Outline

INTRODUCTION
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
IMPACTS
FEDERAL SYSTEM

Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan

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.

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 and it became an act of parliament
when President Asif Ali Zardari put his signature on the bill. 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 Pakistan.

Devolved Ministries
1. Ministry of Education
2. Ministry of environment
3. Ministry of health
4. Ministry of women development
5. Ministry of local government and rural development
6. Ministry of labour and manpower
Constitutional history of pakistan
Government of India Act 1935
Until 1956 the provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, had greatly influenced the state and
served as its basic legal document.

23rd March 1956 Constitution

Official name of country: Islamic republic of Pakistan.

Objectives resolution.

System of government: Parliamentary with a P.M head of government.

Unicameral legislature: a single house, only National Assembly.

President: Muslim and ceremonial head of state.

Islamic law: no law could be passed against the Quran and shariah.

Independent Judiciary.

Fundamental rights: freedoms of movement, expression, speech, religion and right to life liberty and
property.

Abrogating 1956 Constitution.

By the constitution, Iskander Mirza assumed the presidency but his constant involvement in national
affairs, as opposed to Constitution, dismissed four elected prime ministers in two years. Under public
pressure, Mirza coup d'état in Pakistan and abrogated constitution in 7 october 1958. Shortly
afterwards General Ayub Khan deposed Mirza and declared himself president.

1962 Constitution
General Ayub Khan appointed a Constitution Commission to draft another part of the constitution.
It was promulgated on 8 June 1962.He institutionalized dictatorship by manoeuvring constitution of
1956 in his favour and making new constitution of Pakistan.Main feature of this set was the
introduction of the Presidential system and more consolidated powers to the President. All other
features were of that 1956
1973 constitution.
The 1973 constitution was the first in Pakistan to be framed by elected representatives. Unlike the
1962 constitution it gave Pakistan a parliamentary democracy with executive power concentrated in
the office of the prime minister, and the formal head of state—the president—limited to acting on the
advice of the prime minister.
Zia ul haq martial law
General zia ul haq disposed Bhutto(elected P.M) and declared Martial law on 5th July 1977.After
another coup d'état in 1977, the constitution was held in abeyance until it was "restored" in 1985 but
with an amendment (the Eighth) shifting power from the parliament and Prime Minister to the
president.
Thirteenth amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan was a short-time amendment to
the Constitution of Pakistan, adopted by the elected Parliament of Pakistan in 1997 by the
government of people elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. It stripped the President of Pakistan of
his reserve power to dissolve the National Assembly, and thereby triggering new elections and
dismissing the Prime Minister. With the enforcing of this amendment, Pakistan's system of
government was shifted from Semi-presidential system to Parliamentary democratic republic system.
Musharraf 1999
Another Amendment (Seventeenth) in 2003 continued this shift, but in 2010, the Eighteenth
amendment reduced presidential powers, returning the government to a parliamentary republic.

IMPACTS
FEDERAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
18th amendment introduces federal system of government in Pakistan. Power is shared by a
powerful central government and states or provinces that are given considerable self-rule,
usually through their own legislatures. Moreover in a country like Pakistan unitary system does
not serve the interest. Because Pakistan is multi-nation state with different cultures. Therefore
its is necessary to give autonomy to provinces because they are closer to people and can better
serve them.
PROVINCIAL AUTOMOMY
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.And also devolution of all these ministries to
provnices.All in all provinces were given greater autonomy in legislative and administrative
areas of these ministries.
Decentralization of power at Grass root level
18th amendment is embodiement of vision that the two democratic leader envisaged when they
signed Charter of Democracy in 2006.It was in this political setting that Benazir Bhutto and
Nawaz Sharif, each having been bitten twice by the military establishment,decided to bury their
hatchets. They signed a Charter of Democracy (CoD) underlining: “that the military dictatorship
and the nation cannot co-exist — as military involvement adversely affects the economy and the
democratic institutions as well as the defence capabilities, and the integrity of the country — the
nation needs a new direction, different from a militaristic and regimental approach of the
Bonapartist regimes.”
Both the leaders reaffirmed in the CoD their commitment to undiluted democracy,
decentralisation and devolution of power, maximum provincial autonomy, empowerment of the
people at the grassroots level, a free and independent media, an independent judiciary and
settlement of disputes with the neighbours through peaceful means. They pledged cleansing the
1973, constitution from the amendments made by the military rulers, particularly repealing of the
Seventeenth Amendment of Musharraf. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were also keen to
remove the article from the constitution which barred any elected member to be the prime
minister of the country for the third time. Musharraf had inserted this clause in the constitution to
keep both the popular leaders of the country out of power, even if their party won the election

Empowerment of Local bodies

This amendment also proved to be a milestone on the path to realising Article 140 of the 1973
Constitution of Pakistan, which talks of economic, political, and administrative powers being
shifted to the administrative bodies at a local level. “according to Article 140-A of Pakistan's
Constitution each province shall, by law, establish a local government system”. Hence power
is transferred from center to provinces and is further divided to local bodies so power can be
rooted at grass root level.
SHUTTING DOOR FOR DICTATORSHIP AND ELIMINATING
DICTATORS’ FOOTPRINTS FROM CONSTITUTION
The amendment includes 102 important articles and has made the 1973 Constitution more
democratic.It struck down the 17th Amendment imposed by Gen Musharraf’s government that
had undermined parliament. It returned the powers to parliament by removing Article 58(2)(b)
which military dictators call so-called the safety valve in constitution for future military
interventions. This article gave the president the power to sack an elected prime minister and
dissolve national assembly.Thus, the bill reversed many infringements on the Constitution of
Pakistan over several decades by its military rulers.

