Since the regime change of April 2022, Pakistan has been undergoing a transformation more subtle — and more dangerous — than any past martial law. The military establishment, aided by the dynastic political elites of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has devised a system of “constitutional martial law”: using amendments, ordinances, and manipulated legislation to legalize their control.

Where once generals suspended the Constitution, now they rewrite it — line by line — to serve their interests. Through constitutional amendments, accountability rollbacks, electoral manipulation, and institutional capture, Pakistan’s hybrid regime has turned democracy into a façade while entrenching military dominance.

The role of certain judges within the higher judiciary has been central to legitimizing this new form of constitutional martial law. Instead of acting as guardians of the Constitution, some members of the superior courts have become instruments in its subversion. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s actions stand as key examples. His judgments and administrative decisions, particularly those that facilitated floor-crossing in Parliament, deprived the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of its bat electoral symbol and authorized the appointment of government officials as presiding officers, effectively dismantling the framework for free and fair elections. These moves ensured that electoral engineering could be conducted under the guise of legality.

By allowing the executive to penetrate the electoral process and by weakening judicial independence, such rulings provided a veneer of constitutional legitimacy to a de facto military-controlled system. The judiciary, once the final shield against authoritarian overreach, has now — through selective judgments and silence — become a collaborator in the mutilation of Pakistan’s democratic order.

Passed in October 2024, the 26th Constitutional Amendment represents perhaps the most radical assault on judicial independence in Pakistan’s history. It reshaped the method of appointing and removing judges, curtailed the judiciary’s autonomy, and handed decisive control to Parliament, which, in practice, means the military-backed executive.

Key features of the amendment include:

Constitutional scholars have called it a civilianized judicial coup. By altering Articles 175A and 209, the amendment replaced judicial independence with political obedience — an unprecedented encroachment by the executive.

The passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment marked one of the most controversial episodes in Pakistan’s recent legislative history. What was presented as a procedural reform turned into a calculated maneuver to reshape the judiciary and political system under military oversight. The groundwork for this amendment was laid when Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s Supreme Court ruling effectively legitimized floor-crossing, reversing decades of legal and political precedent that treated defection as a violation of party discipline and voter mandate. This decision opened the door for engineering parliamentary majorities through coercion and inducement, creating an artificial consensus for the amendment.

In the weeks leading up to the vote, reports emerged of Opposition MNAs being harassed, abducted, or bribed to ensure the bill’s smooth passage — a classic replay of Pakistan’s dark political manipulation. Parliamentary sessions were held under a suspiciously managed quorum, and voices demanding debate or........

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