The amendment comes just months after Munir’s promotion to field marshal, a rare rank that places him above all other military officers, despite Pakistan seeking a ceasefire after India’s Operation Sindoor to avenge the terror attack in Pahalgam earlier this year.
If passed, the law could reshape Pakistan’s balance of power, entrenching a system where the military remains supreme even as civilians occupy the front seats.Strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Pakistan’s proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment — designed to grant sweeping powers to the newly appointed field marshal, Asim Munir — would constitutionally entrench military supremacy, deepening the country’s hybrid authoritarian model in which a civilian façade conceals military rule. Beyond expanding the armed forces’ pervasive influence in civilian affairs, it would institutionalize the marginalization of elected civilian leaders, reducing them to little more than figureheads.
Widely viewed as a move to secure and extend the field marshal’s tenure beyond the mandatory retirement age, the amendment would consolidate his authority and codify the military’s position as the de facto arbiter of Pakistan’s foreign policy, security and even economic strategy.”
Implications for Pakistan and its politics
The proposed amendment would create a federal constitutional court to handle constitutional and rights-related disputes.
The prime minister’s office, not the judiciary, would gain the power to transfer senior judges between provinces.Executive magistrates could return at the district level to handle minor crimes and public order issues.
Islamabad could cut provincial revenue shares during economic crises.
Most significantly, it proposes changes to Article 243, which currently states that the president holds the supreme command of the armed forces. The government hasn’t clarified what changes are planned, prompting speculation that it could formalise expanded military authority.
The ruling coalition, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), now holds the two-thirds majority needed to pass the amendment in both houses.
PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari confirmed the proposal covers the creation of constitutional courts, restoration of executive magistrates, and amendments to Article 243.
The opposition PTI has denounced the move as an “attack on democracy and provincial rights,” warning it could undo gains from the 18th Amendment of 2010, which devolved power to the provinces.
Implications for India
By institutionalising the military’s expanded role, just as Asim Munir becomes field marshal, the 27th Amendment could turn Pakistan’s long-standing “hybrid regime” into a constitutional reality, giving the armed forces enduring supremacy behind a civilian façade.
As for India, the military’s firm grip over foreign and security policy means limited prospects for diplomatic outreach, tougher border postures and a continuation of security-first decision-making in Islamabad.
