name. These elements are trying in vain to drive a wedge between the Sharifs by painting Mian Shahbaz Sharif, known for his rather hawkish political views, as "a true Muslim Leaguer," whereas Nawaz is criticised as a deviant for going along with the consensus on the Pakhtunkhwa issue. They have not only castigated Nawaz for attending the ceremony but have also launched a media campaign against him for cosying back to President Zardari. His being a signatory to the Charter of Democracy with Ms Benazir Bhutto, it would have been sheer opportunistic politics on the PML-N supremos part if he had done anything but support the 18th Amendment. However, it remains to be seen whether in its anxiety to cash in on anti-PPP constituencies, the PML-N does not waver again from its stance on the 18th Amendment. The 26-member constitutional committee comprising all political parties under the chairmanship of Mr Raza Rabbani has been officially disbanded. It deliberated for more than nine months to produce a consensual draft of the 18th Amendment. Ishaq Dar and Ahsan Iqbal were representing the PML-N in the committee and obviously enjoyed the confidence of their party and leader. Hence, to say that the constitutional amendment was passed in two days without debate is not only a travesty of truth, it is an insult to the travails
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of the chairman and members of the committee who toiled for almost a year to produce an agreed draft. Aitzaz Ahsan has warned about the clash of institutions with disastrous consequences if the apex court strikes parts of the 18th Amendment. Hopefully, better sense will prevail. The chief Justice of Pakistan in his wisdom is well aware of the parameters set by the Constitution. While inaugurating the national judicial conference he aptly remarked: "The role of the judiciary is not that of an opposition to the legislature and the executive but that of a custodian and a bastion of the constitutional rights and liberties of the citizens." Parliament represents the collective will of the people and, in the case of the 18th Amendment, signifies the consensus of all the political parties. Those who are crying hoarse that only a constituent assembly has the mandate to amend the Constitution kept mum when the 1973 Constitution was maimed and truncated beyond recognition through arbitrary amendments. These amendments were mostly initiated by military strongmen, duly rubberstamped by parliaments and validated by the courts. Admittedly, there are a few downsides to the 18th Amendment. For example, exempting party leaders from holding party elections indeed sounds hypocritical for parties which do not tire of preaching democratic principles like fair and free elections. But their leaders do not want free elections for themselves. I recall one retired khaki complaining about the future of democracy in Pakistan. However misplaced his criticism, his view was: "Is the future of democracy in Pakistan that either Hamza (son of Shahbaz Sharif), Bilawal (son of Zardari and Benazir Bhutto) or Moonis (son of Pervez Elahi) will be our future leader?" Judging by the dynastic bent of mind of South Asian leaders, as well as the electorate, he is probably right. Unfortunately, the other alternative which has plagued Pakistan for more than half of its existence is another military dictator taking over in the name of saving the nation form corrupt politicians. Despite the ushering in of the supremacy of parliament and the president voluntarily giving away some of his crucial powers usurped by Gen Musharraf from a rubberstamp Assembly, there is despondency in the air. Owing to the dismal state of the economy, endemic power shortages, terrorism and a pervasive sense of insecurity bordering on a state of anarchy, the common man does not feel good about the future of democracy in the country. Hence, unless our leadership walks the talk by actually moving to give better governance mere constitutional amendments cannot guarantee a stable and a lasting democracy. The PPP government has finally risen to the need to take action against Gen Musharraf and all those mentioned adversely in the UN report. This action should be focused and should not be allowed to deteriorate into a witch-hunt against opponents. The revelation in the report that the follow-up
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vehicle on the fateful evening of Ms Benazir Bhutto's assassination occupied by Rehman Malik, Dr Babar Awan and others left the ambush site, abandoning Ms Bhutto in a critical state, is absolutely shocking. Despite this damning revelation, how these gentlemen are enjoying the perks and privileges of power and the confidence of the president is a mystery.
Arif Nizami, News International (Rawalpindi), April 24, 2010, http://www.thenews.com.pk/editorial_detail.asp?id=235762
PML-Q
TO
C OME O UT
WITH
19 TH A MENDMENT
PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has announced that his Party would table the 19th amendment in the Constitution as they have reservations on some clauses of the 18th Amendment. The Party is well within its right to move any Amendment for improvement and there should be no opposition to it from any quarter as democracy must be forward-looking. It appears that the PML-Q has done its homework to move the amendments on the basis of inputs from legal luminaries and scholars of the likes of Wasim Sajjad and Mushahid Hussain Syed. No doubt the passage of the 18th Amendment with the consensus of all political parties was a historic achievement of the Government and Parliament but legal experts, members of the civil society and people in Hazara have expressed their resentment and concerns over some of the amendments. These include the renaming of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, absolving political parties of holding intra-party elections, appointment of judicial commission and provincial autonomy. Another important issue that perhaps could not attract the attention of the Committee was the colonial era status of FATA which must have been changed and made a Province or given internal autonomy on the pattern of Gilgit-Baltistan. To suggest that more needs to be done is not to detract from the achievements of the Government, Parliament and the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms. Improvement and streamlining the constitution should remain a process rather than a onetime exercise as countrys democratic system can only go forward if its structural defects in governance are addressed first. We hope the PML-Q in addition to moving the amendments in Parliament, would also raise their rationale at various forums to elicit public opinion and muster support. Also time would naturally be required to garner support of Parliament for additional amendments. The nation has breathed a sigh of relief after the adoption of the 18th Amendment which is a proof of maturity in our politics and what is required is immediate implementation of the amendments and removing the shortcomings that remain in the constitution in due course of time.
Editorial, Pakistan Observer (Islamabad), April 27, 2010, http://www.pakobserver.net/201004/27/detailnews.asp?id=27888
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A S UMMER
OF
D ISCONTENT ?
The enactment of the 18th Constitutional Amendment has deservedly earned the country's political parties, especially the ruling People's Party, much credit. But this accomplishment has been accompanied by controversy over a number of issues. In doing away with the constitutional obligation to hold internal elections the amendment has struck a blow to party democracy. A related provision has evoked criticism that party leaders can now effectively suspend the fundamental right of parliamentary members to vote according to their conscience. The renaming of the North West Frontier Province has stirred long simmering ethnic tensions and sparked opposition from people in Hazara, with demonstrations continuing there. The amendment's provision on judicial appointments has been challenged in the Supreme Court in what some see as an impending clash between the executive and the judiciary. A debate has also been ignited about the authority of the court to review the amendment if it changes the basic structure of the Constitution. Despite this, the consensus forged among disparate political forces on the rebalancing of powers between the president and prime minister, and between the centre and the provinces, is a significant political development that ought to restore constitutional equilibrium in line with popular expectations. The achievement has generated a mood of triumphalism in the government. But this needs to be tempered by the recognition that it is governance by which people will judge the ruling coalition, not by how power relations are reordered. Forging agreement over power relations within the political system is one thing, its actual operation quite another. It is not clear in this regard whether the government has figured out the full implications of a decentralised polity with a weaker centre. An implementation committee has been announced whose first task should be to understand the ramifications of the provincial autonomy provisions and ascertain whether supporting legislation will be required and what changes will have to be made in the rules of business. Meanwhile, the PPP-led coalition needs to address itself more purposefully to governance than it has done so far. The ambiguous power arrangement in place in the past two years contributed to a dysfunctional government. With the previous imbalances removed by the 18th Amendment there is now an opportunity to set a new course. The first test of this will be if and how Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani reshapes the cabinet. Will he be able to replace cronyism with merit and match need by capability?
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The most important test will be whether the momentum created by the redefined constitutional arrangement is used to deliver effective governance. So far reactive governance has been in evidence, rather than a policy approach driven by a sense of urgency and fashioned by a clear vision. Governance has largely taken the form of ad hoc, piecemeal and inchoate responses to the unprecedented challenges that the country faces. Often the government has acted to deal with the crisis of the moment rather than prevent problems from exploding in its face. Nothing illustrates this better than the fact that it has taken two years and the eruption of protests against power outages for the government to unveil a strategy of energy conservation to deal with the growing power crisis. While necessary, this is obviously not sufficient as a policy response. Energy saving has to be part of a credible overall strategy that focuses on how to get the existing power generating capacity going - by addressing the circular debt issue. Today there is social or political ferment across the country with diverse factors driving this in different provinces. There are daily demonstrations against power outages in cities across Punjab and towns in Sindh. Targeted killings and attacks on settlers persist in Balochistan, signifying the tip of a dangerous iceberg. And in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa tensions continue to flare up in the wake of the renaming controversy. The PPP administration confronts the challenge of governance in this environment of rising social discontent in which a dithering approach is no longer tenable. People in urban Punjab and rural Sindh have been taking to the streets against the crushing burden of load shedding. Public frustration has been exacerbated by the erratic and uneven pattern of power outages, which are seen to have imposed a greater burden on some rather than others. Absent, as this street restiveness has built up, has been the calming or reassuring hand of leadership. This is also exhibited in the lack of public engagement by governmental leaders to assuage people's anxieties. Whether the measures announced to manage load-shedding and distribute the burden more "rationally" can take the edge off rising public discontent is yet to be seen. Already the threat of non-compliance looms. Traders across the country have been defying the early closure order and vowed to keep markets open. The MQM has expressed misgivings over the effects of the decisions on Karachi. Meanwhile, as the protest demonstrations have spread ordinary citizens have been joined by traders, even transporters in several Punjab cities. The pattern of unrest so far indicates three worrying trends. One, more urban groups have been joining the protests. Demonstrations are having a domino effect in encouraging diverse groups to articulate a range of grievances. Two, none of the political parties seem to have shown the capacity to manage or control the angry, tire-burning crowds of youth. This was
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exemplified by the two-day riots in Bara Kahu (Islamabad) when protestors were also able to reverse the rise in transport fares. And, three, the protests are increasingly assuming ethnic overtones, and spurring the demand for the creation of new provinces - Saraiki, Hazara. In what can be a long hot summer of outbursts of public anger over the rising burdens of a fraught and precarious economic situation, there is a clear and present danger that these can become unmanageable. The risk is greater if the government fails to act in a manner commensurate with the urgency and seriousness of the situation. Nor can outside help, that the government banks on all the time, address a potential summer of discontent. The chronic official tendency to look for external bailouts has served to defer or deflect from efforts that the government needs to make itself. The costs of delayed actions are too obvious to merit elaboration. The government needs to replace its fitful, fire fighting mode of governance by a coherent approach that guides its response to pressing issues. Muddling through in a context of social unrest and dire economic conditions will only compound the myriad problems at hand. Whether managing the economy, addressing the energy crisis or dealing with security issues, the government needs a systematic and sustained approach that inspires public confidence that problems are being addressed instead of taking patchy actions dictated by the exigencies of the moment. Already the gap between challenge and response and between rule and governance has accentuated public doubts about the government's ability to manage growing public disaffection. The prerequisite for effective governance at a minimum involves three things. First, an implementable vision or overarching strategy to guide specific policy actions. Second, organising for this mission by positioning competent people in the right places. And, third, a capacity to motivate and mobilise people behind the goals set so that policy measures can be enforced and complied with. Understanding the interplay between challenge, opportunity and risk is integral to matching strategy to situation. The 18th Constitutional Amendment offers an opportunity to Prime Minister Gilani to chart a new course and start dealing with festering problems before they produce more spasms of public anger. Inability to do this will mean that the country will continue to drift in an increasingly charged environment, lacking direction and the means to meet urgent challenges.
Dr Maleeha Lodhi, Bangladesh Today, April 28, 2010, http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/analysis.htm
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W HO
IS
S UPREME ?
A lot has been written and said on the various aspects of the 18th Amendment, including its enactment and efficacy. The government functionaries and party leaders are beating drums and blowing their trumpets as if the legislation will turn this land of scarcity into a heaven, complete with streams of milk and honey flowing from north to south. Though the government never fails to boast of its democratic credentials, the secrecy with which the in-camera sessions of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms took place, combined with orders to the members not to divulge a shred of information for public consumption and public scrutiny, speaks volumes about the democratic norms followed by the government. The masses are rightly confused about the logic behind keeping the working of the committee secret, as it is the fundamental right of the people to be kept informed on such issues. Coming to the amendments, the committee has transgressed by proposing such large-scale amendments to the Constitution, almost altering its basic structure. Dictates of democracy would have demanded the recommendations to be referred to the electorate via a referendum to seek popular approval. On the contrary, the government and the so-called friendly opposition, in a mutual show of back-scratching, agreed to act in unison, ignoring public opinion and popular aspirations, the consequences of which are evident in the form of unrest in Hazara and deafening demands of similar sorts across the country, including those of the Pakhtuns in Balochistan who have started raising their voice for ethnic recognition. Naming and demarcation of parts of the motherland on the basis of parochial leanings and ethnic, linguistic and regional identities would be a severe blow to federalism, national cohesion, unity and unanimity. After a calculated and determined move by the ruling party to offend its faithful and sincere ally in Hyderabad, it should surprise no one if the MQM demands a new province comprising Karachi and Sukkur. The spectre of Sindhudesh, Pakhtunistan and Greater Balochistan should serve as an eye-opener for our rulers. No one is against strengthening parliament and democracy; we all applaud and appreciate it. But the self-congratulating and celebrating jiyalas must also mourn the fundamental changes of far-reaching fatal consequences that have been stealthily incorporated. Knowing the immaturity of our leaders and instability of our system, I had advocated that the presidency retain powers to appoint individuals to the Higher Defence Organisation and those conferred by Article 58(2)(b). These sensitive matters required a national and non-political approach.
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An insinuating and disguised move appears to have been made by amending the procedure for appointment to higher judiciary. It is a highly dangerous move to politicise the sensitive national institutions. Most of the political parties, especially the PML-N, stand for rule of law, independence of the judiciary and the whole edifice of administration of justice. However, the confusing and mixed signals and statements emanating from the PML-N quarters on the ongoing debate of judiciary versus parliament have flabbergasted the common man. Through amendments to Sections 62 and 63 of the Constitution, which relate to disqualification of MPs, the disqualification has been made temporary and conditional, as opposed to the earlier position. This is outright mockery of justice and the rule of law. Originally, it was laid down that a person convicted for ridiculing and defaming the judiciary, the armed forces and the ideology of Pakistan would cease to be an MP, so that the committers of such conduct are kept away from representing the masses. Now such individuals have been made eligible re-entry to the august Houses after a brief whiling away of time outside parliament. In Pakistan, where a few powerful families and individuals rule the roost, contemptuous conduct or a similar attitude is considered an entertaining pastime and is repeated with regularity, simply for the sake of gratifying one's ego and relishing a sense of authoritarianism. The not too distant judicial history can be revisited to prove the point, where even the highest judiciary was assaulted and intimidated. The party in power and its allies have done a great disservice to democracy by substituting Clause 63A, introducing and imposing dictatorship in the people's representation. Our unanimously elected prime minister and seasoned politicians are now at the whimsical mercy of the party's chairman. There is a similar situation for other eminent political personalities at the hands and pleasure of their political supremos and party heads. However, the most important aspects that have been overlooked or deliberately shelved are transparency in accountability laws and independence and neutrality of the Election Commission and in the electoral process. As a rule, both the institutions should have been placed beyond the orbit and manoeuvrable reach of the government as well as the opposition--leaving their vital functions to the judiciary. It would have brought some measure of transparency, neutrality, accountability, honest administration and good governance. These so-called landmark democratic amendments cleansing the Constitution have not at all been discussed at any of the intra-party or interparty fora before being bulldozed through parliament within a few hours. Parliament, the judiciary, the executive and other organs of the state are all products and offshoots drawing their strength and sustenance from the Constitution. Each and every one of them has its own defined and definite
41
role and functions to perform. The superior judiciary cannot be denied and deprived of its mandated function and power of a judicial review. We know the emptiness of the hollow argument that parliament is supreme and sovereign. It only reflects the myopic mediocrity of those making such a statement. We all know the myth and the reality. It is deceptive and inaccurate to say that one organ or the other has sovereignty and supremacy, or either is subservient to the other. For supremacy and sovereignty, the Constitution (whether written or otherwise) should be the guide, and not its offshoots or its offspring.
Ijazul Haq, News International (Rawalpindi), May 19, 2010, http://www.thenews.com.pk/editorial_detail.asp?id=239931
C ORRECTING
H ISTORIC W RONG
The Objectives Resolution was passed by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in March 1949, and was made a substantive part of the Constitution of Pakistan by Presidential Order, (PO) No 14 of 1985, with effect from March 2, 1985. But when the same PO was adopted as the Eighth Amendment, the then parliament did not go into the details of where the devil resided: the word "freely" that guaranteed the minorities' right to "profess and practice their religions and develop their cultures" was missing. That was a deviation from the basic structure of the Constitution, but the legislators of the day had no such comprehension. Now that the blunder has been rectified by putting back the word "freely", courtesy the Eighteenth Amendment, the present parliament has received Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's rich tribute. "Credit goes to the sitting parliament that they reinserted the word (freely) in the Objectives Resolution", he said. "Doesn't it reflect utter casualness of the then assembly to alter the basic and sacred document", observed Justice Jawwad S. Khwaja, as hearing of several petitions against certain clauses of the Eighteenth Amendment continued before the Full Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The judges' observations came in the wake of discussion on the question whether the parliament has the constitutional power to tamper with the basic structure of the constitution, of which the Objectives Resolution is the most fundamental. For the state of Pakistan, the said resolution envisages, to be a place "wherein adequate provision shall be made" for the minorities to freely practice their religions. In his very first address to the Constituent Assembly, the Quaid-e-Azam had clearly defined the rights of the minorities in Pakistan. His words still resound: "You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of State...We are starting with this basic principle that
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we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State". The Objectives Resolution fully reflects the Quaid's vision of an honourable place for minorities in their new homeland. Deprived of equal rights of protection, the minorities in Pakistan are easy targets of religious extremism, but, of late, their persecution has increased many notches. Various kind of pogroms have been carried out against them, the two most vicious being the anti-Christian Gojra carnage and the murderous assault on the Ahmadis' places of worship in Lahore, which have earned Pakistan increasing international alienation. Not surprisingly then, Prime Minister Gilani's recent meetings with the European Union leadership largely remained fruitless, as maltreatment being meted out to the minorities is unacceptable to the world at large. We, as Muslims, need to respect the rights of minorities all the more, for the simple reason that Muslim minorities constitute one-fourth of the global population that are dispersed in some 120 non-Muslim states. To every excess committed against the minorities in Pakistan, an ugly reaction somewhere else cannot be ruled out. This was a historic wrong and has been now corrected by the Eighteenth Amendment. But, equally pertinently, it was a wrong that has helped crystallise the apex court's observation that the parliament should not meddle with the basic structure of the constitution. Also, that it is quite possible that a certain constitutional amendment did not receive the proper attention of the parliament and was passed without much debate and discussion - as was the case with General Zia's Majlis-iShoora that was instrumental in injecting a serious distortion into the Objectives Resolution, and did not know it had done so. In the present case before the 17-judge full bench, it is one of the petitioners' positions that the Eighteenth Amendment was passed by the sitting parliament without debate in any of the two legislative chambers.
Editorial, Business Recorder (Islamabad), June 11, 2010, http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=1068152&currPageNo=1&query= &search=&term=&supDate=
H EALTH
AND THE
18 TH A MENDMENT
The implementation commission of the 18th constitutional amendment, in its recent session, has taken the final decision to devolve the Ministry of Education. The next round of deliberations will decide the modalities of devolving another set of ministries, including the Ministry of Health (MoH). My comment in these columns on December 25, 2010 The Vanishing Ministry outlined several institutional considerations that need attention whilst making decisions in this regard. One of these refers to the question of
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the national role in health and related institutional arrangements. Lessons from other countries are instructive in this regard. There are at least 25 countries with federating structures where health is a fully devolved subject. All have federal institutions a ministry, state department, directorates or equivalent institutions taking responsibility for national mandates in health. Contrary to what is being planned, there is need for stepping up capacity within the MoH, as there are many ominous indications of its constrained capacity the case of polio and H1NI are illustrative. But it seems that for the implementation commission, ministerial abolition in subjects, which have been devolved, has become symbolic of the entire process of devolution. The best option is to develop a constitutional solution. This viewpoint is being used to draw attention to a recently conducted analysis, on which inputs are being solicited. The paper presents the technical and constitutional rationale for retaining the national role in health and discusses options for a way forward. The paper defines the following as national functions in health: health information and disease security, international commitments, drug regulation, certain aspects of human resource regulation, overarching norms, and standards where inter-provincial conformity is needed. It then goes on to discuss the impact of certain changes brought about by the 18th Amendment on these national functions - abolition of the Concurrent Legislative List (CLL), shifting of entrees from Part 1 to Part 2 of the Federal Legislative List (FLL), insertion of a new entry in Part 1 of the FLL, amendments in Article 144 and 270. Although sweeping changes have been made by the 18th Amendment, the Constitution still provides space for the federal level to assume responsibilities for most of the national functions referred to above. The only exception is drugs. The paper makes a strong case for also retaining a national role in health and underscores the need for an appropriate federal institutional arrangement to fulfill national health responsibilities. Attention is drawn to constitutional provisions and rules of business of the federal government, which when viewed in context of the present devolution drive, call for creating a health division. The paper also discusses systemic challenges, which plague the current MoH and stresses on the need to use the present opportunity to bridge these weaknesses as the ministry is recast as a division. The relationship of five institutional streams, which are envisaged to report to link with the health division, has been elaborated. It has been accepted that with the responsibility for health completely devolved, the policymaking role has automatically been transferred to provinces. This notwithstanding, areas within the national policy purview have been enumerated and the convening fora for mandates granted to the national
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level under Part I and II of the FLL have been discussed in particular prerogatives of the cabinet vs. the council of common interest. On the subject of regulation, the paper refers to the post-18th Amendment prerogative of parliament to create federal regulatory authorities and alludes to the problem which can arise when the subject for which a federal regulatory agency is created, is devolved. The complexity of this for the area of drugs regulation has been alluded to in detail in the paper. This consideration has implications for the regulatory mandate in many other areas/subjects, and deserves a dedicated discussion in another comment. With respect to drugs, the paper emphasises the strong policy rationale for retaining regulation at the national/federal level and elaborates why the appropriate constitutional mechanism to enable that is Article 144. Other subjects touched upon in the paper include national functions with respect to service delivery, national public health programmes, health information systems, human resource, federal fiscalism, health financing and international agreements. With respect to the national public health programmes, incremental devolution has been recommended and a unified interim federal structure has been described to assume responsibility till such time that provincial capacity is fully developed. A case has been made for folding all programmatic activities, such as research, health information and mobile service delivery, in other cross-cutting interventions. The need for retaining a unified minimal federal structure has also been flagged to support functions on an ongoing basis where inter-provincial policy coordination is needed. The analysis states how the amendment does not drastically alter federal functions related to human resource but describes the interplay of provincial concurrence, which may now become necessary for human resource decisions at the federal level. A section of the analysis clarifies the constitutional position with regard to health information, which the viewpoint argues is an important national/federal responsibility in the wake of disease security concerns. It clarifies that constitutional provisions potentially enable the function to be retained federally, but makes a strong case for reform of the health information institutional landscape to bridge current weaknesses in individual streams. It also calls for creating an apex mechanism to comply with International Health Regulations, 2005. Through this comment, I am soliciting inputs on the draft paper. A copy of the latter can be made available by sending a request at sania@heartfile.org. Meaningful feedback will be collated and acknowledged in the paper.
Dr Sania Nishtar, News International (Rawalpindi), April 4, 2011, http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=39481&Cat=9&dt= 4/2/2011
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T IME
TO
S AVE
THE
H IGHER E DUCATION C OMMISSION
There is an impending disaster looming in front of us (something also mentioned in a recent editorial in this newspaper on the matter of devolving the functions of the Higher Education Commission [HEC] to the provinces). What has been decided by the cabinet (on the recommendation of a parliamentary committee on devolution headed by Raza Rabbani) is to tear higher education to shreds and hand over the pieces to the provinces. What has not been realised by our policymakers is that the process of socio-economic development takes place through central strategic planning, which is intimately connected to a countrys higher education and science and technology programmes. The minimum quality requirements and the numbers of engineers, scientists, doctors, economists and social scientists needed for nation-building have to be determined through careful central planning regarding human resource requirements in various sectors. A multiplicity of standards and regulations would be disastrous. That is why the world over, including in India, higher education planning and funding is done centrally, even though universities are located in the provinces. All the vice-chancellors of public sector universities, on November 27, 2010, therefore, unanimously resolved that the status quo of the HEC should be maintained since it has performed exceptionally well and is completely protected under the 18th Amendment. Pakistans highest level science body, the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (whose members have included such luminaries as the late professors Abdus Salam and Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, and whose present members include Dr A Q Khan, Dr Ishfaq Ahmed and Dr Samar Mubarak Mand, and of which I am now the president) held a press conference in Islamabad recently, protesting in the strongest possible terms, the fragmentation of HEC. A strongly worded article protesting the dismantling of the HEC, by Dr AQ Khan, was published in The News of March 29, 2009. All this fell on deaf ears. The motivation behind the shredding is to teach the HEC a lesson. This, he wrote, was for upholding the principles of merit, not bowing to political pressures and, particularly, for refusing to verify forged degrees of a large number of parliamentarians as being legal. Pakistan made remarkable progress during 2001-2008 in higher education. There was a 600 per cent increase in scientific publications in international journals and a 1,000 per cent increase in citations in this period. Today, several of our universities are ranked among the top 500. The University of Karachi was ranked at 223 in the world, NUST at 260 in the world and Quaid-i-Azam University at 270 in the world, in the field of natural sciences. This is no ordinary achievement after decades of stagnation. The World Bank, USAID and the British Council published comprehensive reports
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on the higher education sector, applauding it and calling it a silent revolution. Pakistan won several prestigious international awards for the revolutionary changes in the higher education sector brought about by the Higher Education Commission. These include the TWAS (Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, Italy) Award for Institutional Development in October 2009 and the Austrian high civil award Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeischen am Bande (2007), conferred on me as chairman of the Higher Education Commission. An eminent educational expert, Professor Wolfgang Voelter of Tubingen University, paid glowing tributes to the Higher Education Commission in an article in a Pakistani newspaper on November 28, 2008 under the heading The Golden Period. I quote: A miracle happened. The scenario of education, science and technology in Pakistan changed dramatically as never before in the history of Pakistan. The chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Education recently announced it as Pakistans golden period in higher education. Professor Michael Rode, former chairman of the United Nations Commission on Science, Technology and Development wrote, and I quote: The progress made was breathtaking and has put Pakistan ahead of comparable countries in numerous aspects. The worlds leading and oldest scientific society, Royal Society (London) recently published a booklet entitled A New Golden Age, considering Pakistan to be the best practice model to be followed by other developing countries. India became deeply concerned at these developments. In an article entitled Pak Threat to Indian Science published in the leading daily newspaper Hindustan Times, India, on July 23, 2006, Neha Mehta reported that Professor C N R Rao, (Chairman of the Indian prime ministers scientific advisory council) made a presentation to his boss and expressed serious concerns at the remarkable progress made by Pakistan in the higher education and science sectors. The article wrote that Pakistan may soon join China in giving India serious competition in science. The Indian leadership need not be concerned since we are ourselves hell-bent on destroying our nation by undermining the development and progress of higher education, science and technology and then being doomed to perpetual slavery. The HEC was created as an autonomous federal regulatory institution with the prime minister of Pakistan as its controlling authority. The composition of the commission reflects a balanced federal structure with representation from each province, as well as the secretary education and secretary science and technology, together with eminent academic and research experts. All powers and functions of the HEC defined under its legislation are covered and protected in the provisions of the 18th Amendment. But, alas, who cares about what is legal and what is not.
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Lower level education has been a complete mess, because of half-witted plans and lack of a national commitment towards education. Some of our leaders have now come up with this strategy to destroy the higher education sector as well. My plea to the government is: Please stop this suicidal madness. Something good happened in Pakistan after some 55 years of neglect. Let us not destroy this wonderful initiative. I hope that the president, prime minister and the army chief will intervene to stop this madness before it is too late. If ever there was a case for the chief justice of the Supreme Court to take suo motu action on, this is it.
Attaur Rahman, Express Tribune (Islamabad), April 8, 2011, http://tribune.com.pk/story/142945/time-to-save-the-higher-educationcommission/
H IGHER E DUCATION
In the fairly intense debate going on about the future of the Higher Education Commission one has to hold on to two significant strands: one, education is a provincial subject and the process of devolution cannot be scuttled; two, there are aspects of higher education and research that the federal government should remain engaged with under the rubric standards in institutions of higher learning. A third consideration is that if the state is disassembling such a large institution as the HEC which kept growing with little value added for its purported objectives, the provincial and federal governments should have plans, resources and resolve to set in place better institutions. Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination and Chairman, Implementation Commission on the 18th Amendment Mian Raza Rabbanis disclosure that Islamabad is evolving a new commission raises the hope that the genuine fears of the opponents of the HEC dissolution can be redressed. But one has to withhold applause till a number of questions have been answered. Is there a judicious assessment of the successes and failures of the existing HEC? If so, what metrics of quantity and quality were applied and by whom? How wide and deep is the consultation in evolving the new commission? How many of the eminent scholars who have followed educational reforms since the Ayub era have been consulted? Then there are individuals who have looked at higher education not only from the viewpoint of excellence, particularly in science and technology, but also its role in fostering a more enlightened society. Have they been brought into the loop? Does the government plan to hold nation-wide seminars and symposia to ensure a comprehensive review of higher education? In the post-Benazir Bhutto era, the PPP is getting increasingly dominated by elements that distrust knowledge, intellectuals, free research and an inquisitive and questioning culture. Can Rabbani assure us that his project
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would not become another administrative fiat, another sleight of the hand by an incompetent government? Universities represent the apex of a countrys spiritual, cultural and intellectual life. They are expected to play a crucial role as the custodians and interpreters of the moral, ethical and ideological values of a people. They are also the main instrument of a planned and orderly change that enables communities to keep pace with time. Modern societies are heavily dependent, in the material domain, on excellence and achievement in higher education, particularly in science and technology. It is, therefore, natural that its practical functions receive special emphasis. But higher education is equally vital for objectives and purposes which are not directly related to economic progress but which are good in themselves, and lead to the enrichment of life, be it individual or collective. Our universities are hampered by a poor base of universal literacy and an indifferently developed system of secondary education. The Zardari regime has shown no interest in revolutionary approaches to mass literacy or secondary education or for that matter to improving facilities for vocations, trades and skills. The HEC promised a revolution at the university level but got lured away by the siren call of numbers leaving quality of faculty and students to deteriorate further. Universities not only impart the existing knowledge, but also, create it. Education and research are inseparable, and fundamental to the idea of a university. Sadly, a large number of university graduates fail to acquire even an acceptable level of knowledge; research output remains abysmal. Since no drastic decline in internal and external funding is apprehended at this moment, the federal government should come out with a white paper on its plans for devolution in the field of education and the improved commission that Rabbani has talked about.
Tanvir Ahmad Khan, News International (Rawalpindi), April 13, 2011, http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=41420&Cat=9&dt= 4/13/2011
18 TH A MENDMENT : I MPLEMENTATION C OMMISSION R EPORT U NVEILED

