The Role of 18th Amendment in Democracy of Pakistan

Abstract

After the 2008 elections, an elected democratic government gave Pakistan
another chance to consolidate its fragile democracy. The years (2008-
2018) have seen significant constitutional amendments with far-reaching
effects A total of eight constitutional amendments have been made in 2008
and 2018, including the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first,
twentieth, third, twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth. All these constitutional
amendments played a role in restoring the parliamentary structure of the
1973 constitution. The 8th and 17th Amendments to the Constitution were
introduced during the military rule, most of which were unanimously
repealed by Parliament. The most significant and historic achievements of
the amendment between 2008 and 2018 were the empowerment of the
provinces, the empowerment of the legislative branch, the creation of an
independent election commission, the establishment of caretaker
governments, and the military to combat terrorism. The establishment of
courts was to allow delimitation inclusion of constituencies and Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before the
2018 general elections. The constitutional amendments in constitution,
1973 of Pakistan, specially, the 18th
constitutional amendment has
played big role for democratization during 2008-2018 in Pakistan
which has strengthened democracy and paved the way for the supremacy
of the parliament at same time. Democracy is a system of government that
supports the broad participation of the people in government and also
promotes the views of citizens to smooth society. Democracy is the
government of the people. The system of democracy is the one of the best
democracies in the word. The people of Pakistan are not unawareness
about the system of democracy in Pakistan. In the constitutional history of
Pakistan, there have been many civilian and military dictators who have
refused to work under the constitution and run their own governments
because parliament is the basic institution of democracy. Parliamentary
democracy in Pakistan has collapsed four times. The political aspirations
of the military generals the various constitutional models and the ThirdAmendment to the 1973 Constitution (8th and 17th) distorted
parliamentary democracy by denying parliamentary autonomy and the
rights of the people. After the transfer of power from the military to
civilian rule in 2008, it strengthened parliamentary democracy, provincial
autonomy, and the judiciary, and the role of democracy in ensuring the
independence of the Election Commission and a solid state. After coming
to power under the PPP, the government restored the parliamentary spirit
of the Constitution through the 18th Amendment. After days of
deliberation and consensus by a committee representing all parties of
Pakistan in Parliament, the 18th Amendment has cleared the Constitution
by removing undemocratic additions and deletions.