Constitution of Pakistan (1973)

The consensus charter, repeatedly suspended, restored, and amended.

Overview

Adopted April 10, 1973 by a consensus of parties under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistans current constitution created a federal parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature, declared Islam the state religion with the Objectives Resolution as substantive preamble, and made the president a figurehead. It has been suspended wholesale under the Zia and Musharraf military regimes, restored with amendments, reshaped by the seventeenth and eighteenth amendments swinging powers between center and provinces, and tweaked by the twenty fifth merging tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018. The Islamic provisions, including the federal shariat court, mark its distinctive character.