The Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), a multi-party opposition alliance, has announced a nationwide protest movement against the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment, hours after the government tabled it in the upper house of Parliament.
“Democratic institutions have been paralysed within Pakistan… the nation must step up against the [proposed] 27th Amendment,” Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said in a statement.
Abbas stated that the government was giving “even more power” to the “powerful” through the proposed constitutional tweaks.
Apart from MWM, the alliance also includes the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
PkMAP Chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said that the nationwide movement would begin from tomorrow (Sunday) night.
“From tomorrow night, our slogan will be ‘Long live democracy, down with dictatorship.’ Our third slogan will call for the release of [political] prisoners,” he said.
Through this movement, the alliance will show that the will of the people of Pakistan will be the final decision, he added.
Emphasising the Constitution’s importance for both the state and its citizens, Achakzai said the TTAP would ensure that it remains supreme.
The PkMAP chief said that the opposition alliance had no choice but to launch a protest movement following the government’s move, which, according to him, was “shaking the foundations of the Constitution”.
The announcement of a protest movement comes shortly after the federal government presented the 27th Constitutional Amendment in the Senate, seeking sweeping changes to military and judicial structures.
The proposed amendment — initiated by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with the support of most of its allies — was tabled in the Senate and sent to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice for discussion.
The amendment proposes a change in Article 243, seeking to abolish the “Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee” (CJCSC) position and introduce a new title, “Chief of Defence Forces”.
Other proposals include the establishment of a Federal Constitutional Court and revisions to the process of appointing high court judges.
The proposed amendment also aims to reduce the powers of the Supreme Court, with some authorities shifted to the proposed Constitutional Court, and immunity to the president from criminal proceedings for life.
