Pakistan’s parliament has rarely looked as diminished as it did on the night it rushed through the 27th Constitutional Amendment, an extraordinary move that entrenched Field Marshal Asim Munir’s authority while hollowing out the very institution meant to hold the military accountable.

The scene itself was telling: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was not even in the country when the amendment bill was approved by his cabinet. He was in Azerbaijan on an official visit, joining the cabinet meeting through video link as his coalition raced to pass the most consequential military-empowering legislation in decades.

The symbolism was impossible to miss. The civilian head of government was a remote participant, while the legislation being approved in his name dramatically reduced the autonomy of the office he holds. The 27th constitutional amendment was pushed through with unusual speed underlining the political pressure behind it.

Lawmakers were handed a bill that effectively rewrote Pakistan’s civil-military relationship: it granted the army chief unprecedented powers over the navy and air force, formalised his expanded role in national security and economic decision-making, and created lifetime legal immunity for him and his top brass. What made the episode even more striking was that many parliamentarians admitted privately they had seen the text only shortly before the session began. Yet the bill sailed through both houses with minimal debate, even though it stripped parliament of oversight mechanisms that had existed since the 1973........

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