The party’s Central Executive Committee is due to meet on November 6 to decide on its policy
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari during an interview with Sky News on June 9, 2025. Photo: Sky News/ YouTube
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) delegation, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, met Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari to seek support for the approval of the 27th constitutional amendment.
The proposed amendment includes creation of a constitutional court, restoration of executive magistrates and power to transfer judges, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said. He also seeks to end provincial share protection in the NFC Award and proposes changes to Section 243, he said in an article on X.
PMLN delegation led by Prime Minister @CMShehbaz called @AAliZardari & myself. Request for PPP support for the adoption of the 27th Amendment. The proposal includes: creation of a Constitutional Court, executive magistrates, transfer of judges, removal of the protection of the provincial share in the NFC, modification…
– Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (@BBhuttoZardari) November 3, 2025
“The amendment would return powers over education and population planning to the federal government and resolve the current impasse over appointments to the Electoral Commission.”
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the party’s Central Executive Committee is scheduled to meet on November 6, after Zardari returns from Doha, to decide on its policies.
Read: SC questions full court’s jurisdiction under Section 191A in 26th Amendment case
27th constitutional amendment
The 26th constitutional amendment, adopted in October last year, has already become a controversial piece of legislation. The new rules rein in the justice system by giving Parliament and the bureaucracy greater control over the appointment and evaluation of judges.
It ended the exclusive reliance on seniority as the basis for appointment of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, demanded the formation of constitutional benches to hear petitions under Articles 184 (3) and 199 of the Constitution and restructured the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) for the appointment and confirmation of judges, among other provisions.
Learn more: In Pakistan, even judges are now judged
The amendment is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court (SC) by several petitioners who claim that the independence of the judiciary has been sacrificed by the passage of this amendment “in the middle of the night”.
Currently, there is no comprehensive legislation specifying what exactly the 27th Constitutional Amendment will consist of, but discussions between the PPP and PMLN are underway to craft the amendment.
When the 26th Amendment was passed last year, the ruling coalition of PML-N and PPP planned to establish a Federal Constitutional Court. However, the proposal could not materialize due to lack of a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Now that the coalition has a ruling majority, the idea of a Federal Constitutional Court could very likely come to fruition.
To make the Federal Constitutional Court a reality, Parliament must amend Article 175 of the Constitution, which currently provides for the Supreme Court, one high court for each province, and one high court for the Islamabad Capital Territory would be amended to insert the Federal Constitutional Court immediately after the mention of the SC.
