Anatomy of a Constitutional Collapse

Pakistan, for more than 70 years after its independence, has seen many constitutional crises, military interventions, and arbitrary dismissals of civilian governments, but it now stands at one of the darkest junctures in its constitutional history. What once appeared to be an incremental erosion of democratic institutions has now turned into an open constitutional breakdown, triggered by the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment and intensified by the unprecedented resignation of two of the most respected judges of the Supreme Court — Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah. Justice Shah and Justice Minallah’s resignations and the reasons for their stepping down have shaken the Pakistani judicial system like an earthquake.

In his 13-page letter, Justice Shah said: “The Court has been dismantled.”

“The 27th Amendment stands as a grave assault on the Constitution. It dismantles the Supreme Court, subjugates the judiciary to executive control, and strikes at the very heart of our constitutional democracy.”

He added: “I cannot uphold my oath inside a court deprived of its constitutional role. Resignation becomes the only honest expression of honouring my oath.” Justice Minallah’s resignation was even more haunting: “The Constitution that I swore to defend is no more… What is left of it is a mere shadow — one that breathes neither its spirit nor speaks the words of the people.”

Hitting out at his colleagues in the Supreme Court, he said that remaining on the bench would only legitimise the burial of the very constitutional order he had sworn to protect. Their resignations are not mere symbolic protests — they are alarms, warning that the constitutional structure has already collapsed. Senior journalist Zahid Hussain and former Pakistani diplomat Ashraf Jahangir Qazi feel: “Pakistan is no longer merely experiencing constitutional strain. It is entering a full-fledged constitutional crisis.” Hussain is of the opinion that never in Pakistan’s tumultuous history has parliament itself mutilated the Constitution as severely as it has done now. Military dictators — Zia, Musharraf — tore up the document or suspended it, but they did not attempt to re-engineer its foundations from within. This time, however, a Parliament with a questionable mandate has — under palpable pressure — rewritten the basic structure of the 1973 Constitution, he added.

Qazi went even further: “The Constitution has been amended to work against itself… Its basic structure has been demolished.” The reason for this outcry is that the amendment has introduced two transformative — and deeply destabilising — changes: First, the creation of a “Chief of Defence Forces” with lifetime immunity. The army chief — now Field Marshal Asim Munir — has full command over the army, navy, and air force, with the potential extension of another five-year term, making civilian leadership constitutionally subordinate. Second, the establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has significantly sidelined the Supreme Court, which now has limited jurisdiction. It will be confined to hearing civil and criminal cases.

All constitutional interpretation — and thus all political power — moves to the FCC, likely shaped by the executive and military establishment.

This, as Hussain says, is “the complete demolition of judicial independence.” Qazi was more blunt in an interview with an Indian YouTube channel. He said: “We are witnessing the constitutionalisation of one-man rule.” He said that while previous military coups suspended the Constitution, the current amendment “amends the Constitution to work against itself.” “This is not martial law outside the Constitution — it is martial law inside the Constitution. Pakistan is moving from de facto military dominance to de jure one-man rule.” Former Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, Qazi Faez Isa and Asif Saeed Khosa, had also warned against diluting the powers of the Supreme Court. Justice Qazi Faez Isa had repeatedly warned that separating the Supreme Court’s constitutional and appellate roles would “destroy judicial coherence.” He criticised efforts to create courts beholden to the executive and warned that any amendment undermining judicial independence violates the “basic structure” of the Constitution.

Justice Khosa stressed that the judiciary must remain the “ultimate arbiter between citizen and state.” He repeatedly cautioned that immunity for officials and concentration of power in military hands would destabilise the constitutional order. He said: “If the courts fail, the Constitution falls; when the Constitution falls, the state collapses.” Qazi was asked whether he still stood by his earlier description (about the 26th Amendment) of it being “one of the blackest days, if not the blackest day” in Pakistan’s constitutional history, and whether the 27th was even worse. He replied: “Oh yes, I do stand by them.” Qazi warned that the changes open “a new chapter of political instability” at a time when Pakistan is already grappling with economic collapse, terrorism, and regional tensions.

Whether Pakistani society — its lawyers, its judges, its media, its youth, and its political opposition — will accept this burial of civilian supremacy remains the most urgent question facing Pakistan today.

Views expressed are personal. The writer has worked in senior editorial positions for many renowned international publications