Introduction
The constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 2003 was an
amendment to the constitution of Pakistan passed in December 2003, after over a
year of political wrangling between supporters and opponents of Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf. This amendment made many changes to Pakistan’s
constitution. Many of these change dealt with the office of the President and
the reversal of the effects of the Thirteenth Amendment.
Seventeenth Amendment
Due to following grounds, it can be opined that seventeenth
amendment had produced some effects on parliamentary democracy in Pakistan.
1. Vote of Confidence
This amendment has provided an opportunity to a non-elected
President to become an elected President and to hold office of President of
Pakistan for next five years. Through this amendment, an electoral college,
which consisted of both houses of Parliament and all Provincial Assemblies, was
created and then non-elected President was to win vote of confidence of such
electoral college to become elected President of Pakistan. In this way, this
amendment had affected parliamentary democracy in Pakistan.
2. Legal Framework Order, (LFO) 2002
This amendment paved a way to incorporate Legal Framework
Order of 2002 into constitution. As Legal Framework Order consisted of various
orders of a non-elected and unconstitutional President, therefore this
amendment allowed to incorporate non-constitutional orders into constitution of
Pakistan. In this way, this amendment had affected parliamentary democracy.
3. Dissolution of
National Assembly & A Provincial Assembly
This amendment had
again empowered President of Pakistan to dissolve National Assembly. Even same
power was also regained by Governor of every province to dissolve Provincial
Assembly. In this way, this amendment had affected parliamentary democracy in
Pakistan.
4. Annulment of
Article 152-A
This amendment had
annulled an important article of constitution: Article 152-A, which was about
National Security Council, was omitted. In this way, this amendment had
affected parliamentary democracy in Pakistan.
Conclusion
To conclude, it can
be stated that there emerged an apprehension of political conflict between
British Parliament and British king/queen after constitutional development
especially with Glorious Revolution. However, such apprehension vanished with
the passage of time due to effective
conventions and influential acts of Parliament. Similarly, Pakistan has
experienced a king of political conflict between its President and Prime
Minister. Thirteenth amendment and seventeenth amendment were consequences of
such political conflict. However, some of recent amendments have made Prime
Minister more powerful that President. These amendments have aimed to finish
political conflict between these two constitutional heads.
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