Overview
- The federal cabinet is scheduled to consider the initial 27th Amendment draft today, with the government planning to lay the bill before the Senate soon after approval.
- The reported draft would create a nine-member Constitutional Court, raise top judges’ retirement age to 70, curb the president and prime minister’s role in judicial appointments, and route Election Commission deadlocks to the judicial commission.
- Defence changes include amending Article 243 and granting constitutional status to a Field Marshal role, with officials framing the package as improving inter‑services coordination.
- Fiscal and devolution provisions under discussion include adding 10% to the Centre’s share from the provinces’ NFC allocation and shifting education and health to federal control; the PPP has drawn a red line against altering provincial shares.
- The government believes it has the National Assembly votes but lacks a guaranteed two‑thirds in the Senate, as the prime minister and National Assembly speaker court allies, MQM-P presses for local government empowerment, and PTI rejects the package outright.