THE ROLE OF EIGHTEENTH CONSTITUTIONAL

AMENDMENT IN STRENGTHENING DMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN:

THEORY AND PRACTICE

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Researcher

Muhammad Haris Khan

Reg No: 136-FFS/BSPS/F16

Supervisor

Muhammad Shabbir

Department of Politics and IR

Faculty of Social Sciences

International Islamic University Islamabad,Pakistan

2018
 THE ROLE OF EIGHTEENTH CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT IN STRENGTHENING DMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN:
THEORY AND PRACTICE
BY

Muhammad Haris Khan

Introduction
The Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan was passed by both the Houses of
Parliament and received the assent of the President of Pakistan on 19 April, 20101. It was seen as
a landmark for the restoration of the parliamentary federation and strengthening democratic
system in Pakistan. The Eighteenth Amendment amended, substituted, omitted and added 102
Articles in the Constitution of Pakistan. The most prominent among them are the restoration of
executive powers of elected prime minister and sovereignty of Parliament, providing greater
provincial autonomy and changing the archaic name of ‘North West Frontier Province’ to
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa2.

From the day of Independence, the people of Pakistan struggled for the Parliamentary and
Federal system in Pakistan. But this struggle was halted and reversed four times by Military
dictators in the seventy years history of Pakistan, Thus, Democracy, as defined by Abraham
Lincoln ‘the rule of the people, for the people and by the people’, faced serious challenges due to
direct and indirect intervention by Military dictators.

The Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan, therefore, was passed in this sense in
order to stop the direct and indirect military intervention in the Government of Pakistan and
attain the ideals of a Federal, Islamic, Democratic, Parliamentary and modern progressive
welfare state, where citizen’s rights are secured and Provinces have greater autonomy and
equitable share in the Federation3.

As there exist strong relationship between Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment and

Democracy in Pakistan, therefore, this research will analyze this relationship and will show the
extent to which Democracy has been strengthened due to Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment
theoretically and will make it more interesting by analyzing practical grounds for this
relationship. This research will provide the reader with the conceptual and practical analysis of
Democracy, Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment, and their relationship in Pakistan.

1
The Gazette of Pakistan, Extraordinary Published by Authority, Islamabad, April 20, 2010.
2
Haris Gazdar, “Democracy in Pakistan: The chasm”, Economic and Political Weekly, 45, no.22, (May 29-June 4,
2010), 10.
3
The Gazette of Pakistan, Extraordinary Published by Authority, Islamabad, April 20, 2010.
Problem Statement
The Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment faces serious threats and challenges from
undemocratic forces, especially military establishment. The efforts are under way for the rolling
back of Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment, which puts in danger the Parliamentary and
Federal system, and hence democracy, in Pakistan. In order to secure and strengthen the
Parliamentary, federal and democratic system in Pakistan, a conceptual and theoretical
understanding of the role of Eighteenth Amendment in strengthening democracy is
indispensable. Also, analyzing the practical implementation of Eighteenth Constitutional
Amendment is very important in order to understand the gap between theory and practice.

Hypothesis
It is hypothesized that Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment strengthened democracy in
Pakistan in theory, but due to the lack of its practical implementation, Pakistan did not realize
and attain the ideals of true democracy.

Research Questions
1. Did Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment strengthened democracy in Pakistan
theoretically?
2. Did Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment strengthened democracy in Pakistan
practically?

Literature Review
A great deal of literature has been written about Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment and its
impact on democracy in Pakistan. But there is a lack of systematic literature that engulf the
theoretical as well as practical analysis of Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment and its impact
on democracy in Pakistan. The written literature is ambiguous about to explain and analyze the
gap between theoretical concepts and practical implementation of Eighteenth Constitutional
Amendment.

Mahboob Hussain and Rizwan Ullah Kokab in their research paper “Eighteenth Amendment in
the Constitution of Pakistan: Success and Controversies”4, presented a well established

4
Mahboob Hussain and Rizwan Ullah Kokab, “Eighteenth Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan:
Success and Controversies”, Asian Social Science, 8, no. 1, January 2012.
explanation of Eighteenth Amendment and its impact on democracy on theoretical grounds.
Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Waqar and Muhammad Arshad explained the restoration of
parliamentary democracy in their research paper “Revitalization of Parliamentary Democracy in
Pakistan Under Eighteenth Amendment”5. Catherine Yang in his Article “Ending Dictatorship:
Pakistan Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment”6, greatly emphasized the relationship between
Eighteenth Amendment and democracy in Pakistan. What is missed by the past literature is
systematic and coherent study of practical impact of Eighteenth Amendment on democracy in
Pakistan.

Research Methodology
The research would mainly be of qualitative in nature where the Causal approach of research
would be used in support of hypothetical statement and for finding answers of research
questions. I will research the primary sources, such as autobiographies of some influential
politicians and interviews of some political scientists. Secondary sources like books, journals,
magazines would be used in abundance. References will also be made to tertiary sources, that is,
newspaper articles, TV coverage and web links etc.

5
Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Waqar and Muhammad Arshad, “Revitalization of Parliamentary Democracy in
Pakistan under Eighteenth Amendment”, January 2014, http://www.researchgate.net/publication/271262343,
Accessed on October 28, 2018.
6
Catherine Yang, “Ending Dictatorship: Pakistan’s Eighteenth Amendment”, Harvard International Review, 32, no.
2,(Summer 2010), http://www.jstore.org/stable/42763365, Accessed on October 31, 2018.