Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan: Success and Controversies

Abstract

The paper is a critical analysis of the 18th Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan. The Amendment made after months of deliberations and consensus of a committee represented by all political parties in the parliament has, as claimed by its authors, cleaned the Constitution with the later undemocratic additions and deletions. The paper examines how the Amendment has undertaken different issues concerning to the strength of democracy, institutions and federation of Pakistan. The paper observes the concerns, purposes and impacts of not less than all changes made in the Constitution in the domains of democracy, civil rights, strength of parliament, provincial autonomy, decrease in the powers of President, political parties, and appointment of election commission and judiciary. Having observed its achievements an overview of the controversies, which arose in the result of the Amendment, has been taken.