The Implementation Commission on 18th Amendment has created a unique tradition of openness, transparency and accountability by placing its performance report before the both houses of the Parliament. The report was presented by Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, Chairman of the Implementation Commission in the Senate on Tuesday, said a press release. Earlier, on April 29, 2011 it was placed before the National Assembly. The 58 page report enlists all the steps taken by the Implementation
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Commission during the last 11 months since its creation on May 4, 2010. The report provides information about the way historic devolution of powers to the provinces is being carried out and facilitated. The report provides adequate answers to devolution skeptics as it reveals how carefully all legal, administrative and financial aspects are being taken into account. The eight-member multi-party commission held 50 meetings and created a committee to prepare options on the financial aspects involved in the devolution process. The commission held meetings with the provincial chief secretaries to know the preparedness of provincial governments to take over the activities of the devolved ministries. Federal teams also visited the provincial capitals to check the steps taken by the provincial governments in this regard. During its work the Commission ensured that any legislation, activity or function, if had to be retained in the federal government had to be supported from one or the other entry in the federal legislative list or any article of the Constitution.
Achievements
As of today the Commission has devolved 10 ministries, nine selected functions of six federal ministries that fall under the abolished Concurrent list and has recommended the creation of a Capital Administration and Development Division. None of the employee has been laid off or retrenched. Rather the employees of these ministries working in the main secretariats have been adjusted in other ministries. The National Economic Council has been notified according to the new composition defined by the Constitution. The Federal Board of Revenue has been advised that no taxation proposal is made about a subject that is not included in the Federal Legislative List or was part of the omitted Concurrent Legislative List. A committee set up by the commission prepared options on the financial aspects involved in the devolution process. Office buildings, furniture, fixture, equipment and transport in use of devolved ministries will be handed over to the provinces. Inventories of moveable and immovable assets are being maintained. New rules of procedure of Council of Common Interests (CCI) have been approved. The CCI on July 18, 2010 received briefing about the Implementation Commission and its actions and future plan. The CCI was also apprised about the position regarding composition of implementation/coordination cells in the provinces.
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The commission sensitized the civil servants on the consequences of the 18th Amendment at a meeting with the Federal secretaries. Examined the activities of 34 ministries and proposed revisions in the Rules of Business-1973 as per the requirement of devolution. The Election Commission of Pakistan was informed about the new mechanism of the appointments of the Commission members. After clause by clause review relevant offices and authorities were informed about necessary action. The Council of Common Interests in its meeting on February 1, 2011 decided to constitute a committee comprising of the secretary finance and four chief secretaries to work out the financial impact of the devolution and suggest various possible scenarios to meet the said liability by the federation or provinces. This matter has been placed before the Council of Common Interests on April 28, 2011. Major changes after the Constitution (Eighteenth) Amendment Act2010. The Constitution (Eighteenth) Amendment Act-2010 has amended 102 articles. The abolition of Concurrent Legislative list is a major headway towards provincial autonomy. Out of the 47 subjects of the Concurrent list, one item, Boiler (no. 29), has been shifted to the Federal Legislative List-I, while two items, Electricity and Legal, medical and other professions to the Federal Legislative List-II (Participatory management both by the Federation and the Federating units through Council of Common Interests). Four subjects have been shifted from part one of the Federal Legislative List to part two (shared responsibility). These subjects include: (i) Major ports, that is to say, the declaration and delimitation of such ports, and the constitution and powers of port authorities therein. (ii) Census. (iii) Extension of the powers and jurisdiction of members of police force belonging to any provinces to any area in other provinces to exercise powers and jurisdiction in another province without the consent of the government of that province; extension of the powers and jurisdiction of members of a police force belonging to any province to railway areas outside the province. (iv) National planning and national economic coordination including planning and coordination of scientific and technological research. Five new subjects have been added to the Federal Legislative List-II (Shared responsibility). (i) All regulatory authorities established under a Federal Law.
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Supervision and management of public debt. Legal, medical and other professions. Standards in institutions for higher education and research, scientific and technical institutions. (v) Inter-Provincial matters and coordination. Five subjects have been deleted from the Federal List-I (hey become residual or exclusive provincial power) (i) State lotteries. (ii) Duties regarding succession of property. (iii) Estate duty in respect to property. (iv) Capital gains. (v) General sales tax on services. One new subject has been added to the Federal List-I (i) International treaties, conventions and agreements and International arbitration. Shared ownership in oil, gas and territorial waters (Article 172). The Constitutionally mandated deadline for devolution is June 30, 2011.
Express Tribune (Islamabad), May 4, 2011, http://tribune.com.pk/story/161301/18th-amendment-implementationcommission-report-unveiled/
(ii) (iii) (iv)
C ONSTITUTION (E IGHTEENTH A MENDMENT ) A CT , 2010

