Constitutions

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Pakistan has had three constitutions (1956, 1962, 1973) and, per Past Paper MCQs (2022–2026) + 2027 Prep's own study-priority list, memorizing all amendments 1st–26th in order is the #1 highest-yield task in this whole subject. This page builds that table and connects it to Ideology & History (the events that forced each amendment) and Geography of Pakistan (the territories — GB, AJK, FATA — whose status each amendment touched).

The three constitutions at a glance

Constitution	System of government	Legislature	Fate
1956	Parliamentary, federal	Unicameral National Assembly, East–West parity seats	Abrogated 1958 (Ayub Khan's martial law)
1962	Presidential	Unicameral National Assembly; indirect "Basic Democracies" electoral college	Abrogated 1969 (Yahya Khan's martial law)
1973	Parliamentary, federal (still in force)	Bicameral — National Assembly (lower) + Senate (upper)	Suspended twice (1977, 1999) but never abrogated; amended 26 times to date

Bogra Formula (1953) — the pre-constitution compromise

Proposed a bicameral legislature with the lower house called the "House of People" (2026 Q12). Never implemented, but its bicameral logic reappears in the 1973 Constitution's National Assembly + Senate structure. Full context on Ideology & History.

Amendments 1st–26th — the master table

#	Year	What it did	Exam flag
1st	1974	Adjusted constitutional text after the 1971 secession of East Pakistan; tightened provisions against actions damaging the ideology of Pakistan
2nd	1974	Declared Ahmadis a non-Muslim minority
3rd	1975	Extended the permissible period of preventive detention
4th	1975	Curtailed High Courts' jurisdiction to grant bail and hear certain petitions
5th	1976	Further restricted judicial powers, including transfer of High Court judges
6th	1976	Extended the tenure of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and High Courts
7th	1977	Allowed the PM to seek a vote of confidence via referendum; expanded armed-forces call-out powers
8th	1985	Zia-era: inserted Article 58(2)(b), letting the President dissolve the National Assembly; validated martial-law-era (PCO) actions	Root cause the 18th Amendment later reversed
9th	1985 (Bill, never passed)	Proposed Shariah as supreme law — lapsed without passage
10th	1987	Extended the maximum gap allowed between National Assembly sessions
11th	(Bill, never passed)	Never completed the legislative process
12th	1991	Established Speedy Trial Courts for heinous/terrorism-related offences
13th	1997	Repealed Article 58(2)(b) — removed the President's power to dissolve the Assembly	Undid the core of the 8th Amendment
14th	1997	Anti-defection clause — penalized floor-crossing by legislators
15th	1998 (Bill, never passed)	Proposed "Shariat Bill" giving the federal government power to enforce Shariah — lapsed
16th	1999	Extended the civil-service job quota system for another 20 years
17th	2003	Musharraf-era: restored Article 58(2)(b); let the President remain Army Chief concurrently; validated the Legal Framework Order	Directly reversed by the 18th Amendment
18th	2010	The single most consequential amendment. Reversed the 17th Amendment, removed 58(2)(b) again, renamed NWFP to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, abolished the Concurrent Legislative List, and devolved major powers (and the NFC Award's fiscal weight, see Economy basics) to the provinces	⭐ Flagged as the biggest untested gap in 5 past papers — highest 2027 probability
19th	2010	Set up the Judicial Commission for appointing judges, in response to a Supreme Court ruling on the 18th Amendment
20th	2012	Set the mechanism for appointing a neutral caretaker government before general elections
21st	2015	Created military courts to try terrorism suspects for two years, passed after the APS Peshawar school attack	Confirmed FPSC fact — 2023 Q10
22nd	2016	Changed the composition/appointment process of the Election Commission of Pakistan
23rd	2017	Extended the military courts created by the 21st Amendment for a further two years
24th	2017	Enabled delimitation of constituencies based on the 2017 census
25th	2018	Merged FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, ending FATA's separate administrative status	Confirmed FPSC fact — 2022 Q2
26th	2024	Restructured judicial appointments (Special Parliamentary Committee nominates senior judges), created Constitutional Benches, and fixed the Chief Justice's tenure at 3 years	Updates the CJP-appointment fact below — watch for 2027 rewording

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Memorize this table in order. FPSC's #1 recurring pattern across every year in Past Paper MCQs (2022–2026) + 2027 Prep is "which amendment did X" — the 18th, 21st and 25th are explicitly confirmed by real past-paper questions above; the rest are standard constitutional-history facts every candidate is expected to know.

President vs Prime Minister — where the power sat, by era

Era	Head of state (President)	Head of government (Prime Minister)
1973 original text	Largely ceremonial	Real executive authority
After 8th Amendment (1985)	Could dissolve the National Assembly (Art. 58(2)(b))	Executive authority, but removable by presidential decree
After 17th Amendment (2003)	Dissolution power restored; could hold Army Chief post concurrently	Weakened relative to the President
After 13th (1997) and 18th (2010) Amendments	Ceremonial head of state, per Art. 41–48	Full parliamentary executive authority — the current arrangement

The President is Pakistan's Head of State; the Prime Minister is Head of Government (2022 Q8).

Chief Justice of Pakistan — appointment process

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is formally appointed by the President, historically per seniority convention under Article 175A (2026 Q16).
The 26th Amendment (2024) changed the process: a Special Parliamentary Committee now nominates the CJP from among the most senior judges, and fixed the CJP's tenure at 3 years — refresh this for 2027, since the 2026 paper's Q16 still reflects the pre-26th-Amendment convention.

Territorial constitutional status — Gilgit-Baltistan & Azad Jammu & Kashmir

Gilgit-Baltistan (GB): constitutionally "semi-provincial" — not a full province (2023 Q6). Full geographic detail on Geography of Pakistan.
Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK): also not a full province — semi-autonomous with its own local government, directly paired with the GB question above (2027 prediction).
FATA: merged into KPK by the 25th Amendment (2018), ending its separate status (2022 Q2).