Pakistan - November 2025

On 13 November, President Asif Ali Zardari approved the 27th Constitutional Amendment, creating a new constitutional court, granting extensive powers to the president, and providing senior military officers and the president with lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution. Opposition leaders boycotted the vote and civil society have criticized the ‘hastily adopted’ amendments, which prevented adequate public consultations. The new Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) will sit above the Supreme Court, transferring judicial appointments from the Judicial Commission to the executive. The government argues that the judicial changes will help alleviate the backlog of cases in the Supreme Court by limiting its role to non-constitutional matters. However, the amendment has faced widespread condemnation, with two Supreme Court judges resigning in protest. 

Sources: Constitutionnet, Chatham House, OHCHR, International Bar Association, DevDiscourse, Daily Pakistan