On March 31st, Pakistan parliamentarians from all political shades turned a new page in the country checkered political history, when they all signed the draft of a constitutional reforms– package aimed at cleansing the constitution from various amendments inserted by former dictators Gen.. Ziaul Haq and Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

For over nine months, 27 members from both the upper (Senate) and the lower (National Assembly) houses of the Parliament, representing all national and regional political parties as well as independent groups from the semi-autonomous tribal regions (FATA) painstakingly reviewed all the 278 articles of the Constitution, and following a brief hiccup eventually reached a landmark consensus to amend about 100 articles.

This consensus will culminate in the form of the 18th amendment and rid the Constitution of the controversial clauses that Gen. Zia (July 1977-Aug 1988) and Gen. Musharraf (Oct 1999´ Aug 2008) had inserted, primarily to strengthen and legitimize their unconstitutional rules. (Both had seized power in coups against elected Prime Ministers).

Both the generals held dubious and allegedly rigged referendums to legitimize their rule, followed by general elections in 1985 under Gen. Zia (non-party based elections after a period of nine years of direct military rule) and in 2002 under Gen. Musharraf (party based elections, three years after seizing power). During these military regimes, both Zia and Musharraf emasculated the country Constitution, whereby they took away powers that originally had belonged to the Prime Minister and the Parliament.

These powers led to the distortion of the Parliamentary Democratic System of the country, and subjecting the country practically to a ‘one man rule’ wherein all powers were centered in the office of the President.

In1985 the Parliament, elected on a non-party basis, went on to validate Gen. Zia rule through the 8th Amendment. This piece of legislation provided indemnity to all the actions and administrative measures of the Zia era. One of them related to the sweeping powers of the President contained in the controversial Article 58 (2) B. This article empowered the President to dismiss the elected governments and parliaments as and when he deemed fit. A power that was used against four elected Prime Ministers between 1988 and 1999 largely on graft charges. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, elected with a two-thirds majority in 1997 general election, undid the 8th amendment through the 15th amendment, restoring thereby the Parliamentary supremacy. But again, in January 2004, Musharraf after a period of 14 months from the 2002 elections, had his ultra-constitutional administrative measures, known as the ¿Legal Framework Order– approved and amended by the parliament under the 17th amendment. Thus again, bringing all sweeping powers under the office of the President.

This proposed 18th amendment will be a landmark beginning towards the revival of the original 1973 Constitution. This will mark the partial, if not entire, fulfillment of the commitment advocated by the two major political parties, the PPP, and the PML-N, under the Charter of Democracy. The Charter was signed initially between the PPP, and PML-N in July 2006, but later signed by other mainstream parties to revive the 1973 constitution, undo the 17th amendment and not to support and work with military dictators in future.

Pakistan Constitution was approved with consensus in 1973 during Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto PPP rule. Modeled on the British Westminster Parliamentary System, it is hitherto considered as an historical document that had emerged to context of a battered and divided Pakistan, following the loss of its eastern wing ´ then known as East Pakistan and now Bangladesh- in December 1971.

If approved with consensus, the 18th amendment would mark the second biggest achievement of the political parties after 37 years. It also underscores an unparalleled political consensus on purging the Constitution of those anomalies which military dictators used to discredit political opposition and perpetuate their rule. The amendment seeks to break the vicious cycle of military interventions and put to rest controversies that have haunted civilian governments.

On the face of it, the proposed 18th amendment augurs well for the democratic and parliamentary future of Pakistan. It also finally addresses another two controversial and politically explosive issues i.e re-naming the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and the formation of a Judicial Commission to recommend and appoint members of the superior judiciary including the judges of the Supreme Court.

Just about when the stage had looked set for the consensus on the draft, these two issues became a tumbling block between the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the major opposition Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) when former Premier Nawaz Sharif dropped a bombshell by going public that the issues were yet to be settled. The dominant majority of politicians, civil society members and commentators condemned Sharif move a ‘U-turn’ and urged his party to take corrective measures.

Almost three days of hectic political consultations and back-door discussions finally paved the way for the re-naming of NWFP as ‘Khyber Pukhtunkhwa,’ a long standing demand of the Pashtoon nationalist political parties, in particular the Awami National Party (ANP), on the proposal of the PML-N.

The issue of the judicial commission, which most parties want to be independent of political influences, was finally resolved, when all the parties agreed to Sharif demand of raising its members to seven, the seventh being an appointee of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The proposed amendments– package also addresses some other long standing issues such as the demand for greater provincial autonomy. In line with the demands by regional and nationalist parties, all parties have agreed to surrender the control of provincial resources to the respective province. The proposed amendment also recommends removing a controversial law that bars a person from becoming the Prime Minister, or Chief Minister for a third time.

Gen. Musharraf had introduced this law to prevent Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto from coming to power again.

Some of the salient features of the proposed amendment will include:

1. The President power to dissolve the government and assemblies on his own under 58 (2)-b will be taken away; unless the Prime Minister so advises
2. Creating a balance of power between the President, Prime Minister, and the Parliament, whereby reposing powers in the Prime Minister and the Parliament, and making the President as ceremonial Head of the Sate and executive;
3. NWFP to be re-named as Khyber Pukhtunkhwa;
4. Formation of a system of seven member Judicial Council to be headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to appoint members of superior judiciary, other members will include the Attorney Gen.eral, the Law Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, Two Chief Justices of the High Courts, and a retired Judge to be appointed by the Chief Justice;
5. Abolition of the concurrent list- list of subjects that the province and the center share, whereby giving the provinces more control over resources, proposed as measures to give more autonomy to the provinces;
6. The appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner,, armed forces Chiefs, and Governors by the Prime Minister,
7. Reinforcement of the Council of Common Interests- a forum to discuss national resource distribution between the federation and the provinces,
8. Repeal of the 17th amendment , albeit with a few exceptions such as the increase in the number of members of the National Assembly ´ lower house – to 342, higher women representation in the parliament,
9. Inclusion of minority representation in the Upper House ´ the Senate,
10. Governor to be appointed from the same province.

Another extremely important issue that has been an eyesore for the common people is the bar on the size of the federal and provincial cabinets; the new amendment stipulates that the size of the cabinets will not exceed 11 percent of the total number of the respective parliament; the Chief Ministers are recommended not to appoint more than 5 Advisors.

In order to accommodate political allies as well as their own members, successive federal and provincial governments have so far been as large as 25 percent of the respective parliaments.

However, legislators not only refrained from touching controversial and repressive religious laws (introduced by Gen. Zia), but also chose to skip changes or total abolition of legacy of the British colonial rule – the contentious Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), which governs the troubled and semi-autonomous Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA). These special laws have been in place since 1901.

The successful passage of the 18th amendment, expected sometime next week, will pave the way for the Parliament to become sovereign, strong, and supreme, and provides the ruling parties to maturely and prudently take the country out of political and economic crisis. Only time will tell as to whether a more democratic and powerful parliament also enables political parties play their cards well and help address matters that are of primary importance to the general public such as security, law & order, water and energy shortages, crippling inflation, and unemployment.