- The president gives his consent to the bill on the advice of the prime minister.
- Assent given to the bill after the approval of both chambers.
- Senate gives green light to bill after NA changes.
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday gave his consent to the much-debated 27th Constitutional Amendment after approval by Parliament.
With the president’s signature, the amendment officially became part of the Constitution.
“The Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2025 is passed 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 constitutional amendment bill, with adjustments to the bill previously approved by the upper house. The amendment bill received 64 votes (two-thirds majority in the 96-member House) in favor and four against.
Senate President Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the result saying: “So the motion is passed by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total members of the Senate and accordingly the bill remains passed.”
The much-hyped bill was initially introduced in the upper house of parliament on Monday and gained approval later that day. It was then sent to the AN, which approved it with some modifications. Therefore, the legislation was reintroduced today in the Senate to approve the latest changes.
New settings
A day before, the National Assembly approved the amendment bill that seeks to change the judicial structure and the military command, with 234 votes in favor and four against amid the opposition strike. It included eight amendments (not part of the previous version passed by the Senate) intended to clarify the position of the chief justice.
The amended bill fine-tunes the structure of the newly created Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), clarifies the titles and classification of the country’s top judges, and removes several clauses from the Senate-approved bill that sought to alter provisions related to the oath for several constitutional positions.
One of the most significant updates relates to Clause 2, which amends Article 6 (2A) of the Constitution, the article relating to high treason. The National Assembly version adds the term “Federal Constitutional Court” after “the,” explicitly including the new court within the scope of Article 6. The previous Senate draft had not mentioned the court by name.
The lower house also introduced a new Clause 2A to amend Article 10(4), which deals with preventive detention. This revision adds the words “Supreme Court” within the explanatory part of that article.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly removed several provisions that had appeared in the Senate version. Clauses 4, 19, 51 and 55, which collectively proposed to modify the wording of oaths administered to a variety of constitutional officials, were removed from the final text.
Clause 4 was aimed at revising 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”.
Likewise, Clause 19 proposed changes to Article 168, which regulates the appointment and oath of the Auditor General of Pakistan. He would have added the term “Supreme Court” before “Chief Justice of Pakistan”, thus slightly altering the formal text of the oath.
Clause 51 reflected 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 with “President of the Federal Constitutional Court.”
Similarly, Clause 55 sought to amend Article 255(2), which applies in cases where an oath cannot be taken before the appointed 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 finally omitted by the National Assembly.
Another key amendment came in Clause 23, which amends Article 176 to include a proviso specifying that, “without prejudice to the provisions of the Constitution, the sitting Chief Justice shall continue to be known as the Chief Justice of Pakistan during his term of office.”
A further addition was made in Clause 56, which now defines the “Chief Justice of Pakistan” as “the most senior between the Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court and the Chief Justice”, thereby establishing a formal hierarchy between the two judicial heads.
The multi-clause amendment bill required a two-thirds majority in the 336-member House. The ruling coalition easily got the necessary votes with the PML-N getting 125 seats, the PPP 74, the MQM-P 22, the PML-Q four, the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party four and one seat each each of the PML-Z, the Balochistan Awami Party and the 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 record their votes against the amendments.
