A 27th AMENDMENT is no longer just a subject of gossip and rumour. It is materialising and has triggered speculation about how this regime expects to consolidate its power. It is clear why it was kept under wraps: the proposed legislation will hollow out the Supreme Court and supplant it with a supra-court with all powers to overrule the former’s authority. The other subjects it touches on are the number of ministers and advisers, as well as the leadership of the armed forces.

It would seem as if the potential rollback of the 18th Amendment and significant changes to be made to the National Finance Commission Award were but a smokescreen. There is no mention of either of the subjects in the legislation presented before the Senate. Did the government use a bait-and-switch to make its proposals more digestible? We must wait to see how they are received.

Meanwhile, one cannot help but comment on the grand ambitions of the proposed amendment. The Supreme Court, once the last resort on all questions of law and legality, will be superseded by the federal constitutional court, which will quite literally be handpicked by the ruling regime. In theory, under the amendment, the ruling parties could stack the entire bench of this new, most powerful court in the country.

Could such a bench ever be expected to rule impartially on the constitutionality of the government’s actions? It would seem naïve to expect it to do so. How supporters of the amendment will explain this blatant subversion of judicial independence remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is to be reduced to a final court for routine civil and criminal appeals only. This demotion will complete the apex court’s descent to irrelevance, triggered by its failure to enforce its writ in the ‘90-days elections’ case. The humiliation will be complete.

One also wonders about the wisdom behind granting five-star ranks immunity from all prosecution for life. It is a rather surprising concession, given that past governments of both the PML-N and PPP were persecuted and overthrown by military strongmen. Those same military rulers also committed gross excesses against ordinary citizens and resorted to subjugating civil rights wholesale whenever the public’s will clashed with their personal interests. Unfortunately, they never faced justice for their crimes.

Given such precedents, would the promise of near-blanket, lifetime immunity not give future despots more incentive to commit violations of oath and law with impunity? The government should perhaps have considered formally recognising the titles of five-star-ranked personnel only and conferring all the prestige it wished upon them. A lifetime of immunity is a rather odd honour to bestow on anybody.

Attention now turns to the debate. The government must not rush matters and allow all to share their thoughts freely.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2025