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• Minister justifies haste, says move only aimed at aligning existing laws with recent constitutional changes
• PM says govt supports MQM-proposed LG amendment
• Domestic violence prevention bill passed amid JUI-F protest
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Thursday hurriedly passed five bills, four of them related to the recently approved 27th Constitutional Amendment, without any debate with a majority voice vote, as the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) members stayed away from the proceedings.
All four bills related to the controversial amendment were tabled by relevant ministers through a supplementary agenda soon after their approval by the federal cabinet, which met at the Parliament House under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who also attended the assembly proceedings.
The bills passed by the National Assembly included the Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2025, the Pakistan Air Force Amendment Bill 2025, the Pakistan Navy Amendment Bill 2025, and the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Amendment Bill 2025.
After passing the four bills in just nine minutes, the house later passed a private members’ bill aimed at establishing “an effective system of protection, relief and rehabilitation of women, men, transgender, children and any vulnerable person against domestic violence”. The bill titled the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2025 was moved by Sharmila Farooqui of the Pakistan Peoples Party after suspension of various rules of the assembly.
At a time when the National Assembly was taking up the legislation, the PTI members were attending a parliamentary meeting at the Parliament House under Mahmood Khan Achakzai. The bills were only opposed by a few members of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), who questioned the haste being shown by the government in getting the legislation passed without giving them time to even read it.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif presented the bills seeking amendments to the acts dealing with the armed forces, whereas Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar moved the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure (Amendment) Bill 2025. The law minister clarified that the bills passed were not new laws but some changes had been made in the existing laws to align them with the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
The Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill seeks to replace the expression ‘chief of the army staff’ with ‘chief of the defence forces’ as per the 27th Amendment. Similarly, it suggests replacing the ‘Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee’ with the ‘commander of the National Strategic Command’.
Another important amendment to Section 8A of the Pakistan Army Act 1952 said that “provided that for the first appointment of the chief of the army staff concurrently the chief of the defence forces under paragraph (a) of Clause 4 of the Article 243 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the tenure under this section shall commence from the date of notification of the said office”.
Explaining this, the law minister said the five-year tenure of the chief of the defence forces would commence from the date of his notification of the appointment.
Another amendment regarding the appointment of commander of the National Strategic Command said, “The prime minister may, on the recommendation of the chief of the army staff concurrently the chief of the defence forces, appoint the commander of the National Strategic Command, from amongst generals in the Pakistan Army, for a tenure of three years.”
The proposed amendment also authorised the prime minister to “reappoint the commander…for additional tenure of three years and/or extend the tenure(s)…up to three years” on the recommendations of the chief of the defence forces.
It further said that “the appointment, reappointment or extension of the commander of the National Strategic Command, or the exercise of discretion by the appointing authority in this regard, shall not be called into question before any court on any ground whatsoever”.
Another amendment read that “the federal government may, on the recommendation of the chief of the army staff concurrently the chief of the defence forces and by order in writing, authorise the officer appointed as vice chief of the army staff or deputy chief of the army staff to exercise and perform such of the powers and functions vested in the chief of the army staff under any law, rules, regulations, orders or instructions for the time being in force as may be so specified”.
PM’s speech
Speaking on the floor of the assembly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed his government’s commitment to resolving the matter of the MQM-Pakistan’s proposed amendment concerning local bodies through consultation and consensus among coalition partners.
The prime minister said the MQM’s proposed amendment regarding the empowerment of local governments was fully supported by the federal government, but due to certain procedural and technical reasons, it could not be included in the constitutional amendment recently passed by parliament.
“I had assured our coalition partner MQM that after due consultations with all allied parties, including PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other coalition leaders, we will resolve this issue with mutual understanding and consensus,’’ the prime minister added.
Domestic violence bill
The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) bill, which will be applicable only in Islamabad, provides protection to the victims of the domestic violence, besides suggesting punishments for various acts. The bill also gives powers to courts to pass an interim order directing the respondent to pay monetary relief to the victim.JUI-F’s lawmakers protested the passage of the bill, terming its various provisions against Islam and the Constitution. Interestingly, when a JUI-F MNA questioned the haste in getting the bill passed, NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq responded that he wanted to prorogue the session.
Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2025
