Pakistan’s judicial system takes an authoritarian hit

On 20 October, Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet approved a bill to amend the country’s constitution and immediately sent it to be passed by the Senate – the upper house of Pakistan’s parliament. The Senate convened despite it being a Sunday, and passed the bill with 65 votes in favour and four votes against. The bill was then rushed to the 336-member National Assembly, or lower house, where lawmakers sat through the night to pass it at 5 am the next day. During discussion in parliament over the bill, members of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) – the embattled opposition party led by the imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan – alleged that members of parliament from their party had been abducted to force them into voting for the legislation. 

The haste and drama that accompanied the passage of the 26th amendment to Pakistan’s constitution are measures of how controversial it is. The amendment has allowed the government to introduce significant judicial reforms that have in effect curtailed the powers of the judiciary, and handed to the executive many of the same powers the judiciary has now lost. In Pakistan, this means that the government, which functions at the behest of the military, will be able to rein in judges if they try to assert their independence.