Constitutions in Pakistan rarely die in flames. They survive the heat, only to be quietly rewritten by those who once swore to protect them. The 27th constitutional amendment keeps the book unburned, yet edits the chapters that shaped the Republic's balance of power. It builds a Federal Constitutional Court, a polished institution born of reform's promise. Beneath that veneer lies a redesign of power itself. The Supreme Court, once the last refuge of dissent, is reduced to an appellate archive, while the new court decides what is constitutional, what is lawful, and what may no longer be questioned.

It is the most sophisticated capture of the Constitution in our history, a coup written in calligraphy.

The harder question though is what the judiciary has done to the state as much as what the state has done to the judiciary. For many, this moment stirs resentment more than sympathy. The citizen asks, almost bitterly: what claim do these judges have on our defence? What light were they shining before it was snuffed out, that we should now grieve its absence? They brought down elected leaders, sanctified unconstitutional power, and hesitated when history demanded resolve. In their conviction lay a moral absolutism that mistook authority for virtue. It is difficult to summon outrage for their loss when the echo of their own overreach still lingers.

When one looks back honestly, the slow death of judicial independence was not inflicted overnight. It was assisted by a political class that found it convenient to use judges as weapons rather than walls. Each time a government........

© The Express Tribune