President's Assent Received: April 19, 2010 A Bill further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. WHEREAS it is expedient further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for the purposes hereinafter appearing; AND WHEREAS the people of Pakistan have relentlessly struggled for democracy and for attaining the ideals of a Federal, Islamic, democratic, parliamentary and modern progressive welfare State, wherein the rights of the citizens are secured and the Provinces have equitable share in the Federation; AND WHEREAS it is necessary that the Legal Framework Order, 2002, as amended by the Chief Executive's Order No. 29 and the Chief Executive's Order No. 32 of 2002, be declared as having been made without lawful authority and of no legal effect, and the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 2002 (Act No. III of 2003), be repealed and the Constitution further amended to achieve the aforesaid objectives; It is hereby enacted as follows:-
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1.
Short Title and Commencement

(1) (2) This Act may be called the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010. It shall come into force at once, save as otherwise provided in this Act.
2.
Repeal, etc
Subject to Article 264 and the provisions of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, (a) the Legal Framework Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 24 of 2002), the Legal Framework (Amendment) Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 29 of 2002) and hte Legal Framework (Second Amendment) Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 32 of 2002), are hereby declared to have been made without lawful authority and of no legal effect and, therefore shall stand repealed; and (b) the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 2003 (Act No. III of 2003), is hereby repealed. 3.
Amendment of Article 1 of the Constitution
In the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, hereinafter referred to as the Constitution, in Article 1, in clause (2), in paragraph (a), for the word "Baluchistan" the word "Balochistan", for the words "North West Frontier" the words "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa", and for the word "Sind" the word "Sindh", shall be substituted. 4.

In the Constitution, in Article 6, (i) for clause (1), the following shall be substituted, namely:(1) Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or holds in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance, the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason. (ii) in clause (2), after the word "abetting" the word "or collaborating" shall be inserted; and (iii) after clause (2) amended as aforesaid, the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:"(2A) An act of high treason mentioned in clause (1) or clause (2) shall not be validated by any court including the Supreme Court and a High Court."
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5.
Insertion of New Article in the Constitution
In the Constitution, after Article 10, the following new Article shall be inserted, namely:"10A. Right to Fair Trial For the determination of his civil rights and obligations or in any criminal charge against him a person shall be entitled to a fair trial and due process." 6.
Substitution of Article 17 of the Constitution
In the Constitution, for Article 17, the following shall be substituted, namely:"17. Freedom of Association (1) Every citizen shall have the right to form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan, public order or morality. (2) Every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, shall have the right to form or be a member of a political party, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan and such law shall provide that where the Federal Government declares that any political party has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan, the Federal Government shall, within fifteen days of such declaration, refer the matter to the Supreme Court whose decision on such reference shall be final. (3) Every political party shall account for the source of its funds in accordance with law." 7.
In the Constitution, after Article 19, the following new Article shall be inserted, namely:"19A. Right to Information Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law." 8.
In the Constitution, in Article 25, in clause (2), the word "alone" occurring at the end shall be omitted.
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9.
In the Constitution, after Article 25, the following new Article shall be inserted, namely:"25A. Right to Education The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law." 10.
In the Constitution, in Article 27, in clause (1), in the second proviso, for the full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:Provided also that under-representation of any class or area in the service of Pakistan may be redressed in such manner as may be determined by an Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)." 11.
In the Constitution, in Article 29, in clause (3), for the word "the National Assembly" occurring for the first time the words and brackets, "each House of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)" shall be substituted and after the word "National Assembly" occurring for the second time the words "and the Senate" shall be inserted. 12.

