Pakistan’s parliament on Thursday approved a constitutional amendment granting lifetime immunity to the country’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, and army chief Asim Munir.
The 27th Amendment, passed by a two-thirds majority, also strengthens military authority through a new position of Chief of the Defense Forces and creates a Federal Constitutional Court.
The law gives Munir, recently promoted to field marshal following clashes with India in May, control over the army, air force and navy.
Officers promoted to field marshal, air force marshal or fleet admiral will now maintain their rank and privileges for life, remain in uniform and be protected from criminal prosecution, a protection previously reserved only for the head of state.
“This constitutional amendment will increase authoritarianism and any semblance of democracy that existed in this country will vanish,” said Osama Malik, an Islamabad-based lawyer.
“Not only will it eliminate civilian oversight of military activities, but it will also completely destroy the military hierarchy, where all service chiefs were considered equal under the Joint Chiefs system,” he told AFP.
The amendment also protects President Zardari from criminal prosecution, although the immunity does not apply if he or any other former president subsequently holds public office. Zardari has faced multiple corruption cases, although the proceedings had previously been suspended.
Opposition parties, led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), strongly opposed the amendment and tore copies of the bill in both houses in protest.
“This is the final nail in the coffin of an independent judiciary and a functioning democracy,” PTI spokesperson Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari told AFP.
PTI general secretary Salman Akram Raja described the amendment as “deeply undemocratic. They have granted the president lifetime criminal immunity and created a system that concentrates power in a military position,” he told AFP.
The bill prohibits courts from challenging any constitutional changes “for any reason” and transfers pending constitutional cases to the new Federal Constitutional Court, stripping the Supreme Court of its original jurisdiction.
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Another provision allows the president to transfer Superior Court judges on the recommendation of the Judiciary Commission, a change that critics warn could be used to sideline dissenting judges.
The Senate approved the bill on Monday. After minor revisions, the National Assembly approved it two days later and returned it to the upper house for final approval.
“Sixty-four members are in favor of the approval of the bill and four against, so the motion is approved,” said the president of the Senate, Yusuf Raza Gilani, reports AFP. The lower house also approved the bill with the required two-thirds majority.
The bill now goes to Zardari to sign into law.
(AFP)
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