Pakistan Army owns the country — 27th Amendment to make it official today

For decades, it has been an open secret that the Pakistan 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, appointments to the armed forces, and state-centre relations.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that Article 243, which governs the military, is being amended as “defence requirements have changed”.

Article 243 states that “the Federal Government shall have control and command of the Armed Forces”.

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It further states that 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 the chiefs of the Pakistani army, navy and air force.

Sources have told CNN-News18 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 scenes, the amendment would give the army chief a constitutional mandate to do so openly.

Sources also said the bill would formalise the post of field marshal with a five-year tenure, placing it on par with the prime minister and president — effectively removing the constitutional fiction of the military functioning under civilian government.

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Sources have said that the bill will pass and become law in a couple of weeks.

Munir to be Pakistan’s czar

Sources told CNN-News18 that the 27th Amendment would institutionalise the civil-military hybrid in Pakistan and hand it a formal role in governance.

According to sources, these are the main security-related amendments proposed in the bill:

• Establishment of the office of ‘Field Marshal of Pakistan’ with a five-year tenure, similar to the terms of the prime minister and president

• Empowering 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

• Providing immunity to the field marshal from legal or political challenges

• Fixing the tenure of service chiefs at five years

• Amending the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, to overhaul the army’s command structure — potentially removing the office of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and creating a new post of 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 scenes 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 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.