ISLAMABAD: The Senate Friday passed three key bills related to the armed forces, including the one seeking changes to the Army Act and resetting the tenure of the Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, after having been made the Chief of the Defence Forces (CDF).
Unlike the 27th Constitutional Amendment, the government required a simple majority for the passage of bills from the Senate.
The opposition’s demand for referring the bills to the House standing committee was rejected.
While the post of the leader of opposition is still vacant, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Barrister Syed Ali Zafar was also not around.
In addition to the Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2025, the Pakistan Air Force Amendment Bill 2025, the Pakistan Navy Amendment Bill 2025, and the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Amendment Bill 2025 were passed without holding debate. After the question hour, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Leader of the House Muhammad Ishaq Dar tabled the Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2025 and the Pakistan Air Force Amendment Bill 2025 on behalf of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif until he joined the session.
The defence minister moved the Pakistan Navy Amendment Bill 2025 whereas Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry tabled the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Amendment Bill 2025 on behalf of Law and Justice Minister Azam Tarar.
As some opposition members objected to the bills on seeing Ishaq Dar presenting the bills, he explained that the bills sought changes to the relevant laws in accordance with the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
The Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill seeks to replace the expression ‘chief of the army staff’ with ‘chief of the defence forces’ as per the 27th Amendment. Similarly, it suggests replacing the ‘Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee’ (CJCSC) with the ‘commander of the National Strategic Command’.
There is also an amendment to Section 8A of the Pakistan Army Act 1952, which says that provided that for the first appointment of the chief of the army staff concurrently the chief of the defence forces under paragraph (a) of Clause 4 of the Article 243 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the tenure under this section shall commence from the date of notification of the said office.
Likewise, another amendment concerns the appointment of commander of the NSC, which says, “The prime minister may, on the recommendation of the chief of the army staff concurrently the chief of the defence forces, appoint the commander of the National Strategic Command, from amongst generals in the Pakistan Army, for a tenure of three years”. The proposed amendment also authorises the prime minister to ‘reappoint the commander…for additional tenure of three years and/or extend the tenure(s)…up to three years’ on the recommendations of the chief of the defence forces.
It says the appointment, reappointment or extension of the commander of the National Strategic Command, or the exercise of discretion by the appointing authority in this regard, shall not be called into question before any court on any ground whatsoever’.
Another amendment reads, “The federal government may, on the recommendation of the chief of the army staff, concurrently the chief of the defence forces, and by order in writing, authorise the officer appointed as vice chief of the army staff or deputy chief of the army staff to exercise and perform such of the powers and functions vested in the chief of the army staff under any law, rules, regulations, orders or instructions for the time being in force as may be so specified.”
Amendments to the air force and navy laws include the elimination of the post of CJCSC from their documents. The Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill, 2025 envisages omission of sections 10D, 10E and 10F of the Pakistan Air Force Act, 1953 which relates to the appointment of PAF Chief as the CJCSC by the president on advice of the prime minister, tenure of the CJCSC, retirement and extension. The words ‘Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee’ have also been omitted in other sections of Pakistan Air Force Act.
Similarly, the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill, 2025 also provides for omission of Sections 14D, 14E and 14 F of the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Act, 1961 regarding appointment of the Naval Chief as the CJCSC by the president on prime minister’s advice, his tenure, extension and retirement. The word ‘‘Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee’ have also been omitted in other sections. Moreover, the amendment to the Supreme Court law paves the way for the elimination of the Constitutional Bench, which was formed under the 26th Amendment, giving way to the establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court.
Taking the floor, following the legislation, PMLN Senator Anusha Rehman wondered would the Supreme Judicial Council treat the retired judges as well as those, who had resigned alike and would the council take any action with regard to the alleged misconduct of certain judges in the last ten years.
Meanwhile, in a rare twist of events of its nature, the National Agri-trade and Food Safety Authority Bill, 2025 had to be deferred following multiple amendments made to it on the floor of the House, after having been cleared by the House standing committee concerned.
Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanvir Hussain moved the bill for consideration.
PPP parliamentary leader Sherry Rehman abruptly rose to point out that there was a big difference between the bill that came in the committee and the amendments made to it on the floor of the House.
She also signaled the party members to walk out from the Senate, as they could not vote for it without knowing about the details and prior information about it. “We cannot vote for this bill like this, said Sherry and asked PPP members to walk out.
“This is a bad tradition; whatever our party had put in it, it is not visible, and none of us, including the committee chairman, is aware of this,” she contended. She said the bill approval will be stopped because even the committee chair did not know about the bill and it was like the passage of a new bill.
Astonished by this situation, the chairman remarked that he was embarrassed as the bill was at the stage of approval following a lengthy procedure.
He then asked the house standing committee concerned chairman Syed Masroor Ahsan of PPP, who also expressed his ignorance about the amendments and noted that the relevant notice under rule 105 was also not given.
PPP’s Farooq H Naek also urged for deferring the bill. To this, the chairman deferred the bill while the minister also said sorry to the coalition partners but asked some of the protesting senators to be quiet; otherwise, he would also say what demands they had been making to him.