Kuch Khaas: Babar Sattar talks on the 18th Amendment

Описание: "How drastically has the 18th Constitutional Amendment changed our fundamental law, the rights granted to each citizen, the relationship between state institutions and the manner in which the center and the provinces interact?

Has our constitution now become a perfect document or has the amendment generated fresh controversies that Pakistan could do without at this time?

If there remains a yawning gap between the theory and the practice of law, does amending the constitution make any difference to
the lives of ordinary people?

Even if this is a change for the better, will
fixing a deformed constitution turn the electricity back on or fix Pakistan perennial problem of mal-governance?

And if the country is going to the dogs, is there a point worrying about a constitution that gets tossed out by the Khakis every few years in any event?"


The 18th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan was ratified by the Parliament in April this year. Its provisions include the removal of most of 17th amendment and the LFO introduced by General Musharraf, changing of the name of NWFP to Khyber-Pakhtoonkhuwa, retracting the Presidential powers for dismissal of assembly, forming a judicial commission for the appointment of judges, and removing General Zia ul Haq's name from the Constitution, amongst many others things.

The 18th Amendment has been termed a historic achievement for the strengthening of parliamentary democracy in Pakistan, and a landmark feat of the PPP government. It has also elicited severe criticism from political opponents, and commentators all over the country.

Eminent lawyer, political analyst and commentator, Babar Sattar, will aim to demystify the 18th Amendment for the audience. He will lay out its provisions, and discuss the benefits and short-comings of the constitutional amendment.

The audience is encouraged to bring their questions, as we would like this to be an interactive session. We will be following up this session with a number of panel discussions on specific aspects of the 18th Amendment in the following weeks.


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Babar Sattar is a partner at AJURIS, Advocates & Corporate Counsel,in Islamabad, where his focus is on corporate and commercial law. Previously, he was based in New York where he worked for Fried Frank LLP. He is qualified to practice in Pakistan and New York and is also a member of the Executive Committee of New York Bar Association International Law Practice Section. He is also member of the Pakistan Rhodes Scholar Selection Committee.

Babar read Jurisprudence at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholar after getting an MSc in International Relations from Quaid-e-Azam University. He also holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School.

Babar has published articles in respected scholarly journals and also writes a weekly op-ed column for The News on issues related to constitutional rights, democracy and governance. Working at The News before moving to law, Babar supervised the op-ed pages and wrote regularly on issues related to politics, security and the law. He is a strong proponent of rule of law, independence of judiciary and restoration of democracy and has, through his writings, propounded these notions voraciously. He has participated in more than a dozen conferences/presentations speaking on issues as wide-ranging as global governance, WTO, commercial arbitration, civil-military relations in Asia.