374:. President Khan first used the VIII Amendment on August 6, 1990, against 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 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 Khan and Sharif. 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.
432:
non-party elections of 1985 and then
President Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. Prior to the 1985 election, over a period of six years, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq had already made numerous amendments to the Constitution of 1973 through various Constitution Amendment Orders, the most significant being the Revival of Constitution of 1973 Order (President's Order No. 14 of 1985). That Order had in fact granted to the President even more discretion in dissolving the National Assembly. Clause (2) added to Article 58 by that Order stated: "The President may also dissolve the National Assembly in his discretion where, in his opinion, an appeal to the electorate is necessary." Note that the test of the constitutional functioning of the government was not required for the President to dissolve the National Assembly.
28:
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572:
404:'s power, by giving him or her immunity from being legally dismissed. However, an indirectly elected President’s unfettered power to dismiss a directly elected government had been considered excessive by the Parliament, which thus acted to remove it, restoring ultimate authority to the Prime Minister, as is the case in most democracies following the
431:
In general discourse, the Eighth
Amendment has become synonymous with Article 58 2(b), which in turn is considered to be the provision that introduced the presidential power to dissolve the National Assembly. However, the Eighth Amendment was in fact a compromise between the Parliament elected in the
439:
It is not clear whether this explicit parliamentary approval was required for Gen. Zia's amendments to obtain legal validity, but it appears that Gen. Zia considered it desirable to obtain this approval and thus chose to compromise by watering down some of the presidential powers his amendments had
435:
It must also be stated that the Eighth
Amendment also caused the elected Parliament to endorse all Orders made by Gen. Zia-ul-Haq by substituting the Article 270A introduced by President's Order No. 14 of 1985 by a slightly modified version, preserving the text declaring the validity of all of his
324:
a vote of no-confidence having been passed against the Prime
Minister, no other member of the National Assembly is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the member’s of the National Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, as ascertained in a session of the
297:) if, in his or her opinion, "a situation has arisen in which the Government of the Federation cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and an appeal to the electorate is necessary." (
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pledged to abolish the amendment in her election manifesto. The amendment stayed on the books however, because she did not have a sufficient number of seats in 1988 and again in 1993. From 1988 to 1996,
366:
made extensive use of the eight amendment and the
Article 58 2(b) to dissolve the National Assembly. President Khan used the amendment to dismiss the elected governments of Prime Ministers
333:
a situation has arisen in which the
Government of the Federation cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and an appeal to the electorate is necessary.
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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
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Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (2) of
Article 48, the President may also dissolve the National Assembly in his discretion where, in his opinion,
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to dismiss the elected Prime
Minister's government. These powers included the right, expressed in sub-section 2(b) inserted into Article 58, to dissolve the
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The Eighth
Amendment, besides making a number of other changes to the Constitution, introduced the following clause into Article 58 of the Constitution:
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for alleged corruption in May 1988. The prime minister had wanted to roll back Zia's authority. In 1988,
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actions, including his takeover of July 5, 1977 and subsequent constitutional amendments.
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members of Parliament before the end of their terms. Consequently, the Thirteenth and
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was passed by Parliament of Pakistan, repealing the 17th Amendment.
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The power of the president's office was partially restored by the
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Pakistan's democracy provides no means for the people to directly
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in 1985 and the law stayed on the books until its repeal in 1997.
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261:. The eighth amendment was drafted and later enforced by the
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257:The bill was passed in the absence of the elected
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228:Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan
325:National Assembly summoned for the purpose; or
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396:had the effect of removing the institutional
234:: آئین پاکستان میں آٹھویں ترمیم) allowed the
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817:Military government of Pakistan (1977–1988)
486:Democracy in Pakistan: Crises and Conflicts
807:Amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan
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128:Amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan
488:. Har-Anand Publications. pp. 28–29.
16:Amendment to the Pakistani constitution
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347:first used the amendment to dismiss
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563:(written 1949, incorporated 1985)
779:Provisional Constitutional Order
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427:Eighth Amendment as a compromise
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277:'s system of government from a
273:. The eighth amendment changed
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1:
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283:assembly-independent republic
242:and elected governments. The
238:to unilaterally dissolve the
123:1985 parliamentary elections
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774:Legal Framework Order, 2002
769:Legal Framework Order, 1970
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173:A Case of Exploding Mangoes
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167:Shafi-ur-Rehman Commission
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450:Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization
527:Constitution of Pakistan
299:Constitution of Pakistan
252:Constitution of Pakistan
35:This article is part of
419:approval. In 2010, the
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279:parliamentary democracy
190:: Picture, Sound, Video
484:Kalim Bahadur (1998).
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413:Seventeenth Amendment
394:Fourteenth Amendments
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106:President of Pakistan
455:Separation of powers
421:Eighteenth Amendment
379:Thirteenth Amendment
352:Mohammad Khan Junejo
398:checks and balances
339:Effect on democracy
267:military government
145:Ojhri Camp disaster
44:Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
406:Westminster system
364:Ghulaam Ishaq Khan
70:Zia administration
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37:a series about
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789:* Not passed
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88:Islamization
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812:1985 in law
269:of General
801:Categories
717:XXV (2017)
581:Amendments
471:References
383:figurehead
345:Zia-ul-Haq
271:Zia-ul-Haq
259:Parliament
113:Presidency
60:Early life
440:granted.
361:President
236:President
444:See also
343:General
275:Pakistan
248:Pakistan
77:Policies
534:By year
400:on the
188:Gallery
762:Orders
735:XXVIII
390:recall
295:Senate
281:to an
98:Ziaism
729:XXVII
702:XXIII
677:XVIII
561:Annex
159:Death
753:XXXI
741:XXIX
723:XXVI
707:XXIV
697:XXII
672:XVII
651:XIII
624:VIII
556:1973
551:1962
546:1956
541:1935
370:and
305:Text
232:Urdu
226:The
133:VIII
747:XXX
712:XXV
692:XXI
682:XIX
667:XVI
656:XIV
646:XII
619:VII
599:III
331:(b)
322:(a)
314:(2)
246:of
803::
687:XX
661:XV
640:XI
629:IX
614:VI
604:IV
594:II
385:.
749:*
743:*
737:*
731:*
725:*
719:*
663:*
642:*
635:X
631:*
609:V
589:I
519:e
512:t
505:v
265:-
230:(
215:e
208:t
201:v
138:X
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