Pakistan’s democracy at risk as military gains sweeping power: Report

Islamabad, Nov 18 Pakistan risks sliding into a “constitutional barracks” era if the 27th Constitutional Amendment sets a benchmark, enabling the uniform to outlast the ballot and power answers only to itself. These consequences — rising repression, shrinking accountability and deepening regional fractures — will cast a long shadow over Pakistan’s political landscape for years to come, a report said on Tuesday.

“Pakistan is no stranger to military influence in politics, but the 27th Amendment marks a new phase in the country’s democratic regression. Not only does it concentrate all military and executive power in one office, but it also co-opts the judiciary and subverts federalism. The move follows a period where major opposition parties have been dismantled, prominent leaders remain imprisoned, and media freedoms are curtailed,” a report in ‘One World Outlook’ detailed.

It stated that Pakistan’s 27th Constitutional Amendment fundamentally reshapes the country’s power base by elevating the Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir to the newly-created post of Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), placing the army, navy, and air force under his command.

“The CDF receives lifelong rank, privileges, and legal immunity from prosecution—a stunning departure from norms of democratic accountability. Simultaneously, the amendment dissolves the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and re-engineers revenue-sharing arrangements to reduce the financial empowerment of provinces,” the report detailed.

“Equally troubling is the restructuring of Pakistan’s judicial system. The Supreme Court is sidelined from constitutional cases, with jurisdiction moved to a new Federal Constitutional Court whose judges will be appointed by the executive. This fast-tracks a system where the highest authorities in the land—the CDF and the new court—become answerable not to the people or parliament, but to the prime minister and a tightly knit executive-military alliance,” it added.

The report emphasised that the concentration of decision-making authority raises the risk of unchecked foreign policy move at a time when Pakistan is grappling with internal and external security challenges.

“Key regional concerns include nuclear command now resting in the hands of a single individual, escalating fears of precipitous crisis decisions, and eroding prospects for multilateral conflict de-escalation. Within Pakistan, while dissent is suppressed, insurgencies in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are likely to intensify, risking state fragility with potential spillover effects into neighbouring Afghanistan,” it stressed.

Senior Pakistani diplomats, including Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, warned that the amendment “damages, even demolishes, the basic structure of Pakistan’s constitution,” reducing civilian rule to little more than a facade for military authority.

“Critics view this as a ‘constitutionalization of militarisation,’ arguing that once entrenched, such systems become virtually impossible to dismantle,” the report noted.

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