In the Constitution, in Article 38,(i) in paragraph (e), the word "and" at the end shall be omitted; (ii) in paragraph (f), for the full stop at the end a semicolon and the word "; and" shall be added and after paragraph (f) amended as aforesaid, the following new paragraph shall be added, namely:"(g) the shares of the Provinces in all federal services, including autonomous bodies and corporations established by, or under the control of, the Federal Government, shall be secured and any omission in the allocation of the shares of the Provinces in the past shall be rectified."
13.

In the Constitution, in Article 41,(i) in clause (3), the words, brackets and figure "to be elected after the term specified in clause (7)" shall be omitted; and (ii) clauses (7), (8) and (9) shall be omitted.
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14.
In the Constitution, for Article 46, the following shall be substituted, namely:"46. President to be Kept Informed The Prime Minister shall keep the President informed on all matters of internal and foreign policy and on all legislative proposals the Federal Government intends to bring before Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)." 15.

In the Constitution, in Article 48,(i) in clause (1),(a) after the word "act" the words "on and" shall be inserted; and (b) in the proviso, after the word "that" the words "within fifteen days" shall be inserted and after the word "shall" the commas and words ", within ten days, " shall be inserted; and (ii) for clause (5) the following shall be substituted, namely:-. (5) Where the President dissolves the National Assembly, notwithstanding anything contained in clause (1), he shall(a) appoint a date, not later than ninety days from the date of the dissolution, for the holding of a general election to the Assembly; and (b) appoint a care-taker Cabinet." (iii) for clause (6) the following shall be substituted, namely:"If at any time the Prime Minister considers it necessary to hold a referendum on any matter of national (6) importance, he may refer the matter to a joint sitting of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and if it is approved in a joint sitting, the Prime Minister may cause such matter to be referred to a referendum in the form of a question that is capable of being answered by either "Yes" or "No"."
16.
In the Constitution, for Article 51, the following shall be substituted, and shall be deemed always to have been so substituted with effect from the 21st day of August, 2002, namely:"51. National Assembly (1) There shall be three hundred and forty-two seats for members in the National Assembly, including seats reserved for women and non-Muslims. (2) A person shall be entitled to vote if-
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(a) he is a citizen of Pakistan; (b) he is not less than eighteen years of age; (c) his name appears on the electoral roll; and (d) he is not declared by a competent court to be of unsound mind. (3) The seats in the National Assembly referred to in clause (1), except as provided in clause (4), shall be allocated to each Province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Federal Capital as underGeneral Seats Balochistan 14 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 35 Punjab 148 Sindh 61 Federally Administered Tribal Areas 12 Federal Capital 2 Total 272 Women 3 8 35 14 60 Total 17 43 183 75 12 2 332
(4) In addition to the number of seats referred to in clause (3), there shall be, in the National Assembly, ten seats reserved for nonMuslims. (5) The seats in the National Assembly shall be allocated to each Province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Federal Capital on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published. (6) For the purpose of election to the National Assembly,(a) the constituencies for the general seats shall be single member territorial constituencies and the members to fill such seats shall be elected by direct and free vote in accordance with law; (b) each Province shall be a single constituency for all seats reserved for women which are allocated to the respective Provinces under clause (3); (c) the constituency for all seats reserved for non-Muslims shall be the whole country; (d) members to the seats reserved for women which are allocated to a Province under clause (3) shall be elected in accordance with law through proportional representation system of political parties' lists of candidates on the basis of total number of general seats secured by each political party from the Province concerned in the National Assembly: Provided that for the purpose of this sub-clause the total number of general seats won by a political party shall include the independent returned candidate or candidates who may
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duly join such political party within three days of the publication in the official Gazette of the names of the returned candidates; (e) members to the seats reserved for non-Muslims shall be elected in accordance with law through proportional representation system of political parties' lists of candidates on the basis of total number of general seats won by each political party in the National Assembly: Provided that for the purpose of this sub-clause the total number of general seats won by a political party shall include the independent returned candidate or candidates who may duly join such political party within three days of the publication in the official Gazette of the names of the returned candidates." 17.
In the Constitution, for Article 58, the following shall be substituted, namely:"58. Dissolution of the National Assembly (1) The President shall dissolve the National Assembly if so advised by the Prime Minister; and the National Assembly shall, unless sooner dissolved, stand dissolved at the expiration of forty-eight hours after the Prime Minister has so advised. Explanation: Reference in this Article to "Prime Minister" shall not be construed to include reference to a Prime Minister against whom a notice of a resolution for a note of no-confidence has been given in the National Assembly but has not been voted upon or against whom such a resolution has been passed or who is continuing in office after his resignation or after the dissolution of the National Assembly. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (2) or Article 48, the President may dissolve the National Assembly in his discretion where, a vote of no-confidence having been passed against the Prime Minister, no other member of the National Assembly commands the confidence of the majority of the members of the National Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, as ascertained in a session of the National Assembly summoned for the purpose." 18.
In the Constitution, for Article 59, the following shall be substituted, namely:-
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"59. The Senate (1) The Senate shall consist of one-hundred and four members, of whom(a) fourteen shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly; (b) eight shall be elected from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, in such manner as the President may, by Order, prescribe; (c) two on general seats, and one woman and one technocrat including aalim shall be elected from the Federal Capital in such manner as the President may, by Order, prescribe; (d) four women shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly; (e) four technocrats including ulema shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly; and (f) four non-Muslims, one from each Province, shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly: Provided that paragraph (f) shall be effective from the next Senate election after the commencement of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010. (2) Election to fill seats in the Senate allocated to each Province shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. (3) The Senate shall not be subject to dissolution but the term of its members, who shall retire as follows, shall be six years:(a) of the members referred to in paragraph (a) of clause (1), seven shall retire after the expiration of the first three years and seven shall retire after the expiration of the next three years; (b) of the members referred to in paragraph (b) of the aforesaid clause, four shall retire of the expiration of the first three years and four shall retire after the expiration of the next three years; (c) of the members referred to in paragraph (c) of the aforesaid clause,(i) one elected on general seat shall retire after the expiration of the first three years and the other one shall retire after the expiration of the next three years; and (ii) one elected on the seat reserved for technocrat shall retire after the first three years and the one elected on the seat reserved for women shall retire after the expiration of the next three years; (d) of the members referred to in paragraph (d) of the aforesaid clause, two shall retire after the expiration of the first three
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years and two shall retire after the expiration of the next three years; (e) of the members referred to in paragraph (e) of the aforesaid clause, two shall retire after the expiration of the first three years and two shall retire after the expiration of the next three years; and (f) of the members referred to in paragraph (f) of the aforesaid clause, two shall retire after the expiration of the first three years and two shall retire after the expiration of the next three years: Provided that the Election Commission for the first term of seats for non-Muslims shall draw a lot as to which two members shall retire after the first three years. (4) The term of office of a person elected to fill a casual vacancy shall be the unexpired term of the member whose vacancy he has filled. 19.
In the Constitution, in Article 61, for the word "ninety" the words "one hundred and ten" shall be substituted. 20.
In the Constitution, for Article 62, the following shall be substituted, namely:"62. Qualifications for Membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) (1) A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless(a) he is a citizen of Pakistan; (b) he is, in the case of the National Assembly, not less than twenty-five years of age and is enrolled as a voter in any electoral roll in(i) any part of Pakistan, for election to a general seat or a seat reserved for non-Muslims; and (ii) any area in a Province from which she seeks membership for election to a seat reserved for women. (c) he is, in the case of Senate, not less than thirty years of age and is enrolled as a voter in any area in a Province or, as the case may be, the Federal Capital or the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, from where he seeks membership; (d) he is of good character and is not commonly known as one who violates Islamic Injunctions;
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(e) he has adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practices obligatory duties prescribed by Islam as well as abstains from major sins; (f) he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law; (g) he has not, after the establishment of Pakistan, worked against the integrity of the country or opposed the ideology of Pakistan. (2) The disqualifications specified in paragraphs (d) and (e) shall not apply to a person who is a non-Muslim, but such a person shall have good moral reputation." 21.
In the Constitution, for Article 63, the following shall be substituted, namely:"63. Disqualifications for Membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament): (1) A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if:(a) he is of unsound mind and has been so declared by a competent court; or (b) he is an undischarged insolvent; or (c) he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign State; or (d) he holds an office of profit in the service of Pakistan other than an office declared by law not to disqualify its holder; or (e) he is in the service of any statutory body or any body which is owned or controlled by the Government or in which the Government has a controlling share or interest; or (f) being a citizen of Pakistan by virtue of section 14B of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 (II of 1951), he is for the time being disqualified under any law in force in Azad Jammu and Kashmir from being elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir; or (g) he has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction for propagating any opinion, or acting in any manner, prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan, or the sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or morality, or the maintenance of public order, or the integrity or independence of the judiciary of Pakistan, or which defames or brings into ridicule the judiciary or the Armed Forces of
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Pakistan, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release; or (h) he has been, on conviction for any offence involving moral turpitude, senteced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release; or (i) he has been dismissed from the service of Pakistan or service of a corporation or office set up or, controlled, by the Federal Government, Provincial Government or a Local Government on the grounds of misconduct, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his dismissal; or (j) he has been removed or compulsorily retired from the service of Pakistan or service of a corporation or office set up or controlled by the Federal Government, Provincial Government or a Local Government on the ground of misconduct, unless a period of three years has elapsed since his removal or compulsory retirement; or (k) he has been in the service of Pakistan or of any statutory body or anybody which is owned or controlled by the Government or in which the Government has a controlling share or interest, unless a period of two years has elapsed since he ceased to be in such service; or (l) he, whether by himself or by any person or body of persons in trust for him or for his benefit or on his account or as a member of a Hindu undivided family, has any share or interest in a contract, not being a contract between a cooperative society and Government, for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any contract or for the performance of any service undertaken by, Government: Provided that the disqualification under this paragraph shall not apply to a person(i) where the share or interest in the contract devolves on him by inheritance or succession or as a legatee, executor or administrator, until the expiration of six months after it has so devolved on him; (ii) where the contract has been entered into by or on behalf of a public company as defined in the Companies Ordinance, 1984 (XLVII of 1984), of which he is a share-holder but is not a director holding an office of profit under the company; or (iii) where he is a member of a Hindu undivided family and the contract has been entered into by any other member
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of that family in the course of carrying on a separate business in which he has no share or interest; or Explanation:- In this Article "goods" does not include agricultural produce or commodity grown or produced by him or such goods as he is, under any directive of Government or any law for the time being in force, under a duty or obligation to supply. (m) he holds any office of profit in the service of Pakistan other than the following offices, namely :(i) an office which is not whole time office remunerated either by salary or by fee; (ii) the office of Lumbardar, whether called by this or any other title; (iii) the Qaumi Razakars; (iv) any office the holder whereof, by virtue of such office, is liable to be called up for military training or military service under any law providing for the constitution or raising of a Force; or (n) he has obtained a loan for an amount of two million rupees or more, from any bank, financial institution, cooperative society or cooperative body in his own name or in the name of his spouse or any of his dependents, which remains unpaid for more than one year from the due date, or has got such loan written off; or (o) he or his spouse or any of his dependents has defaulted in payment of government dues and utility expenses, including telephone, electricity, gas and water charges in excess of ten thousand rupees, for over six months, at the time of filing his nomination papers; or (p) he is for the time being disqualified from being elected or chosen as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) or of a Provincial Assembly under any law for the time being in force. Explanation: For the purposes of this paragraph "law" shall not include an Ordinance promulgated under Article 89 or Article 128. (2) If any question arises whether a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) has become disqualified from being a member, the Speaker or, as the case may be, the Chairman shall, unless he decides that no such question has arisen, refer the question to the Election Commission within thirty days and should he fail to do so within the aforesaid period it shall be deemed to have been referred to the Election Commission. (3) The Election Commission shall decide the question within ninety days from its receipt or deemed to have been received and if it is of
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the opinion that the member has become disqualified, he shall cease to be a member and his seat shall become vacant." 22.
Substitution of Article 63A of the Constitution
In the Constitution, for Article 63A, the following shall be substituted, namely:"63A. Disqualification on Grounds of Defection, etc. (1) If a member of a Parliamentary Party composed of a single political party in a House(a) resigns from membership of his political party or joins another Parliamentary Party; or (b) votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by the Parliamentary Party to which he belongs, in relations to(i) election of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister; or (ii) a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence; or (iii) a Money Bill or a Constitution (Amendment) Bill; he may be declared in writing by the Party Head to have defected from the political party, and the Head of the Parliamentary Party may forward a copy of the declaration to the Presiding Officer, and shall similarly forward a copy thereof to the member concerned: Provided that before making the declaration, the Party Head shall provide such member with an opportunity to show cause as to why such declaration may not be made against him. Explanation "Party Head" means any person, by whatever name called, declared as such by the Party. (2) A member of a House shall be deemed to be a member of a Parliamentary Party if he having been elected as a candidate or nominee of a political party which constitutes the Parliamentary Party in the House or, having been elected otherwise than as a candidate or nominee of a political party, has become a member of such Parliamentary Party after such election by means of a declaration in writing. (3) Upon receipt of the declaration under clause (1), the Presiding Officer of the House shall within two days refer the declaration to the Chief Election Commissioner who shall lay the declaration before the Election Commission for its decision thereon confirming the declaration or otherwise within thirty days of its receipt by the Chief Election Commissioner. (4) Where the Election Commission confirms the declaration, the member referred to in clause (1) shall cease to be a member of the House and his seat shall become vacant.
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(5) Any party aggrieved by the decision of the Election Commission may within thirty days, prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court which shall decide the matter within ninety days from the date of the filing of the appeal. (6) Nothing contained in this Article shall apply to the Chairman or Speaker of a House. (7) For the purpose of this Article (a) "House" means the National Assembly or the Senate in relation to the Federation and a Provincial Assembly in relation to the Province, as the case may be. (b) "Presiding Officer" means the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Chairman of the Senate or the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, as the case may be. (8) Article 63A substituted as aforesaid shall come into effect from the next general elections to be held after the commencement of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010: Provided that till Article 63A substituted as aforesaid comes into effect the provisions of existing Article 63A shall remain operative." 23.
In the Constitution, for Article 70, the following shall be substituted, namely:"70. Introduction and Passing of Bills (1) A Bill with respect to any matter in the Federal Legislative List may originate in either House and shall, if it is passed by the House in which it originated, be transmitted to the other House; and, if the Bill is passed without amendment, by the other House also, it shall he presented to the President for assent. (2) If a Bill transmitted to a House under clause (1) is passed with amendments it shall be sent back to the House in which it originated and if that House passes the Bill with those amendments it shall be presented to the President for assent. (3) If a Bill transmitted to a House under clause (1) is rejected or is not passed within ninety days of its laying in the House or a Bill sent to a House under clause (2) with amendments is not passed by that House with such amendments, the Bill, at the request of the House in which it originated, shall be considered in a joint sitting and if passed by the votes of the majority of the members present and voting in the joint sitting it shall be presented to the President for assent.
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(4)
In this Article and the succeeding provisions of the Constitution, "Federal Legislative List" means the Federal Legislative List and the in the Fourth Schedule."
24. 25.
Omission of Article 71 of the Constitution

