President Asif Ali Zardari gave his assent to the contentious 27th Constitutional Amendment on Thursday, enacting it into law.
The summary signed by the president states: “The Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2025, is assented to, as advised by the prime minister, at para 5 of the summary.”
The president’s assent to the legislation came hours after the Senate approved the bill for the amendment after voting on it for a second time amid the opposition’s protest.
Announcing the result, Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani said 64 votes had been cast in favour of the bill and four against it. “So the motion is carried by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of the Senate, and consequently, the bill stands passed.”
The house first voted on the bill clause by clause and then by division. While clause-by-clause voting was under way, slogans of aain ki tabahi, na manzoor (destruction of the Constitution, unacceptable) filled the house, prompting Gilani to say at one point, “No slogans”.
The bill was initially presented in the Senate for voting on Monday and passed the same day. It was then referred to the NA, which approved it with some amendments on Wednesday. Therefore, the proposed legislation was again presented in the Senate to consider the latest changes.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar again tabled the bill in the upper house of Parliament.
Elaborating on the changes and the bill’s salient features, he said the incumbent chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) would continue to hold this post until he held the office. Following his retirement, he said, the senior one among the top-most judges of the Supreme Court and the planned Federal Constitutional Court would have the title of the CJP.
Detailing changes to Article 6 of the Constitution, which deals with the subject of treason, he said the provision would now read: “Any court in Pakistan, be it the Federal Constitutional Court that will now, God willing, be established, the Supreme Court or high courts, cannot validate the abrogation [of the Constitution].”
This was akin to blocking martial laws and upholding democracy, he argued.
Speaking against the proposed amendment, PTI Senator Ali Zafar criticised the government for its “haste”.
He recalled that during the first instance of voting, PTI’s Saifullah Abro and another senator from the JUI-F had voted in favour of the amendment and against the party line.
In his response, Gilani said after formally receiving Abro’s resignation in writing, he would call him and maybe, “I am able to convince him”.
Later, PTI’s Zafar pointed out to him in the Senate that the defection by Abro led to the application of Article 63-A, which stipulated that Abro stood disqualified. Moreover, he said, Abro had also announced his resignation.
In light of these developments, he requested that the votes of the defecting senator not be counted.
Speaking after him, JUI-F’s Kamran Murtaza complained that “a member of ours was won over”.
He further stated that the defecting senator from the JUI-F, Ahmed Khan, had been expelled from the party, his resignation as a senator had been sought, and the party had also sought the invocation of Article 63-A.
However, Tarar contended that if a member voted against the party line on no-confidence motions, budget or money bills and constitutional amendments, the party head could send a reference against them to the presiding officer. The presiding officer in the NA would be the speaker and the Senate chairperson in the upper house of Parliament, he added.
“Correct me if I am wrong. We shouldn’t distort the provisions of the Constitution for political point scoring,” he remarked.
As far as the issue of resignation was concerned, he stressed that the relevant member had to submit their resignation in writing to the Senate chairperson, who would then give a ruling on it.
For his part, Gilani said he had not received any resignation in writing and so, “their resignation has not yet been accepted or received”.