ALLEVIATE POLITICAL MONOPOLY AND POWER UNBALANCE

Another possible reason behind this amendment and its implications could be found in the
knowledge that the Punjab Assembly has the highest number of seats in the National Assembly
in comparison with the other provinces. So, any party who gains the majority in Punjab is almost
sure to gain power in the federal government. This makes other provinces feel that they are at
an automatic disadvantage. Therefore, the 18th Amendment was made to offset the political
monopoly held by the province of Punjab and to overcome the resulting deprivation felt by the
other provinces in terms of limited administrative power by making all provinces more
autonomous.
STEP TOWARDS DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN
This amendment further strengthen institution of democracy in Pakistan and makes 1973
constitution more democratic. It has given myriad rights to individuals such as freedom of
speech, expression, media and independent judiciary as envisioned by Charter of Democracy
leaders. Moreover it has removed all infringement made by military dictators. Also it has
decentralized power to P.M and parliament and to provincial government to local bodies so that
power can be rooted at grass level. This devolution of power to grass root level will make
military coup insurmountable in future.

SOME PITFALLS OF EIGTHEENTH AMENDMENT

LACK OF CAPACITY AT PROVINCIAL LEVEL
Lack of capacity to collect tax effectively. Clash between FBR and SBR or other provincial
departments over jurisdiction. Tax payers are confused by double tax collecting authorities.
Provinces are unable to undertake and meet-up giant projects such climate-change related
,poverty alleviation, HIV/AIDS(recent cases in interior Sindh),global health and educational
standards.

SCANTINESS OF CORDINATION BETWEEN FEDERAL AND

PROVINCES
A lot of mis-coordination can be seen related to key issues and matters between federal and
provinces.

DEVIANCE IN EDUCATIONAL,LEGISLATIVE , AND HEALTH

STANDARDS
Deviance of legislations is observed in different provinces and no coordination among provinces
for uniform legislation and educational and health standards.

CORRUPTION,EXPLOITATION AND PLUNDERING OF RESOURCES

BY PROVINCIAL GOVERMENTS
18th amendent did not turned out to be what its founders have envisioned. Prior leaders were
honest and sincere to nation so were the leaders of Charter of Democracy. They envisaged to
facilitate people and give rights to them. However, today’s leaders are more corrupt and self-
fish. They used this amendment for their own vested interests such as issue of Fake case on
Zardari has emerged. This shows how PPP leaders in Sindh and other parties in different
provinces have looted nation’s resources under the provincial autonomy.

DEPRIVATION OF FAR-FLUNG AREAS

Since 18th amendment have given greater control over resources to provinces, far-flung areas in
these provinces have been deprived of facilities. It is because provincial governments have not
transferred power completely to grass root level. They did not have implemented article 140 of
constitution in its true spirit which led local bodies powerless. Thus, due to lack of power transfer
we see major cities getting more spending on them such as Karachi in Sindh, Lahore in Punjab,
Quetta in balochistan and far-flung areas are deprived of development that was not the case
before 18th amendment

LACK OF MONITERING POLICY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ON

PROVINCES
Due to lack of monitoring policy and accountability. There is no higher authority to question
provinces on how they spend their budget and how they govern. This big gap of accountability
and monitoring led to intense corruption and exploitation of resources in some provinces such
as Sindh(fake case accounts) and balochistan.

UNDERMINING FEDERAL POWER

With the power transferred to provinces on revenue collection Federal has been weaken in
sense of budget and revenue collection. For most of two important tasks that federal performs
one defence budget and second debt reparation these both tasks seems to become difficult to
complete after powers are devolved to provinces.

Other Aspect
Sheik mujib-ur-rehman Six points
Among six points most relevant to 18th amendment are as
follow:
The Constitution should provide for a Federation of Pakistan in its true sense based on the Lahore
Resolution, and the parliamentary form of government with supremacy of a Legislature directly
elected on the basis of universal adult franchise.
The federal government should deal with only two subjects: Defence and Foreign Affairs, and all
other residual subjects should be vested in the federating states
The power of taxation and revenue collection should be vested in the federating units and the federal
centre would have no such power. The federation would be entitled to a share in the state taxes to
meet its expenditures.
Conclusion

Six points of mujib ur rehman conveyed a similar message that of 18th amendment which supported
Federation system in Pakistan and greater autonomy to provinces. Due to negligence of that time of
government that grievances of East Pakistan were not paid attention.This mistake cause Pakistan to
split up into two parts and emergence of Bangladesh.

Lesson to be learned here is, likewise situation has developed in Pakistan in recent decades where
provinces long for greater autonomy. Upheavals in Balochistan and Sindh are fewer examples of
resentment that strong center has created. Had there been no heed given to these greivances,
History may repeat itself and entail more Bangladesh.