In the Constitution, Article 71 shall be omitted.

In the Constitution, in Article 73,(i) for clause (1) the following shall be substituted, namely:"(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Article 70, a Money Bill shall originate in the National Assembly: Provided that simultaneously when a Money Bill, including the Finance Bill containing the Annual Budget Statement, is presented in the National Assembly, a copy thereof shall be transmitted to the Senate which may, within fourteen days, make recommendations thereon to the National Assembly."; and (ii) after clause (1) substituted as aforesaid, the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:(1A) The National Assembly shall consider the recommendations of the Senate and after the Bill has been passed by the Assembly with or without incorporating the recommendations of the Senate, it shall be presented to the President for assent."
26.

In the Constitution, in Article 75,(i) in clause (1), for the word "thirty", the word "ten" shall be substituted; (ii) for clause (2), the following shall be substituted, namely:(2) When the President has returned a Bill to the Majlis-eShoora (Parliament), it shall be reconsidered by the Majlis-eShoora (Parliament) in joint sitting and, if it is again passed, with or without amendment, by the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), by the votes of the majority of the members of both Houses present and voting; it shall be deemed for the purposes of the Constitution to have been passed by both Houses and shall be presented to the President, and the President shall give his assent within ten days, failing which such assent shall be deemed to have been given."; and (iii) in clause (3), after the word "assented", the words "or is deemed to have assented", shall be inserted.
27.

In the Constitution, in Article 89,-
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(i) in clause (1), before the words "National Assembly" the words "Senate or" shall be inserted; (ii) in clause (2), in paragraph (a),(a) in sub-paragraph (i), for the words "four months" the words "one hundred and twenty days" shall be substituted; and for the semi-colon at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:Provided that the National Assembly may by a resolution extend the Ordinance for a further period of one hundred and twenty days and it shall stand repealed at the expiration of the extended period, or if before the expiration of that period a resolution disapproving it is passed by the Assembly, upon the passing of that resolution: Provided further that extension for further period may be made only once; and (b) in sub-paragraph (ii), for the words "four months" the words "one hundred and twenty days" shall be substituted and for the semi-colon and the word "; and" at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following provisos shall be inserted, namely:Provided that either House may by a resolution extend it for a further period of one hundred and twenty days and it shall stand repealed at the expiration of the extended period, or if before the expiration of that period a resolution disapproving it is passed by a House, upon the passing of that resolution: Provided further that extension for a further period may be made only once. (iii) for clause (3), the following shall be substituted, namely:(3) Without prejudice to the provisions of clause (2),(a) an Ordinance laid before the National Assembly under sub-paragraph (i) of paragraph (a) of clause (2) shall be deemed to be a Bill introduced in the National Assembly; and (b) an Ordinance laid before both Houses under subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of clause (2) shall be deemed to be a Bill introduced in the House where it was first laid." 28.
In the Constitution, for Article 90, the following shall be substituted, namely:"90. The Federal Government
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(1) Subject to the Constitution, the executive authority of the Federation shall be exercised in the name of the President by the Federal Government, consisting of the Prime Minister and the Federal Ministers, which shall act through the Prime Minister, who shall be the chief executive of the Federation. (2) In the performance of his functions under the Constitution, the Prime Minister may act either directly or through the Federal Ministers." 29. Substitution of Article 91 of the Constitution In the Constitution, for Article 91, the following shall be substituted, namely:"91. The Cabinet (1) There shall be a Cabinet of Ministers, with the Prime Minister at its head, to aid and advise the President in the exercise of his functions. (2) The National Assembly shall meet on the twenty-first day following the day on which a general election to the Assembly is held, unless sooner summoned by the President. (3) After the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the National Assembly shall, to the exclusion of any other business, proceed to elect without debate one of its Muslim members to be the Prime Minister. (4) The Prime Minister shall be elected by the votes of the majority of the total membership of the National Assembly: Provided that, if no member secures such majority in the first poll, a second poll shall be held between the members who secure the two highest numbers of votes in the first poll and the member who secures a majority of votes of the members present and voting shall be declared to have been elected as Prime Minister: Provided further that, if the number of votes secured by two or more members securing the highest number of votes is equal, further poll shall be held between them until one of them secures a majority of votes of the members present and voting. (5) The member elected under clause (4) shall be called upon by the President to assume the office of Prime Minister and he shall, before entering upon the office, make before the President oath in the form set out in the Third Schedule: Provided that there shall be no restriction on the number of terms for the office of the Prime Minister. (6) The Cabinet, together with the Ministers of State, shall be collectively responsible to the Senate and the National Assembly.
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(7)
The Prime Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the President, but the President shall not exercise his powers under this clause unless he is satisfied that the Prime Minister does not command the confidence of the majority of the members of the National Assembly, in which case he shall summon the National Assembly and require the Prime Minister to obtain a vote of confidence from the Assembly. (8) The Prime Minister may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office. (9) A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the National Assembly shall, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a Minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a Minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly: Provided that nothing in this clause shall apply to a Minister who is a member of the Senate. (10) Nothing in this Article shall be construed as disqualifying the Prime Minister or any other Minister or a Minister of State for continuing in office during any period during which the National Assembly stands dissolved, or as preventing the appointment of any person as Prime Minister or other Minister or a Minister of State during any such period." 30.

In the Constitution, in Article 92, in clause (1),(i) for the brackets and figures "(7) and (8)" the brackets and figures "(9) and (10)" shall be substituted; and (ii) in the proviso, for full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following provisos shall be inserted, namely:Provided further that the total strength of the Cabinet, including Ministers of State, shall not exceed eleven percent of the total membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament): Provided also that the aforesaid amendment shall be effective from the next general election held after the commencement of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010.
31.

In the Constitution, in Article 99,(i) in clause (2), for the word "President" occurring for the first time the words "Federal Government" shall be substituted and
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for the words "in his name" the words "in the name of the President" shall be substituted; and (ii) for clause (3), the following shall be substituted, namely:(3) The Federal Government shall also make rules for the allocation and transaction of its business. 32.
In the Constitution, in Article 100, in clause (2), after the word "President" the words "and shall not engage in private practice so long as he holds the office of the Attorney-General" shall be added. 33.

In the Constitution, in Article 101,(i) for clause (1) the following shall be substituted, namely:"(1) There shall be a Governor for each Province, who shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. (ii) in clause (2), after the word "age" the words "and is a registered voter and resident of the Province concerned" shall be added.
34. Substitution of Article 104 of the Constitution In the Constitution, for Article 104, the following shall be substituted, namely:"104. Speaker Provincial Assembly to act as, or perform functions of Governor in his absence When the Governor, by reason of absence from Pakistan or for any other cause, is unable to perform his functions, the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly and in his absence any other person as the President may nominate shall perform the functions of Governor until the Governor returns to Pakistan or, as the case may be, resumes his functions." 35.

In the Constitution, in Article 105,(i) in clause (1), after the word "act" the words "on and" shall be inserted, and in the proviso, after the word "that" the words "within fifteen days" shall be inserted and after the word "shall" the commas and words ", within ten days, "shall be inserted; and (ii) for clause (3) the following shall be substituted, namely:(3) Where the Governor dissolves the Provincial Assembly, notwithstanding anything contained in clause (1), he shall,(a) appoint a date, not later than ninety days from the date of dissolution, for the holding of a general election to the Assembly; and
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(iii) 36.
(b) appoint a care-taker Cabinet."; and clause (4) shall be omitted.

In the Constitution, for Article 106, the following shall be substituted, and shall be deemed always to have been so substituted with effect from 21st day of August, 2002, namely:"106. Constitution of Provincial Assemblies (1) Each Provincial Assembly shall consist of general seats and seats reserved for women and non-Muslims as specified herein below:General seats Women Non-Muslims Total Balochistan 51 11 3 65 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 99 22 3 124 Punjab 297 66 8 371 Sindh 130 29 9 168 (2) A person shall be entitled to vote if(a) he is a citizen of Pakistan; (b) he is not less than eighteen years of age; (c) his name appears on the electoral roll; and (d) he is not declared by a competent court to be of unsound mind. (3) For the purpose of election to the Provincial Assembly,(a) the constituencies for the general seats shall be single member territorial constituencies and the members to fill such seats shall be elected by direct and free vote; (b) each Province shall be a single constituency for all seats reserved for women and non-Muslims allocated to the respective Provinces under clause (3); (c) the members to fill seats reserved for women and nonMuslims allocated to a Province under clause (1) shall be elected in accordance with law through proportional representation system of political parties' lists of candidates on the basis of total number of general seats secured by each political party in the Provincial Assembly: Provided that for the purpose of this sub-clause the total number of general seats won by a political party shall include the independent returned candidate or candidates who may duly join such political party within three days of the publication in the official Gazette of the names of the returned candidates."
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37.

In the Constitution, for Article 112, the following shall be substituted, namely:"112. Dissolution of Provincial Assembly (1) The Governor shall dissolve the Provincial Assembly if so advised by the Chief Minister; and the Provincial Assembly shall, unless sooner dissolved, stand dissolved at the expiration of forty-eight hours after the Chief Minister has so advised. Explanation Reference in this Article to 'Chief Minister' shall not be construed to include reference to a Chief Minister against whom a notice of a resolution for a vote of no-confidence has been given in the Provincial Assembly but has not been voted upon or against whom a resolution for a vote of no-confidence has been passed. (2) The Governor may also dissolve the Provincial Assembly in his discretion, but subject to previous approval by the President, where a vote of no-confidence having been passed against the Chief Minister, no other member of the Provincial Assembly commands the confidence of the majority of the members of the Provincial Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, as ascertained in a session of the Provincial Assembly summoned for the purpose."
38.

