With the 27th constitutional amendment, Asim Munir will formalise his control of Pakistan. It will institutionalise the Field Marshal of Pakistani Army as the country’s czar — eroding whatever little role the civilian government has had in domains of security and foreign policies.
For decades, it has been an open secret that Pakistani Army runs the country. But now it could become a formal reality — thanks to the 27th Amendment.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government will table the 27th Amendment in the Senate on Friday. The draft has not yet been made public but senior ministers have indicated that the amendment concerns the armed forces, appointment to armed forces, and state-centre relations.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that Article 243 governing the military is being amended as “defence requirements have changed”.
Article 243 says “the Federal Government shall have control and command of the Armed Forces”.
The article further says the President of Pakistan, on the advice of the prime minister, has the power to appoint the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and chiefs of the Pakistani army, navy, and air force.
Sources have told CNN-News 18 that the bill would concentrate these decision-making and appointment powers in Article 243 with the field marshal. While army chiefs have almost always called the shots behind the curtains, now the army chief would have the constitutional mandate to do it openly.
Sources also said the bill would formalise the field marshal’s post with a five-year tenure and would put the post at par with the prime minister and president — effectively deleting the constitutional fiction of military functioning under the civilian government.
Munir to be Pakistan’s czar
Sources told CNN-News 18 that the 27th Amendment would institutionalise the civil-military hybrid in Pakistan and hand it a formal role in governance.
As per sources, these are the main security-related amendments propose in the bill:
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Establishment of the office of ‘Field Marshal of Pakistan’ with a five-year tenure just like five-year terms of the prime minister and President
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Empower the Field Marshal or Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) to appoint the chiefs of the army, air force, navy, and the ISI spy agency
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Providing immunity to the field marshal from legal or political challenges
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Fixing tenure of service chiefs at five years
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Amending the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, to overhaul of the army’s command structure and potentially removing the office of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee while creating a new post of the Vice Chief of Army Staff under the Field Marshal
Sources said these changes are intended to “stabilise Pakistan’s long-term governance framework” by formally recognising the military’s role in national policy — a system already operating in practice behind the curtains since 2022.
While the bill would bring institutional changes that will remain well after Munir, in the immediate future, the amendment would ensure his continuity and insulate him from any political volatility in the country, the report quoted officers as saying.
Separately, sources said that the Pakistani military has been seeking a long-term power arrangement to manage major resource-extraction projects and infrastructure investments, particularly in partnership with US and Chinese firms.
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