By Muhammad Anas Rehman
In the dead of the night, while the nation slept, a parliament that no longer speaks for the citizens of Pakistan drove a dagger into the heart of the Constitution and hammered the final nail in the independent judiciary’s coffin. The 27th Amendment did not just target the judiciary but also infringed upon the fundamental freedoms enjoyed by citizens of a free and fair republic. The 27th Constitutional Amendment was enacted on 13 November 2025, following approval by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament and Presidential assent. It took merely days to fundamentally alter the legal system of a country that already grapples with a severe lack of trust and transparency in its institutions. What happened so hastily (without extensive debates in the parliament or consultation with the opposition or the public) was a coup, not with tanks rolling down the streets but with a pen stroke that erased the separation of powers and further weakened the legal system of a country that already ranks as the third-worst country for law and order according to the World Justice Project.[1]
The creation of the Federal Constitutional Court does not further democracy but concentrates more power in the already above-the-law elites. This measure divides the judiciary and further undermines its authority. By stripping the Supreme Court of its authority to adjudicate matters of constitutional interpretation and questions of fundamental rights, it reduces the nation’s Apex Court to just a standard appellate body for civil and criminal cases. The most concerning part is that the newly established most powerful court of this country is composed of judges handpicked by the Executive branch, the very people it is supposed to keep in check. By controlling the appointment of the first bench, the ruling elite has ensured that when the people cry out for justice against the state, it is the state itself that will listen, judge, and ultimately dismiss them. When the referee is selected by one of the players, the game is meant to be rigged.
An impartial and independent judiciary is the heartbeat of a republic, the only force capable of protecting and standing between the citizen and the Leviathan of the state. The amendment brings sweeping changes to the appointment and transfer of judges, turning administrative procedure into a tool of coercion. By amending Articles 199 and 200, the amendment empowers the President to transfer High Court judges at the discretion of the executive dominated Judicial Commission, and if a judge refuses, he or she is faced with compulsory disciplinary proceedings under Article 209. By forcing judges to comply and be banished if they don’t, the amendment has severed the arteries of justice. It has stripped the robe of its dignity and replaced it with a leash.
Immunity: a word that contradicts the fundamentals of democracy, is extended to the people who are supposed to be kept in check the most(Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet, Marshal of the Air Force), a move that was criticized by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute.[2] The most defining feature of a Republic is the principle that no man or woman is above the law. Whether you’re a President, a soldier, a scholar, or a person barely making minimum wage, the law applies to you with equal force. The 27th Amendment has effectively burned this principle to the ground. An honest leader fears no trial, and a just commander fears no inquiry. What remains of this country is less of a democratic Republic and more of a kingdom of elites built on the backs of the silenced.
Perhaps the only positive aspect of this amendment is the recognition that no one is coming to save the people. The citizens of Pakistan have been betrayed over and over again by the ruling class, be it through multiple martial laws or farce elections, the people have always been disappointed in the end. A total of 167 parties contested in the 2024 elections.[3] It is astonishing how the number of parties continues to increase, while the legitimacy of elections continues to sink every cycle. It is clear that the old political order is dead; it has lost all moral legitimacy. The parliament that shamelessly passed the 27th Amendment by voting in the majority only represents the feudal lords, the industrial barons, and the unelected brokers of power. They have sold our future to secure their present. To look to them for salvation or justice is to expect the arsonist to take out the fire.
So where does this leave us, the citizens? It leaves us with a duty, a duty to resist. The 27th Amendment is not the end of the story; it is the beginning of our liberation. The year 2025 was marked by a youth uprising, as they rightfully took back their mandate from the corrupt, with four distinct movements converging to challenge the Global Neoliberal Order.[4] So let the word go forth, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to the new generation of Pakistan, a generation born in crises and tempered by betrayal. It is in our hands now. We will not bend, we will not bow, and we will never surrender. They have the watches, but we have the time. They might have the power, but we have the truth. The fortress of impunity is built on sand, and the tide is finally coming in.
If the 27th Amendment is their Decree, then Resistance is our Verdict.
Muhammad Anas Rehman, a third-year law student at LUMS has been part of multiple societies, including the Law and Politics Society, FemSoc (the Feminist Society), and Animal Welfare Society. He am passionate about Law, Environment, and Human Rights.
[1] https://www.dawn.com/news/1867657
[2] https://www.ibanet.org/IBAHRI-condemns-Pakistans-27th-Constitutional-Amendment-as-flagrant-attack-on-judicial-independence-and-the-rule-of-law
[3] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/5/pakistan-elections-2024-by-the-numbers
[4] https://diem25.org/youth-awakening-the-revolutions-of-2025/