The Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), a multi-party opposition alliance, announced a nationwide protest against the proposed 27th constitutional amendment, hours after the government tabled it in the upper house of Parliament.
“Democratic institutions have been paralyzed in Pakistan…the nation must oppose [proposed] 27th Amendment,” Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said in a statement.
Abbas said the government was giving “even more power” to the “powerful” through the proposed constitutional changes.
Apart from MWM, the alliance also includes Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
PkMAP leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai said the national movement would start from tomorrow (Sunday) evening.
“From tomorrow evening, our slogan will be “Long live democracy, down with dictatorship”. Our third slogan will call for the liberation of [political] prisoners,” he said.
Through this movement, the alliance will show that the will of the Pakistani people will be the final decision, he added.
Highlighting the importance of the Constitution to both the state and its citizens, Achakzai said the TTAP would ensure that it remained supreme.
The PkMAP leader said the opposition alliance had no choice but to launch a protest movement following the government’s decision, which he said “shakes the foundations of the Constitution.”
The announcement of a protest movement comes shortly after the federal government presented the 27th constitutional amendment to the Senate, aimed at making sweeping changes to the military and judicial structures.
The proposed amendment – initiated by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with the support of most of its allies – was tabled in the Senate and sent to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice for discussion.
The amendment proposes a modification of Article 243, aimed at removing the position of “Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee” (JCSC) and introducing a new title, “Chief of Defense Forces”.
Other proposals include the creation of a Federal Constitutional Court and reviewing the process of appointing high court judges.
The proposed amendment also seeks to reduce the powers of the Supreme Court, shifting some authorities to the proposed Constitutional Court, and granting the president lifelong immunity from criminal prosecution.