In the Constitution, in Article 116,(i) in clause (2), for the word "thirty", the word "ten" shall be substituted; (ii) in clause (3), for the words "not withhold his assent there from" the words "give his assent within ten days, failing with such assent shall be deemed to have been given" shall be substituted; and (iii) in clause (4), after the word "assented" the words "or is deemed to have assented" shall be inserted.
39.
In the Constitution, in Article 122, in clause (2), proviso shall be omitted. 40.
In the Constitution, in Article 127, in paragraph (g), for the word "seventy" the words "one hundred" shall be substituted.
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41.
In the Constitution, in Article 128, in clause (2), in paragraph (a), for the words "three months" the words "ninety days" shall be substituted and for the semi-colon and the word "; and" at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following provisos shall be inserted, namely:Provided that the Provincial Assembly may by a resolution extend the Ordinance for a further period of one hundred and twenty days and it shall stand repealed at the expiration of the extended period, or if before the expiration of that period a resolution disapproving it is passed by the Assembly, upon the passing of that resolution: Provided further that extension for further period may be made only once." 42.
In the Constitution, for Article 129, the following shall be substituted, namely:"129. The Provincial Government (1) Subject to the Constitution, the executive authority of the Province shall be exercised in the name of the Governor by the Provincial Government, consisting of the Chief Minister and Provincial Ministers, which shall act through the Chief Minister. (2) In the performance of his functions under the Constitution, the Chief Minister may act either directly or through the Provincial Ministers." 43.
In the Constitution, for Article 130, the following shall be substituted, namely:"130. The Cabinet (1) There shall be a Cabinet of Ministers, with the Chief Minister at its head, to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions. (2) The Provincial Assembly shall meet on the twenty-first day following the day on which a general election to the Assembly is held, unless sooner summoned by the Governor. (3) After the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the Provincial Assembly shall, to the exclusion of any other business, proceed to elect without debate one of its members to be the Chief Minister. (4) The Chief Minister shall be elected by the votes of the majority of the total membership of the Provincial Assembly:
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(5)
(6)
(7)
(8) (9)
(10)
(11)
Provided that, if no member secures such majority in the first poll, a second poll shall be held between the members who secure the two highest numbers of votes in the first poll and the member who secures a majority of votes of the members present and voting shall be declared to have been elected as Chief Minister: Provided further that, if the number of votes secured by two or more members securing the highest number of votes is equal, further polls shall be held between them until one of them secures a majority of votes of the members present and voting. The member elected under clause (4) shall be called upon by the Governor to assume the office of Chief Minister and he shall, before entering upon the office, make before the President oath in the form set out in the Third Schedule: Provided that there shall be no restriction on the number of terms for the office of the Chief Minister. The Cabinet shall be collectively responsible to the Provincial Assembly and the total strength of the Cabinet shall not exceed fifteen members or eleven percent of the total membership of a Provincial Assembly, whichever is higher: Provided that the aforesaid limit shall be effective from the next general elections after the commencement of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010. The Chief Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor, but the Governor shall not exercise his powers under this clause unless he is satisfied that the Chief Minister does not command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Provincial Assembly, in which case he shall summon the Provincial Assembly and require the Chief Minister to obtain a vote of confidence from the Assembly. The Chief Minister may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office. A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Provincial Assembly shall, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a Minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a Minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly. Nothing in this Article shall be construed as disqualifying the Chief Minister or any other Minister for continuing in office during any period during which the Provincial Assembly stands dissolved, or as preventing the appointment of any person as Chief Minister or other Minister during any such period." The Chief Minister shall not appoint more than five Advisers."
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44.
In the Constitution, for Article 131, the following shall be substituted, namely:"131. Governor to be kept informed The Chief Minister shall keep the Governor informed on matters relating to Provincial administration and on all legislative proposals the Provincial Government intends to bring before the Provincial Assembly." 45.
In the Constitution, in Article 132, in clause (1), for the brackets and figures "(7) and (8)" the brackets and figures "(9) and (10)" shall, respectively, be substituted 46.

In the Constitution, in Article 139,(i) in clause (2), for the word "Governor" occurring for the first time the words "Provincial Government" shall be substituted and for the words "in his name" the words "in the name of Governor" shall be substituted; and (ii) for clause (3), the following shall be substituted, namely:(3) The Provincial Government shall also make rules for the allocation and transaction of its business.
47. Amendment of Article 140 of the Constitution In the Constitution, in Article 140, in clause (3), after the word "Governor" occurring at the end, the words "and shall not engage in private practice so long as he holds the office of the Advocate-General" shall be added. 48.
Insertion of new Article in the Constitution
In the Constitution, after Article 140, amended as aforesaid, the following new Article shall be inserted, namely:"140A. Local Government (1) Each Province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments. (2) Elections to the local governments shall be held by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
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49.

In the Constitution, in Article 142,(i) for paragraph (b) the following shall be substituted, namely:"(b) Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and a Provincial Assembly shall have power to make laws with respect to criminal law, criminal procedure and evidence." (ii) for paragraph (c) the following shall be substituted, namely:"(c) Subject to paragraph (b), a Provincial Assembly shall, and Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) shall not, have power to make laws with respect to any matter not enumerated in the Federal Legislative List." (iii) for paragraph (d) the following shall be substituted, namely:"(d) Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) shall have exclusive power to make laws with respect to all matters pertaining to such areas in the Federation as are not included in any Province."
50.
In the Constitution, for Article 143, the following shall be substituted, namely:"143. Inconsistency between Federal and Provincial Law If any provision of an Act of a Provincial Assembly is repugnant to any provision of an Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) which Majlis-eShoora (Parliament) is competent to enact, then the Act of Majlis-eShoora (Parliament), whether passed before or after the Act of the Provincial Assembly, shall prevail and the Act of the Provincial Assembly shall, to the extent of the repugnancy, be void." 51.

In the Constitution, in Article 144,(i) for the word "two" the word "one" shall be substituted; and (ii) for the words "either List" the words "the Federal Legislative List", shall be substituted.
52.
In the Constitution, in Article 147, for the full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be added, namely:Provided that the Provincial Government shall get the functions so entrusted ratified by the Provincial Assembly within sixty days." 53.

In the Constitution, in Article 149, clause (2) shall be omitted.
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54.

In the Constitution, in Article 153,(i) for clause (2) the following shall be substituted, namely:"(2) The Council shall consist of(a) the Prime Minister who shall be the Chairman of the Council; (b) the Chief Ministers of the Provinces; (c) three members from the Federal Government to be nominated by the Prime Minister from time to time." (ii) clause (3) shall be omitted; and (iii) in clause (4), after the word "Parliament" occurring in the brackets at the end, the words "and shall submit an Annual Report to both Houses of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)" shall be added.
55.

In the Constitution, in Article 154,(i) for clause (1), the following shall be substituted, namely:(1) The Council shall formulate and regulate policies in relation to matters in Part II of the Federal Legislative List and shall exercise supervision and control over related institutions." (ii) Clauses (2), (3), (4) and (5) shall be renumbered as clauses (4), (5), (6) and (7), respectively, and after clause (1) amended as aforesaid, the following new clauses shall be inserted, namely:(2) The Council shall be constituted within thirty days of the Prime Minister taking oath of office. (3) The Council shall have a permanent Secretariat and shall meet at least once in ninety days: Provided that the Prime Minister may convene a meeting on the request of a Province on an urgent matter."
56.
In the Constitution, for Article 155, in clause (1) after the word "supply" the words "or reservoir" shall be inserted. 57.
Substitution of Article 156 in the Constitution
In the Constitution, for Article 156, the following shall be substituted, namely:156. National Economic Council (1) The President shall constituted a National Economic Council which shall consist of(a) the Prime Minister, who shall be the Chairman of the Council; (b) the Chief Ministers and one member from each Province to be nominated by the Chief Minister; and
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(2)
(3)
(4) (5)
(c) four other members as the Prime Minister may nominate from time to time. The National Economic Council shall review the overall condition of the country and shall, for advising the Federal Government and the Provincial Governments, formulate plans in respect of financial, commercial, social and economic policies; and in formulating such plans it shall, amongst other factors, ensure balanced development and regional equity and shall also be guided by the Principles of Policy set out in Chapter 2 of Part-II. The meetings of the Council shall be summoned by the Chairman or on a requisition made by one-half of the members of the Council. The Council shall meet at least twice in a year and the quorum for a meeting of the Council shall be one-half of its total membership. The Council shall be responsible to the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and shall submit an Annual Report to each House of Majlis-eShoora (Parliament).
58.

In the Constitution, in Article 157,(i) in clause (1) for the full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:Provided that the Federal Government shall, prior to taking a decision to construct or cause to be constructed, hydro-electric power stations in any Province, shall consult the Provincial Government concerned"; and (ii) after clause (2), the following new clause shall be added, namely:(3) In case of any dispute between the Federal Government and a Provincial Government in respect of any matter under this Article, any of the said Governments may move the Council of Common Interests for resolution of the dispute.
59.
In the Constitution, in Article 160, after clause (3), the following new clauses shall be inserted, namely:"(3A) The share of the Provinces in each Award of National Finance Commission shall not be less than the share given to the Provinces in the previous Award. (3B) The Federal Finance Minister and Provincial Finance Ministers shall monitor the implementation of the Award biannually and lay their
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reports before both Houses of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and Provincial Assemblies." 60.
In the Constitution, in Article 161, for clause (1) the following shall be substituted, namely:(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 78,(a) the net proceeds of the Federal duty of excise on natural gas levied at well-head and collected by the Federal Government and of the royalty collected by the Federal Government, shall not form part of the Federal Consolidated Fund and shall be paid to the Province in which the well-head of natural gas is situated; (b) the net proceeds of the Federal duty of excise on oil levied at well-head and collected by the Federal Government, shall not form part of the Federal Consolidated Fund and shall be paid to the Province in which the well-head of oil is situated. 61.
In the Constitution, in Article 167, after clause (3) the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:(4) A Province may raise domestic or international loan, or give guarantees on the security of the Provincial Consolidated Fund within such limits and subject to such conditions as may be specified by the National Economic Council. 62.

In the Constitution, in Article 168,(i) for clause (3) the following shall be substituted, namely:(3) The Auditor-General shall, unless he sooner resigns or is removed from office in accordance with clause (5), hold office for a term of four years from the date on which he assumes such office or attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier. (ii) after clause (3) amended as aforesaid, the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:(3A) The other terms and conditions of service of the AuditorGeneral shall be determined, by Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament); and, until so determined, by Order of the President.; and (iii) in clause (6), for the words "such other person as the President may direct shall" the words "the President may appoint the
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most senior officer in the Office of the Auditor-General to" shall be substituted. 63.
In the Constitution, Article 170 shall be renumbered as clause (1) of that Article and after clause (1) renumbered as aforesaid the following new clause shall be added, namely:(2) The audit of the accounts of the Federal and of the Provincial Governments and the accounts of any authority or body established by, or under the control of, the Federal or a Provincial Government shall be conducted by the Auditor-General, who shall determine the extent and nature of such audit. 64. Amendment of Article 171 of the Constitution In Article 171, for the words "the National Assembly" the words and brackets "both Houses of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)" shall be substituted. 65.

In the Constitution, in Article 172,(i) in clause (2), for the word "within" occurring for the second time the word "beyond" shall be substituted; and (ii) after clause (2) amended as aforesaid, the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:(3) Subject to the existing commitments and obligations, mineral oil and natural gas within the Province or the territorial waters adjacent thereto shall vest jointly and equally in that Province and the Federal Government.
66.
In the Constitution, in Article 175, in clause (1), after the word "Province" the words "and a High Court for the Islamabad Capital Territory" shall be inserted and under clause (1) amended as aforesaid, the following Explanation shall be added, namely:"Explanation:- The words "High Court" wherever occurring in the Constitution shall include the High Court for the Islamabad Capital Territory." 67.
Insertion of Article 175A in the Constitution
In the Constitution, after Article 175, the following new Article shall be inserted, namely:175A. Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court, High Courts and the Federal Shariat Court.-
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(1) There shall be a Judicial Commission of Pakistan, hereinafter in this Article referred to as the Commission, for appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court, High Courts and the Federal Shariat Court, as hereinafter provided. (2) For appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court, the Commission shall consist of(i) Chairman Chief Justice of Pakistan; (ii) Members two most senior Judges of the Supreme Court; (iii) Member a former Chief Justice or a former Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to be nominated by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, in consultation with the two member Judges, for a period of two years; (iv) Member Federal Minister for Law and Justice; (v) Member Attorney-General for Pakistan; and (vi) Member a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council for a term of two years. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (1) or clause (2), the President shall appoint the most senior Judge of the Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of Pakistan. (4) The Commission may make rules regulating its procedure. (5) For appointment of Judges of a High Court, the Commission in clause (2) shall also include the following, namely:(i) Member Chief Justice of the High Court to which the appointment is being made; (ii) Member the most senior Judge of that High Court; (iii) Member Provincial Minister for Law; and (iv) Member a senior advocate to be nominated by the Provincial Bar Council for a period of two years: Provided that for appointment of Chief Justice of a High Court, the most senior Judge of the Court shall be substituted by a former Chief Justice or former Judge of that Court, to be nominated by the Chief Justice of Pakistan in consultation with the two member Judges of the Commission in clause (2): Provided further that if for any reason the Chief Justice of High Court is not available, he shall also be substituted in the manner as provided in the foregoing proviso. (6) For appointment of Judges of the Islamabad High Court, the Commission in clause (2) shall also include the following, namely:(i) Member Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court; and (ii) Member the most senior Judge of that High Court.
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(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11) (12)
(13)
(14)
Provided that for initial appointment of the Judges of the Islamabad High Court, the Chief Justices of the four Provincial High Courts shall also be members of the Commission: Provided further that subject to the foregoing proviso, in case of appointment of Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court, the provisos to clause (5) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply. For appointment of Judges of the Federal Shariat Court, the Commission in clause (2) shall also include the Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court and the most senior Judge of that Court as its members: Provided that for appointment of Chief Justice of Federal Shariat Court, the provisos to clause (5) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply. The Commission by majority of its total membership shall nominate to the Parliamentary Committee one person, for each vacancy of a Judge in the Supreme Court, a High Court or the Federal Shariat Court, as the case may be. The Parliamentary Committee, hereinafter in this Article referred to as the Committee, shall consist of the following eight members, namely:(i) four members from the Senate; and (ii) four members from the National Assembly. Out of the eight members of the Committee, four shall be from the Treasury Benches, two from each House and four from the Opposition Benches, two from each House. The nomination of members from the Treasury Benches shall be made by the Leader of the House and from the Opposition Benches by the Leader of the Opposition. Secretary, Senate shall act as the Secretary of the Committee. The Committee on receipt of a nomination from the Commission may confirm the nominee by majority of its total membership within fourteen days, failing which the nomination shall be deemed to have been confirmed: Provided that the Committee may not confirm the nomination by three-fourth majority of its total membership within the said period, in which case the Commission shall send another nomination. The Committee shall forward the name of the nominee confirmed by it or deemed to have been confirmed to the President for appointment. No action or decision taken by the Commission or a Committee shall be invalid or called in question only on the ground of the existence of a vacancy therein or of the absence of any member from any meeting thereof.
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(15) The Committee may make rules for regulating its procedure. 68.
In the Constitution, in Article 177, for clause (1) the following shall be substituted, namely:"(1) The Chief Justice of Pakistan and each of the other Judges of the Supreme Court shall be appointment by the President in accordance with Article 175A." 69.

