Bilawal declares Constitution ‘completed’ with 27th Amendment

• PPP seeks equal provincial representation in FCC.
• Senate passes 27th Amendment with 64 votes.
• Bilawal declares Constitution “completed” with amendment.
  

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday declared the Constitution “completed” with the introduction of the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

His remarks come as the ruling coalition passed the 27th Constitutional Amendment Bill in the Senate, with the aim of reforming the military and judicial structures.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Sindh Wheat Growers Support Programme 2025 in Larkana, Bilawal said the PPP has long advocated for equal provincial representation in the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), similar to the Senate.

“There will be no compromise on the equal representation of provinces in the Constitutional Court,” he said. “There will be as many judges from Balochistan as from Sindh. There will be as many judges from Punjab as there will be from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”

The 27th Amendment was passed with 64 votes in the Senate after Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar presented the 59-clause Bill.

Apart from lawmakers from the ruling coalition, the Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Saifullah Abro and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Ahmed Khan cast a vote in favour of the amendment.

The constitutional amendment would introduce a new position, Chief of Defence Forces, as head of the armed forces.

The proposed amendment, in addition to the creation of the FCC, would also reduce certain powers of the Supreme Court, with some shifted to the proposed FCC.

The law minister, in the Bill’s text, said that the ruling coalition introduced the tweaks following proposals from political parties and various bar councils for the establishment of an FCC.

“The proposal stems from the increasing number of constitutional petitions being filed before the Supreme Court, which has significantly impacted the timely disposal of regular civil and criminal cases,” he said.

Tarar said that the amendment to Article 243 would improve the “procedural clarity and administrative structure of the armed forces”.