The 1973 Constitution was profoundly different by the tactical despots Zia ul Haq and Musharraf through the eighth and seventeenth Amendments. The Public authority in 2010 had made plans to reestablish the Constitution to its unique structure.
A Parliamentary Committee on Protected Changes was shaped. Senator Raza Rabbani was chosen by the members of the committee as its Director on June 25, 2009. Following were the Terms of Reference. “Straightforwardness in Framework., Limiting individual caution, Reinforcing Parliament and Commonplace Gatherings, Freedom of Legal executive, Further fortifying of Basic Privileges, and, Reinforcing of Organizations.
The Eighteenth Amendment changed, adjusted, altered, fluctuated, subbed, added, discarded, or then again erased 97 Articles. It likewise altered, changed, adjusted, or overlooked Extension, Third, Fourth, 6th, and Seventh Timetables to the Constitution. Hence, it is the most complete alteration since the reception of the 1973 Constitution.
Features:
LFO (Legal Framework Order), 2002 was integrated into the Constitution through the seventeenth Amendment. The President recovered the position to excuse the State Head Prime Minister and break down the National Assembly, dependent upon the denial of the Supreme Court. 17th Amendment was the return of the 8th Amendment with minor changes. However, in the 18 Amendment, as it was wholly democratic The LFO, 2002 was held to be of no legal effect and stood repealed. The 17th Amendment Act, of 2003 was also repealed. The Province of NWPF was renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KPK). Moreover, the definition of High Treason in Art 6 was substituted to include ‘suspension’ and ‘holding in abeyance’ of the Constitution in addition to ‘abrogation’ and ‘subversion’. Attempt, conspiracy, abettors, and collaborators would also be held guilty. This step was taken to make Musharraf Guilty of his Second Martial Law as he made the constitution Hold in Abeyance, however, even with this amendment court ruled that the decision can’t be in retrospective nature. Furthermore, Article 10-A was inserted to provide for Fair Trial and Due Process as there was no provision present at that time to safeguard Fair Trial because it’s an essential part of the Legal system.
Article 19-A was inserted extending the right to every citizen to have access to information on all matters of public importance subject to reasonable restrictions. And these Restrictions deal with National/Public Interest. Although Article 25-A was added obliging the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children between 5 and 16 years of age, it was not implemented to date compared to the number of uneducated children schools are not enough. Article 58(b) was omitted which empowered the President to dissolve National Assembly at his discretion.
As it was a dangerous tool given to the president to exercise, as witnessed in the past, specifically in the late 80s lasting till the late 90s when this power was utilized widely and created instability across the country. The strength of the Senate was increased from 100 to 104, adding non-muslim members, one from each province. This step was highly appreciated at that time as this Art addition opened doors for the non-Muslims to not only present their presence in National Assembly but in Senate as well, which was a brilliant way to protect Non-Muslim rights as Senate can’t get dissolved or can’t be on hold/empty. Furthermore, the power to remove a person from membership of the House of Parliament or Provincial Assembly was conferred on Party Head under substituted Article 63A, This protect the constitution’s dignity and eliminated Horse trading which have been seen at the time of the Vote of No Confidence against Ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Furthermore, The President got the power to withhold his assent on a Bill passed by both Houses and can send it back for reconsideration within 10 days. The joint sitting of Parliament may or may not accept the recommendation. And Under Article 91, the Cabinet was collectively responsible to the Senate and NA and not only to NA as was the case before as in the 1962 constitution it was seen that only Nation assembly existed in terms of legislative institution. Although the Concurrent Legislative List was omitted. Yet concurrent power to legislate laws with respect to criminal law, criminal procedure, and evidence has been conferred on the Parliament and the Provincial Assemblies by way of Article 142.
Under Article 143, the Federal Law will prevail over the Provincial Law, and the Council of Common Interests was empowered to resolve disputes between the Federal Government and a Provincial Government in respect of the generation of electricity or construction of hydroelectric power stations. Moreover, an important step taken in this amendment was the establishment of the Islamabad High Court under Art175A, and it has high importance as each province had its own separate High court but the capital of the country didn’t have a High court Before this amendment. In addition to it, Judicial Commission and Parliamentary Committee was also developed for the appointment of the Constitution post in the judicial system likewise judges of the Apex court (Supreme Court) and High Courts. And Judicial Commission of Pakistan should consist of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, two most senior judges of the Supreme Court, a former Chief Justice or a former Judge in consultation with the CJP, the Federal Law Minister, the Attorney General of Pakistan, and a senior Advocate of the Supreme Court shall be members. In terms of the Parliamentary Committee, 4 members of the Senate and four members of the NA shall form the committee. Out of a total of 8, four shall be from the Treasury benches and 4 from the Opposition benches. Furthermore, the committee on receipt of a nomination from JCP may confirm the nominee by the majority within 14 days, failing which nomination shall be deemed to have been confirmed.
Moreover, the age for the appointment of Constitutional judges was elevated from 40 to 45 and in this amendment, Strict decisions were not only being taken on the appointment of the judiciary but also on the removal of the judiciary and for that Article 209 was amended to empower the Supreme Judicial Council to take notice of the case of a Judge who is incapable of performing the duties of his office by reason of physical or mental incapacity or has been guilty of misconduct. However, the power appears to be conferred to the extent of holding an inquiry but the reference for removal of a judge continues to be the exclusive power of the President. As this Amendment was tabled by the PPP and also got passed by the majority of PPP members hence their political biasedness can be seen as by amendment in Article 270A, the name of any reference to Zia ul Haq was deleted. And last but not least in the Objective Resolution, the word ‘freely’ was inserted in the original text.
Conclusion:
The major change was the abolition of the Concurrent List. Thus, the provincial legislative has exclusive domain over laws governing, marriage, contracts, firearms possession, labor, educational curriculums, environmental pollution, etc. However, it is alleged that the most important subjects have been assigned to the Federal Government and the Provinces have jurisdiction over less important subjects. The critics believe that the character of the armed forces should have been altered to make it truly a national organization with a balanced representation of all provinces. The armed forces are heavily lopsided with proportionately high representation from certain parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Too much power has been conferred on the Party President, who may not even be a member of the National and Provincial Assembly.
