Introduction;

The Eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Pakistan was passed by the National
Assembly of Pakistan on April 8, 2010 removing the power of the President of Pakistan
to dissolve the Parliament unilaterally, turning Pakistan from a semi-presidential to a
parliamentary republic, and renaming North-West Frontier Province to Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa.It also gave Self-governing, legislative and financial autonomy to the
Provinces. The package was intended to counter the sweeping powers amassed by the
presidency under former presidents General Pervez Musharraf and General Muhammad
Zia-ul-Haq and to ease political instability in Pakistan. The bill reversed many
infringements on the Constitution of Pakistan over several decades by its military
rulers.The amendment bill was passed by the Senate of Pakistan on April 15, 2010 and
it became an act of parliament when President Asif Ali Zardari put his signature on the
bill on April 19, 2010. It was the first time in Pakistan's history that a president
relinquished a significant part of his powers willingly and transferred them to
parliament and the office of the prime minister.

Backgrounds;

The power of the president to dissolve the Parliament was enacted by the Eighth
Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan during the presidency of Gen. Muhammad
Zia-ul-Haq, before it was removed by then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif during his
second term by the Thirteenth Amendment. It was finally restored during the
presidency of Gen. Pervez Musharraf by the Seventeenth Amendment. This bill is the
first bill since 1973 to decrease the powers of the president.

Back then, this amounted to the only democratically elected parliament to fully
complete its tenure in the history of Pakistan from 2003–2008, albeit under Musharraf.
The second complete parliamentary term was completed by the PPP led government
from 2008–2013 which had in fact passed the 18th Amendment. However, this 2008–
2013 term is often touted to be the first complete democratic change of power
without a military president or a coup de etat in Pakistan.

Highlights of the 18th Constitutional Amendment:

 Amendment to Article 6 seeks to pre-empt military coups in future

 Article 58(2b) to be repealed, substituted with ‘Dissolution of National Assembly’

 President may dissolve NA in case no-confidence vote passed against PM

 Total strength of cabinet should not exceed 11% of total membership of parliament

 Governor should be a resident and registered voter of his/her province, he/she would
be appointed by president on prime minister’s advice

 Provinces required by law to establish local government systems, devolve political,

administrative and financial responsibility and authority to elected representatives
 PM to be chairperson of CCI, members to include CMs, 3 members from federal govt

 Amendment to Article 157 says federal government must consult provincial

government before installing hydroelectric power stations in any province

 PM to forward three names for office of CEC, in consultation with opposition leader
in National Assembly, to a parliamentary committee for confirmation

 Committee proposes insertion of Article 175(a) to deal with appointment of judges to

Supreme Court, high courts, Federal Shariat Court

 Committee proposes substitution of Article 243, says federal government ‘shall have
control and command of armed forces, supreme command of armed forces shall [rest
with] … president

 President to appoint Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman, chief of army staff,
chief of naval staff, chief of air staff

 NWFP will be renamed ‘Khyber-Pakhtoonkhawah’

 State will provide free, compulsory education to children aged between 5 and 16
years

 Amendments to Clause 1 seek substitution of ‘Baluchistan’ with ‘Balochistan’, ‘Sind’

with ‘Sindh’

 Insertion of clause sought to bar persons acquiring citizenship of foreign country

from contesting elections to parliament

 All elections under constitution, other than those of PM and CM, to be by secret
ballot.

18th Amendment impact:

Pakistan’s parliament has passed the 18th Amendment’s that, among other changes,
gives the provincial governments greater autonomy under the constitution by
abolishing the concurrent list and other related provisions. The full impact of the
amendment’s many changes has yet to be fully analyzed and deliberated by key
stakeholders.

The 18th amendment eliminates the “Concurrent List,” i.e. the enumeration of areas
where both federal and provincial governments may legislate but federal law prevails.
Laws governing marriage, contracts, firearms possession, labor, educational
curriculums, environmental pollution, bankruptcy, and in 40 other diverse areas the
provinces would have exclusive jurisdiction and each provincial assembly will be
responsible for drafting its own laws on the issues. The 18th constitutional
Amendment potentially impacts the mandate of several Federal Ministries and by
implication increases the roles and responsibilities of the related institutions and
administrative structures at the provincial level.
Another important but under-reported change now specifies that future National
Finance Commission agreements—which set the distribution of national revenues
between the central government and the provinces—cannot reduce the provinces’
share beyond that given in the previous agreement (Article 160). Provincial
governments also now have greater authority to raise domestic and international loans
and give guarantees on the security of Provincial Consolidated Fund. (Source: United
Nations Development Programme)

18th Amendment And Provincial Autonomy?