In the Constitution, in Article 193,(i) for clause (1), the following shall be substituted, namely:"(1) The Chief Justice and each of the other Judges of a High Court shall be appointed by the President in accordance with Article 175A." (ii) in clause (2) for the word "forty" the word "forty-five" shall be substituted and shall be deemed always to have been so substituted with effect from the 21st day of August, 2002.
70.
In the Constitution, in Article 194, for the full stop a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be added, namely:Provided that the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court shall make oath before the President and other Judges of that Court shall make oath before the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court. 71.

In the Constitution, in Article 198,(i) after clause (1), the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:"(1A) The High Court for Islamabad Capital Territory shall have its principal seat at Islamabad." (ii) in clause (3),(a) after the word Abbottabad, the comma and the word ", Mingora" shall be inserted; and (b) after the word "Sibi" occurring at the end, the words "and Turbat" shall be added.
72.
Amendment of Article 199 of Constitution
In the Constitution, in Article 199, for clause (4A), the following shall be substituted, namely:"(4A) An interim order made by a High Court on an application made to it to question the validity or legal effect of any order made,
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proceeding taken or act done by any authority or person, which has been made, taken or done or purports to have been made, taken or done under any law which is specified in Part I of the First Schedule or relates to, or is connected with, State property or assessment or collection of public revenues shall cease to have effect on the expiration of a period of six months following the day on which it is made: Provided that the matter shall be finally decided by the High Court within six months from the date on which the interim order in made." 73.

In the Constitution, in Article 200,(i) in clause (1), the proviso shall be omitted; and (ii) clause (4) shall be omitted.
74.
Amendment of Article 203C of the Constitution

In the Constitution, in Article 203C,(i) in clause (2), after the word "President" occurring at the end the words, figures and letters "in accordance with Article 175A" shall be inserted; (ii) in clause (3A), for the words "who are well-versed in Islamic law" the words and comma "having at least fifteen years experience in Islamic law, research or instruction" shall be substituted; (iii) in clause (4), in the proviso, the words "for a period exceeding two years" shall be omitted; (iv) for clause (4B) the following shall be substituted, namely:"(4B) The Chief Justice and a Judge shall not be removed from office except in the like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court."; and (v) clause (4C) and clause (5) shall be omitted. (vi) for clause (9), the following shall be substituted and deemed always to have been so substituted with effect from the 21st day of August, 2002, namely:"A Chief Justice who is not a Judge of the Supreme Court shall be entitled to the same remuneration, allowances and privileges (9) as are admissible to a Judge of the Supreme Court and a Judge who is not a Judge of a High Court shall be entitled to the same remuneration, allowances, and privileges as are admissible to a Judge of a High Court: Provided that where a Judge is already drawing a pension for any other post in the service of Pakistan, the amount of such pension shall be deducted from the pension admissible under this clause."
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75.
Amendment of Article 203D of the Constitution
In the Constitution, in Article 203D, in clause (1A), the words "or the Concurrent Legislative List" shall be omitted and for the words "in either of those lists" the words "in the Federal Legislative List" shall be substituted. 76.
In the Constitution, in Article 209, for clause (5) the following shall be substituted, namely:"(5) If, on information from any source, the Council or the President is of the opinion that a Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court(a) may be incapable of property performing the duties of his office by reason of physical or mental incapacity; or (b) may have been guilty of misconduct, the President shall direct the Council to, or the Council may, on its own motion, inquire into the matter." 77.

In the Constitution, in Article 213,(i) in clause (1), the words "in his discretion" shall be omitted; (ii) after clause (2), the following new clauses shall be inserted, namely:"(2A) The Prime Minister shall in consultation with the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, forward three names for appointment of the Commissioner to a Parliamentary Committee for hearing and confirmation of any one person. (2B) The Parliamentary Committee to be constituted by the Speaker shall comprise fifty percent members from the Treasury Branches and fifty percent from the Opposition Parties, based on their strength in Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), to be nominated by the respective Parliamentary Leaders: Provided that in case there is no consensus between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, each shall forward separate lists to the Parliamentary Committee for consideration which may confirm any one name: Provided further that the total strength of the Parliamentary Committee shall not exceed twelve members out of which onethird shall be from the Senate: Provided also that when the National Assembly is dissolved and a vacancy occurs in the office of the Chief Election Commissioner, the Parliamentary Committee shall comprise the members from the Senate only and the foregoing provisions of this clause shall, mutatis mutandis, apply."
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78.

In the Constitution, in Article 215, in clause (1),(i) for the word "three" the word "five" shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:Provided that the aforesaid amendment shall be effective after the expiry of current tenure of the present incumbent."; and (ii) the existing proviso shall be omitted.
79.

In the Constitution, in Article 216, in clause (2), in the proviso,(i) in paragraph (a), for the semicolon and the word "; and" a full stop shall be substituted; and (ii) paragraph (b) shall be omitted.
80.

In the Constitution, in Article 218,(i) for clause (1), the following shall be substituted, namely:"(1) For the purpose of election to both Houses of Majlis-eShoora (Parliament), Provincial Assemblies and for election to such other public offices as may be specified by law, a permanent Election Commission shall be constituted in accordance with this Article." (ii) for clause (2), the following shall be substituted, namely:"(2) The Election Commission shall consist of(a) The Commissioner who shall be the Chairman of the Commission; and (b) four members, each of whom has been a Judge of a High Court from each Province, appointed by the President in the manner provided for appointment of the Commissioner in clauses (2A) and (2B) of Article 213."
81.

In the Constitution, in Article 219,(i) for the word "Commissioner" the word "Commission" shall be substituted; and (ii) in paragraph (c), for the full stop at the end a semi colon shall be substituted and after paragraph (c) amended as aforesaid, the following new paragraphs shall be added; namely:(d) the holding of general elections to the National Assembly, Provincial Assemblies and the local governments; and (e) such other functions as may be specified by an Act of Majlis-eShoora (Parliament).
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82.
In the Constitution, in Article 221, for the word "Commissioner" occurring for the first and second time, the words, "Election Commission" shall be substituted and the words "Commissioner or an" shall be omitted. 83.

In the Constitution, in Article 224,(i) for clause (1), the following shall be substituted, namely:"(1) A general election to the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly shall be held within a period of sixty days immediately following the day on which the day on which the term of the Assembly is due to expire, unless the Assembly has been sooner dissolved, and the results of the election shall be declared not later than fourteen days before that day." (ii) after clause (1) substituted as the aforesaid, the following new clauses shall be inserted, namely:"(1A) On dissolution of the Assembly on completion of its term, or in case it is dissolved under Article 58 or Article 112, the President, or the Governor, as the case may be, shall appoint a care-taker Cabinet: Provided that the care-taker Prime Minister shall be selected by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly, and a care-taker Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor in consultation with the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Provincial Assembly: Provided further that the Members of the Federal and Provincial care-taker Cabinets shall be appointed on the advice of the caretaker Prime Minister or the care-taker Chief Minister, as the case may be. (1B) Members of the care-taker Cabinets including the care-taker Prime Minister and the care-taker Chief Minister and their immediate family members shall not be eligible to contest the immediately following elections to such Assemblies. Explanation:- In this clause "immediate family members" means spouse and children. (iii) after clause (5) the following new clause shall be inserted and shall be deemed to always have been so inserted with effect from the 21st day of August, 2002, namely:(6) When a seat reserved for women or non-Muslims in the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly falls vacant, on account of death, resignation or disqualification of a member, it
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shall be filled by the next person in order of precedence from the party list of the candidates to be submitted to the Election Commission by the political party whose member has vacated such seat." 84.
In the Constitution, for Article 226, the following shall be substituted, namely:"226. Election by secret ballot.All elections under the Constitution, other than those of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister, shall be by secret ballot." 85.
In the Constitution, in Article 228, in clause (3), in paragraph (c), for the word "four" the words "one-third" shall be substituted. 86.
In the Constitution, in Article 232, in clause (1), for the full stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and after clause (1) amended as aforesaid, the following provisos shall be inserted, namely:Provided that for imposition of emergency due to internal disturbances beyond the powers of a Provincial Government to control, a Resolution from the Provincial Assembly of that Province shall be required: Provided further that if the President acts on his own, the Proclamation of Emergency shall be placed before both Houses of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) for approval by each House within ten days." 87.
In the Constitution, in Article 233, in clause (3), for the words "a joint sitting" the words "both Houses of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) separately" shall be substituted. 88.

In the Constitution, in Article 234, in clause (1),(i) the words "or otherwise" shall be omitted; and (ii) for the words "at a joint sitting" the words "by each House separately" shall be substituted.
89.
Amendment of Article 242 of Constitution

In the Constitution, in Article 242,(i) in clause (1A), for the words "in his discretion" the words "on the advice of the Prime Minister" shall be substituted; and
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(ii) after clause (1A) amended as aforesaid the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:"(1B) The Chairman of the Public Service Commission constituted in relation to affairs of a Province shall be appointed by the Governor on advice of the Chief Minister." 90.
Substitution of Article 243 in the Constitution
In the Constitution, for Article 243, the following shall be substituted, namely:"243. Command of Armed Forces.(1) The Federal Government shall have control and command of the Armed Forces. (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces shall vest in the President. (3) The President shall subject to law, have power(a) to raise and maintain the Military, Naval and Air Forces of Pakistan; and the Reserves of such Forces; and (b) to grant Commissions in such Forces. (4) The President shall, on advice of the Prime Minister, appoint(a) the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee; (b) the Chief of the Army Staff; (c) the Chief of the Naval Staff; and (d) the Chief of the Air Staff, and shall also determine their salaries and allowances." 91.

In the Constitution, in Article 246, in paragraph (a),(a) in sub-paragraph (i), for the word "Baluchistan" the word "Balochistan" and for the words "North West Frontier" the words "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" shall be substituted and the word "and" at the end shall be omitted; and (b) after sub-paragraph (ii), the following new sub-paragraphs shall be inserted, namely:"(iii) Tribal Areas adjoining Lakki Marwat District; and (iv) Tribal Areas adjoining Tank District"
92.
In the Constitution, in Article 260, in clause (1), the definition of expression "consultation" shall be omitted.
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93.
Insertion of new Articles in the Constitution
In the Constitution, after Article 267, the following new Articles shall be inserted, namely:"267A. Power to remove difficulties.(1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, hereinafter in this Article referred as the Act, or for bringing the provisions of the Act into effective operation, the matter shall be laid before both Houses in a joint sitting which may by a resolution direct that the provisions of the Act shall, during such period as may be specified in the resolution, have effet, subject to such adaptations, whether by way of modification, addition or omission, as may be deemed necessary or expedient: Provided that this power shall be available for a period of one year from the commencement of the Act. 267B. Removal of doubt.For removal of doubt it is hereby declared that Article 152A omitted and Articles 179 and 195 substituted by the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 2003 (Act No. III of 2003), notwithstanding its repeal, shall be deemed to always to have been so omitted and substituted. 94.

