View source for Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan

{{Short description|Pakistani constitutional amendment}}{{Use Pakistani English|date=January 2019}}
{{Nawaz Sharif sidebar}}

The '''Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan''' ([[Urdu language|Urdu]]: '''آئین پاکستان میں چودہویں ترمیم''') was an amendment to the [[Constitution of Pakistan]] passed in 1997, during the government of [[Prime Minister]] [[Nawaz Sharif]], leader of the [[Pakistan Muslim League (N)|Pakistan Muslim League]] party. It subjected [[Members of Parliament]] to very strict [[party discipline]]. Party leaders received unlimited power to dismiss any of their legislators from Parliament if they spoke or voted against their party.<ref>Husain Haqqani, ''Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military'' (2005), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, page 244.</ref> The fourteenth amendment to the constitution of Pakistan was to prevent the switching of parties to form a strong coalition government or to become a strong opposition.  

Since Nawaz' party had an overwhelming majority in [[Parliament of Pakistan|Parliament]], the Fourteenth Amendment effectively prevented the Prime Minister from being dismissed by a [[Motion of No Confidence|''no confidence'']] vote.  A few months earlier, the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan|Thirteenth Amendment]] took away the [[President of Pakistan|President]]'s [[reserve power]] to remove a Prime Minister by dissolving Parliament and calling new elections.  The amendments removed nearly all [[checks and balances]] on the Prime Minister's power, since there was virtually no way he could be legally dismissed.

In Pakistan, once legislators are elected to national or provincial assemblies, there is no way for the people to [[Recall election|recall]] them before the end of their five-year terms. In the past, this has contributed to a sense of immunity on the part of members of the ruling party, and to rampant [[Political corruption|corruption]] among leading politicians.  The Fourteenth Amendment increased this perception, and contributed to the overwhelming popular support for General [[Pervez Musharraf]]'s coup in 1999.  The [[Supreme Court of Pakistan|Supreme Court]] subsequently validated the coup on the grounds that the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments created a situation for which there was no constitutional remedy.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Constitution of Pakistan}}

[[Category:Amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan|14]]

[[Category:1997 in law]]