The people of small provinces were once again cheated away and the promise of
provincial autonomy was largely limited to cosmetic changes and use of buzz words
such as abolition of the concurrent legislative list containing subjects where the
Federal government and the four provincial had shared jurisdiction prior to the 18th
amendment. Indeed, it was the long standing demand of provinces to do away with
concurrent list and restore sole provincial jurisdiction as provinces had enjoyed under
British before Pakistan was created. What actually has happened under the 18th
amendment that the central government has assumed the jurisdiction over most
important subjects and let provinces have jurisdiction over less important subjects. On
top of this, a provision (Article 143) that before 18th amendment allowed the federal
government to enact laws only in the subjects covered under federal legislative and
concurrent legislative list have been extended giving authority to the Federal
legislature to void any acts passed by a Provincial Assembly. This means that an act
passed by a provincial assembly in a subject area that is totally under the jurisdiction
of the province can be voided by an act passed by the Federal legislature with simple
majority. Before 18th amendment such an act would have required a constitutional
amendment. In a country such as Pakistan, where one province had more members in
the National Assembly than the combined total of other provinces, this change gives
the largest province of Pakistan to override any provincial laws with ease as it could
easily muster simple majority from that province alone.

Where 18th Amendment failed to meet expectations of small provinces?

1. Failed to reaffirm the principles of 1940 Resolution principles namely the promises
of provincial “autonomy” and “sovereignty”.

2. Failed to include Baluchi, Pashto, Punjabi, and Sindhi as national languages of

Pakistan.
3. Article: 39 – Participation of people in Armed Forces – Failed to include a provision
that the military will strive to build a truly national organization that is ethnically-
balanced and representative of all minorities of Pakistan. A provision should have been
made to achieve this balance within five to ten years.

4. Articles: 59 and 73 – Senate Composition and money powers: Failed to change

composition of Senate so the exactly 25 members from each province will be elected
to Senate in a national vote and would hold a veto over any laws passed by the
National Assembly.

5. Article 143: Inconsistency between Federal and Provincial laws

6. Now even a corrupt, ineligible and incompetent politician, as party head, would be
able to manipulate the whole political system in the country. This was achieved by
making some very disturbing changes in article 63. This article deals with the eligibility
of political contesters in general elections. This amendment has ruined the idea of rule
of law and justice. Amendments made in article 63 would enable every convicted
criminal to be part of the parliament after five years of his release from jail
irrespective of the fact why that person was convicted.

7. Article 156 – National Economic Council – This article had a provision that “the
President shall nominate one member from each Province on the recommendation of
the Government of that Province.” The 18th amendment has removed the words “on
the recommendation of the Government of that Province.” has been REMOVED as
Prime Minister can now appoint 4 other members of the council. The implication of
this change is that Federal Government will solely determine who will be the members
of the National Economic Council thereby further diminishing the participation of
provincial governments in how national economics is handled – this is another serious
attack against provincial autonomy.

Federal and Provincial Relations:

Constitutional history of Pakistan is full of debates on the Concurrent List - a list of

subjects on which both national and provincial assembly can legislate- was abolished.
The differences between the federal and provincial governments were removed by
allowing federal legislative list - a list of subjects on which federal government can
legislate only - and provincial legislative list - a list of subjects on which provincial
government can legislate only. Prior to it, on the subjects of concurrent list, national
assembly has the edge to overthrow the legislation of provincial assemblies but 18th
amendment empowered the provincial assemblies to legislate freely.

National Finance Commission Award:

Nation Finance Commission NFC Award is the distribution of national wealth among the
provinces. It is proportional to the population of a province, revenue collection from a
province, poverty in the province and reverse population density of a province. NFC
Award for center was increased to 53% from 42.5% while those of provinces reduced
to 47% from 57%. As the subjects of concurrent list was abolished, it was acceptable
for the provinces as well.

Establishment of Council of Common Interest CCI:

Another major achievement of 18th Amendment was the establishment of the Council
of Common Interest CCI, which was the platform to resolved the power sharing dispute
between the federation and the provinces. Till now, it implemented and showing
positive results.

Martial Laws were Invalidated:

Prior to 18th Amendment, article 6 of the constitution of Pakistan was read as a

person who abrogate constitution will be liable to high treason punishment but there
was a room for those who abrogate it. For example, General Musharraf, in 1999,
imposed emergency and hold constitution in abeyance or abrogated it temporary but
there was no provision in the constitution to punish him of high treason at that time.
In this amendment, article 6 was modified as a person who abrogate or held in
abeyance or one who support it will be liable to high treason punishment. Supreme
Court or High Court has no jurisdiction to validate it. Hence, it strengthened the
democracy in Pakistan.

Some other minor changes were:

Senate working days increased from 90 days to 110 days.

The restrictions on terms of PM were removed.

The names of NWFP, Balochistan and Sind were changed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Baluchistan and Sindh respectively.

Conclusion:

Therefore to sum it in few words 18 amendment contains major changes which are
purely essential to grant democracy a way forward to progress by leaps and bound.AS:

RESPECTED SIR JUNAID JAN SAID:

WORST FORM OF DEMORACY IS BETTER THAN THE
BEST FORM OF DICTATORDHIP.