In the Constitution, in Article 268, clause (2) shall be omitted.
95.
Amendment of Article 270A of the Constitution

In the Constitution, in Article 270A,(a) in clause (1), the words, commas, brackets and figures "under which, in consequence of the result of the referendum held on the nineteenth day of December, 1984, General Mohammad Zia-ulHaq became the President of Pakistan on the day of the first meeting of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) in joint sitting for the term specified in clause (7) of Article 41" shall be omitted; and (b) for clause (6), the following shall be substituted, namely:The laws referred to in clause (1) may be amended by the appropriate Legislature in the manner provided for (6) amendment of such laws."
96.
Substitution of new Article in the Constitution
In the Constitution, for Article 270AA, the following shall be substituted, namely:"270AA. Declaration and continuance of laws, etc(1) The Proclamation of Emergency of the fourteenth day of October, 1999, the Provisional Constitution Order No. 1 of 1999,
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(2)
(3)
the Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2000 (No. 1 of 2000), Chief Executives Order No. 12 of 2002, Chief Executive's Order No. 19 of 2002, the amendments made in the Constitution through the Legal Framework Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 24 of 2002), the Legal Framework (Amendment) Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 29 of 2002) and Legal Framework (Second Amendment) Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 32 of 2002), notwithstanding any judgment of any court including the Supreme Court or a High Court, are hereby declared as having been made without lawful authority and of no legal effect. Except as provided in clause (1) and subject to the provisions of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, all laws including President's Orders, Acts, Ordinances, Chief Executive Orders, regulations, enactments, notifications, rules, orders or bye-laws made between the twelfth day of October, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine and the thirty-first day of October, two thousand and three (both days inclusive) and still in force shall, continue to be in force until altered, repealed or amended by the competent authority. Explanation:- For the purposes of clause (2) and clause (6), "competent authority" means,(a) in respect of Presidents' Orders, Ordinances, Chief Executive's Orders and all other laws, the appropriate Legislature; and (b) in respect of notifications, rules, orders and bye-laws, the authority in which the power to make, alter or amend the same vests under the law. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution or clause (1), or judgment of any court including the Supreme Court or a High Court,(a) Judges of the Supreme Court, High Courts and Federal Shariat Court who were holding the office of a Judge or were appointed as such, and had taken oath under the Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2000 (I of 2000), shall be deemed to have continued to hold the office as a Judge or appointed as such, as the case may be, under the Constitution, and such continuance or appointment, shall have effect accordingly. (b) Judges of the Supreme Court, High Courts and Federal Shariat Court who not having been given or taken oath under the Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2000, (I of 2000), and ceased to hold the office of a Judge shall, for the purposes of pensionary benefits only, be deemed to have
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(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
continued to hold office under the Constitution till their date of superannuation. All orders make, proceedings taken, appointments made, including secondments and deputations, and acts done by any authority, or by any person which were made, taken or done, or purported to have been made, taken or done, in exercise of the powers derived from any authority or laws mentioned in clause (2), or in execution of or in compliance with any orders made or sentences passed by any authority in the exercise or purported exercise of powers as aforesaid, shall, notwithstanding anything contained in clause (1), be deemed to be valid and shall not be called in question in any court or forum on any ground whatsoever. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings, including writ petitions, shall lie in any court or forum against any authority or any person, for or on account of or in respect of any order made, proceedings taken or act done whether in the exercise or purported exercise of the powers referred to in clause (2) or clause (4) or in execution of or in compliance with orders made or sentences passed in exercise or purported exercise of such powers. Notwithstanding omission of the Concurrent Legislative List by the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, all laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the said List (including Ordinances, Orders, rules, bye-laws, regulations and notifications and other legal instruments having the force of law) in force in Pakistan or any part thereof, or having extra-territorial operation, immediately before the commencement of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, shall continue to remain in force until altered, repealed or amended be the competent authority. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution, all taxes and fees levied under any law in force immediately before the commencement of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, shall continue to be levied until they are varied or abolished by an Act of the appropriate legislature. On the omission of the Concurrent Legislative List, the process of devolution of the matters mentioned in the said List to the Provinces shall be completed by the thirtieth day of June, two thousand and eleven. For purposes of the devolution process under clause (8), the Federal Government shall constitute an Implementation Commission as it may deem fit within fifteen days of the
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commencement of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010." 97.
Amendment of Article 270B of the Constitution
In the Constitution, in Article 270B, after the figure and comma "1977,", the words, commas, figures and brackets "and the Conduct of General elections, Order 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 7 of 2002)," shall be inserted and shall be deemed always to have been so inserted with effect from the 21st day of August, 2002. 98.
Insertion of New Article 270BB of the Constitution
In the Constitution, after Article 270B amended as aforesaid, the following new Article shall be inserted, namely:"270BB. General Elections 2008.Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution or any other law for the time being in force, the General Elections 2008, to the National Assembly and the Provincial Assemblies held of the eighteenth day of February, two thousand and eight shall be deemed to have been held under the Constitution and shall have effect accordingly." 99.
Amendment of Annex to the Constitution
In the Constitution, in the Annex, in the Objectives Resolution, in the sixth paragraph, after the word "to" the word "freely" shall be inserted. 100. Amendment of Third Schedule to the Constitution In the Constitution, in the Third Schedule,(i) in the Oath prescribed for the Prime Minister, for the figure "3" occurring in the brackets, the figure "5" shall be substituted; (ii) in the Oath prescribed for the Chief Minister or Provincial Minister, for the figures and brackets "131(4)" the figures and brackets "130(5)" shall be substituted; (iii) in the Oath prescribed for the Speaker of a Provincial Assembly, for the words "I will discharge" the words and comma "and whenever I am called upon to act as Governor, I will discharge" shall be substituted; and (iv) for the Oath prescribed for the Chief Justice or a Judge of the Federal Shariat Court, the following shall be substituted, namely:[Article 203C(7)] (In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful.) I, ______________________, do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan:
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That, as Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court (or a Judge of the Federal Shariat Court), I will discharge my duties, and perform my functions, honestly, to the best of my ability, and faithfully, in accordance with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the law: That I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions: That I will abide by the code of conduct issued be the Supreme Judicial Council: That I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan: And that, in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. 101. Amendment of Fourth Schedule to the Constitution In the Constitution, in the Fourth Schedule, in the Federal Legislative List,(1) in Part I,(i) in entry 18, in sub-entry (c) for the full stop at the end the semi-colon and a word ; and and after sub-entry (c) amended as aforesaid the following new sub-entry shall be added, namely:(d) boilers." (ii) for entry 32 the following shall be substituted, namely:32. International treaties, conventions and agreements and International arbitration. (iii) entries 21, 33, 38 and 40 shall be omitted; (iv) entry 45 and entry 46 shall be omitted; (v) in entry 49, after the word "consumed" the comma and words ", except sales tax on services" shall be added. (vi) in entry 50, after the word "taxes" the words "on capital gains" shall be omitted. (2) in Part II,(i) entries 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 shall be renumbered as entries 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, respectively, and (ii) after entry 3, the following new entries shall be inserted, namely:4. Electricity. 5. Major ports, that is to say, the declaration and delimitation of such ports, and the constitution and powers of port authorities therein. 6. All regulatory authorities established under a Federal law.
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7. National planning and national economic coordination including planning and coordination of scientific and technological research. 8. Supervision and management of public debt. 9. Census. 10. Extension of the powers and jurisdiction of members of a police force belonging to any Province to any area in another Province, but not so as to enable the police of one Province to exercise powers and jurisdiction in another Province without the consent of the Government of that Province; extension of the powers and jurisdiction of a police force belonging to any Province to railway areas outside that Province. 11. Legal, medical and other professions. 12. Standards in institutions for higher education and research, scientific and technical institutions. 13. Inter-provincial matters and co-ordination. (3) The Concurrent Legislative List and the entries thereto from 1 to 47 (both inclusive) shall be omitted. 102. Omission of the Sixth and the Seventh Schedule in the
Constitution
In the Constitution, the Sixth Schedule and the Seventh Schedule shall be omitted.
Pakistani.org, http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/amendments/18amendment.html (accessed May 10, 2011).
T EXT
OF
19 TH A MENDMENT B ILL
Following is the text of 19th Amendment Bill, approved by the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms:-
Bill
Further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Whereas it is expedient further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; It is hereby enacted as follows:1. Short title and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called Constitution (Nineteenth Amendment) Act, 2010. (2) It shall come into force at once.
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2.
3.
4.
Amendment of Article 81 of the Constitution: In the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, hereinafter referred to as the Constitution, in Article 81,(i) in paragraph (a), in sub-paragraph (i), after the word Court occurring at the end, the words and the Islamabad High Court shall be added, and (ii) for paragraph (b), the following shall be substituted, namely(b) the administrative expenses, including the remuneration payable to officers and servants, of the Supreme Court, the Islamabad High Court, the department of the AuditorGeneral, the Office of the Chief Election Commissioner and of the Election commission and the Secretariats of the Senate and the National Assembly, Amendment of Article 175 of the Constitution. In the Constitution, Article 175, for the Explanation the following shall be substituted, namely:Explanation. Unless the context otherwise requires, the words High Court wherever occurring in the Constitution shall include Islamabad High Court. Amendment of Article 175A of the Constitution.- In the Constitution, in Article 175A,(a) in clause (2), in paragraph (ii) and in paragraph (iii), for the word two the word four shall be substituted; (b) in clause (5), (i) for paragraph (iv), the following shall be substituted, namely(iv) an advocate having not less than fifteen years practice in the High Court to be nominated by the concerned Bar Council for a term of two years:; and (ii) for the proviso the following shall be substituted, namely:Provided that or appointment of the Chief Justice of a High Court the most Senior Judge mentioned in paragraph (ii) shall not be member of the Commission. Provided further that if for any reason the Chief Justice of a High court is not available, he shall be substituted by a former Chief Justice or former Judge of that Court, to be nominated by the Chief Justice of Pakistan in consultation with the four member Judges of the Commission mentioned in paragraph (ii) of clause (2). (c) in clause (6), in the first proviso, after the word the occurring for the first time, the words Chief Justice and the shall be inserted;
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(d) in clause (9), for the full-stop at the end a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:Provided that when the National Assembly is dissolved, the total membership of the Parliamentary Committee shall consist of the members from the Senate only mentioned in paragraph (i) and the provisions of this Article shall, mutatis mutandis, apply,; (e) in clause (12),(i) for the proviso the following shall be substituted, namely:Provided that the Committee, for reasons to be recorded, may not confirm the nomination by threefourth majority of its total membership within the said period: (ii) after the proviso substituted as aforesaid the following new provisos shall be inserted, namely:Provided further that if a nomination is not confirmed by the Committee it shall forward its decision with reasons so recorded to the Commission through the Prime Minister: Provided further that if a nomination is not confirmed, the commission shall send another nomination. (f) for clause (13), the following shall be substituted, namely:(13) The Committee shall send the name of the nominee confirmed by it or deemed to have been confirmed to the Prime Minister who shall forward the same to the President for appointment.; (g) clause (15) shall be renumbered as clause (17) and after the existing clause (14), the following new clauses shall be inserted, namely:(15) The meetings of the Committee shall be held in camera and the record of its proceedings shall be maintained. (16) The provisions of Article 68 shall not apply to the proceedings of the Committee.; 5. Amendment of Article 182 of the Constitution. In the Constitution, in Article 182, after the word Pakistan the commas, words, figure and letter in consultation with the Judicial Commission as provided in clause (2) of Article 175A, shall be inserted. 6. Amendment of Article 213 of the Constitution: In the Constitution, in Article 213, in clause (2B), (i) for the second proviso, the following shall be substituted, namely:-
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Provided further that the total strength of the Parliamentary Committee shall be twelve members out of which one-third shall be from the Senate.; and (ii) in the third proviso, for the words Parliamentary Committee shall comprise the words total membership of the Parliamentary Committee shall consist of shall be substituted. 7. Amendment of Article 246 of the Constitution.- In the Constitution, in Article 246, (i) in paragraph (a), sub-paragraphs (iii) and (iv) shall be omitted. (ii) in paragraph (c), (a) after sub-paragraph (iii) the following new subparagraph shall be inserted, namely:(iiia) Tribal Areas adjoining Lakki Marwat district; and (b) after sub-paragraph (iv) the following new subparagraph shall be inserted, namely(iva) Tribal Areas adjoining Tank district;
Statement of Object and Reasons

The Supreme Court of Pakistan passed an Order dated 21st October, 2010, in various Constitution Petitions challenging certain amendments, including Article 175A, made in the Constitution through the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010 (X of 2010). This Supreme Court vide Paras 7 and 13 of the said Order made a reference to the Parliament for re-consideration of the provisions of Article 175A in the light of the observations made in the said Order. This Bill gives effect to certain amendments in the Constitution after giving consideration to the observations of the Supreme Court and matters incidental or ancillary thereto otherwise deemed necessary.
News International (Islamabad), December 21, 2010, http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=21434&Cat=2 (accessed May 27, 2011).

18th Amendment

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Eighteenth Amendment

E IGHTEENTH A MENDMENT 1973

A SSISTANT E DITOR M UHAMMAD N AWAZ K HAN

May 31, 2011.

P RESIDENT A SIF A LI Z ARDARI S S PEECH S ESSION OF P ARLIAMENT

P ROVINCES M UST B EAR R ESPONSIBILITY N OW

PM G ILANI S AYS : I T S T IME TO D ELIVER ; S ENATE P ASSES 18 TH A MEND B ILL

H IGHER E DUCATION C OMMISSION

18 TH A MENDMENT : I MPLEMENTATION C OMMISSION R EPORT U NVEILED

(ii) (iii) (iv)

C ONSTITUTION (E IGHTEENTH A MENDMENT ) A CT , 2010

Short Title and Commencement

Amendment of Article 1 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 6 of the Constitution

Insertion of New Article in the Constitution

Substitution of Article 17 of the Constitution

Insertion of New Article in the Constitution

Amendment of Article 25 of the Constitution

Insertion of New Article in the Constitution

Amendment of Article 27 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 29 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 38 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 41 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 46 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 48 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 51 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 58 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 59 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 61 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 62 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 63 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 63A of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 70 of the Constitution

Omission of Article 71 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 73 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 75 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 89 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 90 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 92 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 99 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 100 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 101 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 105 of the Constitution

(b) appoint a care-taker Cabinet."; and clause (4) shall be omitted.

Substitution of Article 106 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 112 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 116 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 122 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 127 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 128 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 129 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 130 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 131 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 132 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 139 of the Constitution

Insertion of new Article in the Constitution

Amendment of Article 142 of the Constitution

Substitution of Article 143 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 144 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 147 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 149 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 153 of the Constitution

Amendment of Article 154 of the Constitution