By Jawed Anwar

The 27th Constitutional Amendment has effectively dismantled Pakistan’s judiciary—an issue that has already sparked widespread debate among lawyers and the media. Yet one consequence is being deliberately under-discussed: the amendment has granted full constitutional legitimacy to military dictatorship. In today’s Pakistan, even mild criticism of the armed forces has become perilous; journalists and commentators have largely fallen silent.

The speed with which this bill sailed through the National Assembly and Senate is unprecedented in global parliamentary history. In Pakistan, governments routinely secure opposition votes through coercion, financial inducement, or outright intimidation—often all three at once. This is not new. What is new is the open admission that Pakistan has never truly been governed by its own people. The real centre of power has always lain far away, across seven seas.

This amendment dramatically expands the authority of Field Marshal Asim Munir—the same general who recently shared lunch with Donald Trump—and places military dictatorship beyond legal or political challenge. The army no longer needs to impose martial law or suspend the Constitution. Under the amended Constitution, martial-law-style decrees can now be issued with perfect legality. Neither parliament nor the courts can question them. In practice, every institution of the state will soon operate under the direct oversight of the Field Marshal.

The law comes into force on 27 November 2025. The key military changes introduced through Article 243 and related clauses are summarised below:

• Chief of Defence Forces (CDF): The Army Chief is now constitutionally designated as CDF with direct command over the Army, Navy, and Air Force, centralising all military power and guaranteeing permanent Army dominance.
• Abolition of the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC): The post will cease to exist upon the retirement of the incumbent, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, in November 2025. The delicate inter-service balance is destroyed.
• National Strategic Command (Nuclear Oversight): The commander of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal will henceforth be appointed exclusively from the Pakistan Army, on the recommendation of the CDF.
• Lifetime Five-Star Ranks: Field Marshal, Marshal of the Air Force, and Admiral of the Fleet are now lifetime appointments carrying full legal immunity, lifelong uniform privileges, and lavish benefits. Removal requires a two-thirds parliamentary majority—a threshold the military will never permit a civilian government to achieve.
• Extension of Tenure: The Army Chief (now CDF) receives an automatic five-year term from 27 November 2025, renewable indefinitely.

Taken together, these provisions transform Pakistan’s military into an Army-dominated, hyper-centralised structure and obliterate whatever remained of civil-military balance.

A bitter irony must be noted: in modern warfare, the relevance of large land armies has sharply declined. Today’s battles are fought in the air, at sea, across the electromagnetic spectrum, and in cyberspace. Yet the branch least suited to tomorrow’s wars has just been handed absolute supremacy over the branches best equipped to fight them. Pakistan Air Force pilots—trained in China to world-class standards—have repeatedly demonstrated their superiority in 2019 and again in 2025. It is the Air Force and Navy that will bear the burden of future conflict, while the stars and glory accumulate on Army shoulders.

Behind these domestic power shifts lies a larger, more ominous agenda. Preparations appear underway for a renewed war in Afghanistan. The United States has signalled its intent to re-occupy Bagram Air Base. Pakistan is widely expected to initiate hostilities, paving the way for another cycle of American bombardment. For twenty-five years, sections of the Pakistani media—under establishment pressure—have relentlessly demonised Afghanistan, the Taliban, and the Pashtun tribes of the border regions.

I appeal to the ulema, to Islamic journalists, and to leaders of religious parties: shield yourselves from this torrent of propaganda. Present events in their true context. Recognise the mechanics of the “War on Terror” and the immense power of manufactured narratives. For you, Islam and the Shariah must remain far above every form of nationalism—whether Pakistani or Muslim nationalism, or tribal—and above every sectarian division.

That uncompromising commitment to transcendent truth is precisely what the West—and its local proxies—fear most.

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