- The President agrees to the bill on the advice of the Prime Minister.
- Approval given to the bill after the approval of both houses.
- Senate greenlights bill after NA changes.
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday gave his assent to the much-debated 27th constitutional amendment after Parliament approved it.
With the president’s signature, the amendment is now officially part of the Constitution.
“The Constitution (Twenty-seventh Amendment) Bill, 2025 is approved as advised by the Prime Minister. [Shehbaz Sharif]in paragraph 5 of the summary,” reads a notification issued by the President’s House.
The development came moments after the Senate approved the amendment bill following changes approved by the National Assembly a day earlier, amid loud protests from the opposition.
Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar today presented the Constitution Amendment Bill, with amendments made to the bill previously approved by the upper house. The amendment bill received 64 votes (two-thirds majority of the 96 members of the House) in favor and four against.
Senate President Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the result, saying: “The motion is therefore carried by the votes of at least two-thirds of the entire membership of the Senate and, therefore, the bill is passed.”
The much-vaunted bill was initially presented to the upper house of Parliament on Monday and was approved the same day. It was then sent back to the NA, which approved it with some amendments. Therefore, the bill was re-introduced to the Senate today to approve the latest changes.
New adjustments
The day before, the National Assembly had adopted the amendment bill aimed at modifying the judicial structure and military command, with 234 votes for and four against, against the backdrop of an opposition walkout. It included eight amendments – not part of the previous version approved by the Senate – aimed at clarifying the chief justice’s position.
The amended bill refines the structure of the newly created Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), clarifies the titles and rankings of the nation’s highest judges, and removes several clauses from the Senate-approved bill that sought to change oath provisions for various constitutional offices.
One of the most significant updates concerns Clause 2, which amends Article 6(2A) of the Constitution – the section relating to high treason. The National Assembly’s version adds the term “Federal Constitutional Court” after “the”, thus explicitly including the new court within the scope of Article 6. The previous Senate draft did not mention the name of the court.
The lower house also introduced a new clause 2A to amend section 10(4), which deals with preventive detention. This revision adds the words “Supreme Court” in the explanatory part of this article.
At the same time, the National Assembly deleted several provisions that appeared in the Senate version. Articles 4, 19, 51 and 55 – which collectively proposed changing the wording of oaths administered to a number of constitutional office holders – were removed from the final text.
Clause 4 sought to revise Article 42, under which the President takes oath before the Chief Justice of Pakistan, by replacing the phrase “Chief Justice of Pakistan” with “Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court”.
Similarly, Article 19 proposes amendments to Article 168, which governs the appointment and oath of office of the Auditor General of Pakistan. This would have added the term “Supreme Court” before “Chief Justice of Pakistan”, thus slightly changing the official text of the oath.
Section 51 reflects this approach for Section 214, which requires the Chief Election Commissioner to take an oath before the Chief Justice. The Senate draft suggested replacing this term with “Chief Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court”.
Similarly, Section 55 sought to amend Section 255(2), which applies in cases where an oath cannot be taken before the designated officer. Currently, the Chief Justice of Pakistan can appoint another person; the Senate version proposed transferring this authority to the President of the Federal Constitutional Court.
All these proposals related to the oath were ultimately omitted by the National Assembly.
Another key amendment was made to Article 23, which amends Article 176 to include a provision specifying that, “notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution, the outgoing Chief Justice shall continue to be known as the Chief Justice of Pakistan during his term of office”.
Another addition was made to Article 56, which now defines the “Chief Justice of Pakistan” as “the senior-most Chief Justice among the Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court”, thereby establishing a formal hierarchy between the two judicial heads.
The multi-clause amendment bill required a two-thirds majority of the 336 members of the House. The ruling coalition easily secured the required votes, with PML-N holding 125 seats, PPP 74, MQM-P 22, PML-Q four, Parti Istehkam-e-Pakistan four and one seat each held by PML-Z, Balochistan Awami Party and National People’s Party.
However, four members of the JUI-F, once a close ally of the ruling PML-N, were the only lawmakers to register their vote against the amendments.
