Impact On Democracy
The VIII Amendment was first used by General Zia-ul-Haq to dismiss the government elected technocrat Prime minister Khan Junejo on alleged corruption cases, though General Zia developed serious matters of authority with the Prime minister who wanted to decrease the authoritative role of General Zia. During the period of 1988 until 1996, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan made an extensive use of the VIII Amendment and the Article 58 2(b), which granted the discretionary power to dissolve the National Assembly mentioned in the previous section. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan overused and abused his powers to dismiss the elected governments of former Prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan first used the VIII Amendment on August 6, 1990 against Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on alleged cases of nepotism and the corruption. In 1993, President Ishaq Khan again used this Amendment to dismiss the people elected government of Prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. In the second instance, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was reinstated as Prime Minister by the Supreme Court, but the resulting stalemate ended with the resignations of both Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the Parliament of Pakistan. The use of Article 58 2(b) was almost exclusively justified by the President as necessary, for the removal of corrupt governments that, it was asserted, had lost the confidence of the people. Elections were held each time that caused the ruling party to lose its majority or plurality in the National Assembly. It was again used in 1996 by President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari against his own party leader Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in November 1996.
In 1997, the XIII Amendment (Thirteenth Amendment) to the constitution of Pakistan was passed, stripping the President of the power to dissolve the National Assembly and call for new elections, effectively reducing the Presidency to a ceremonial figurehead.
Pakistan's democracy provides no means for the people to directly recall members of Parliament before the end of their terms. Consequently, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments had the effect of removing the institutional Checks and Balances on the Prime Minister's power, by giving him or her immunity from being legally dismissed. The power of the President's office was partially restored by the Seventeenth Amendment. The power to dissolve the National Assembly and dismiss the Prime Minister is now subject to Supreme Court approval. In 2010, the XVIII (Eighteenth Amendment) to the Constitution of Pakistan was passed by Parliament of Pakistan reverting the 17th Amendment at an effective and immediate course.
Read more about this topic: Eighth Amendment To The Constitution Of Pakistan
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