A Dangerous Precedent

In addition to these, the judiciary in most democratically robust countries acts as a check on the authority not just of the executive but also the armed forces. In the Indian context, the judiciary under Articles 32 and 226 exercises this power through the doctrine of judicial review.

However, in Pakistan, the military is the judge, jury and executioner. It listens to none and is bound by its own rules, which it frames and breaks of its own volition. That said, it is essential to analyse the nature of this Pakistani activity.

In Pakistan, the military is the judge, jury and executioner. It listens to none and is bound by its own rules, which it frames and breaks of its own volition

A Doomed Constitutional Exercise

The legislature has been vested with the power of constitutional amendments to run the country smoothly and improve governance. Unfortunately, in Pakistan’s case, it appears that the legislative arm of the government has become a mere rubber stamp. The highly controversial 27th amendment to the Pakistani constitution is a sign of the precipitous decline of the institutional integrity of the Pakistani parliament.

The amendment has the following features: first, it created the new post of Chief of Defence Forces, overriding the existing Chief of Joint Staff of the Pakistani armed forces. Second, it granted lifetime immunity to high officials like the CDF and the President, among others. Third, it created a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), giving the legislature and executive significant powers in making appointments and transfers to the judiciary.

These features are bound to send shivers down the spine of every democratically minded citizen in the world. To make it worse, giving the executive and legislature powers to determine the issue of appointments and transfers of judicial officers is bound to throttle the last voice of hope in the Pakistani polity.

With the remaining two branches of the government being firmly under the thumb of the ISI-military nexus, it seems that Pakistan, which didn’t have much democratic credentials to begin with, will continue to slide further down the democratic scale.

The highly controversial 27th Amendment to the Pakistani constitution is a sign of the precipitous decline of the institutional integrity of the Pakistani parliament

The Curious Case of the Pakistani Psyche

What is all the more baffling is the fact that there was little to no debate about such an important constitutional exercise in the country. Ironically, citizens heaped praise on the country’s constitutional institutions for further centralisation of the military authority. This reveals the following aspects of the psyche of the Pakistani nation:

First, the Pakistani military is the undisputed master of the country. It is also an expert at playing mind games when it comes to its citizens. Notwithstanding the drubbing it faced at the hands of India during Operation Sindoor, the Pakistani military, through a combination of influence operations and narrative management, succeeded in twisting the narrative in its favour vis-à-vis the Pakistani citizenry during and after the hostilities. In doing so, it once again invoked the ‘Islam under danger’ & ‘Pakistan under siege’ narratives to convince the Pakistani citizens that strengthening the institutional authority of the existing ‘Field Marshal’ in general and undermining the authority of the judiciary in particular would be beneficial for the country.

Second, the country appears to be a prisoner of a flawed historical perception. Considering itself the ideological inheritor of the grand Mughal heritage, Pakistan, as a nation, sees values such as tolerance, mutual coexistence, dialogue and healing touch as antithetical to the soul of the country. The very meaning of the word Pakistan, ‘land of the pure’, coined by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, is an anathema not just to the country’s minorities but to all of humanity.

To make itself relevant to the world, Pakistan continues to raise the bogey of ‘India as our eternal enemy’. But in pursuing this course of action, the military in general and the Pakistani masses in particular are harming themselves

Third, political psychologists argue that in order to maintain a modicum of legitimacy, a country needs to create enemies — real or fictional. In this context, the Pakistani nation, in order to make itself relevant to the rest of the world, continues to raise the bogey of ‘India as our eternal enemy’. But in pursuing this course of action, the military in general and the Pakistani masses in particular are harming themselves.

In conclusion, it can be argued that the constitutional amendment and its broad support from every nook and corner of Pakistan reveal that the country’s democratic decline is not an aberration; it is a part of Pakistan’s history and will continue to shape its legacy. In this case, it is worth remembering the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana’s wise words, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This is precisely what appears to be happening with Pakistan.