JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Earlier this month, the Pakistani Parliament passed an amendment to the country's constitution, and it's revived long-standing divisions over Pakistan's separation of powers. Betsy Joles has more from Islamabad about the groups that are protesting these changes.
BETSY JOLES, BYLINE: This 27th amendment to the constitution gives the country's army chief new powers, and alongside Pakistan's president, lifelong immunity from criminal prosecution. It also creates a new court that will hear constitutional matters.
MOSHARRAF ZAIDI: What all of this indicates is a concerted, planned, deliberate effort to establish order.
JOLES: Mosharraf Zaidi is a spokesperson for Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif. He says it's important to look at the circumstances - war with India in May, border clashes with Afghanistan in October, long-standing economic problems and political chaos.
ZAIDI: These changes need to be made. Some of them might be good ones and some of them might turn out not to be that great. But the test of those is what the outcomes are for the people of Pakistan.
JOLES: However, the latest amendment has attracted major criticism.
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JOLES: After Friday prayers at a mosque in Islamabad, Pakistani reporters gathered around a group of opposition figures speaking out against the amendment.
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JOLES: Salman Akram Raja was the group's loudest voice.
SALMAN AKRAM RAJA: (Non-English language spoken).
JOLES: He says there's been an attack on the constitution of Pakistan. Raja is secretary general of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf - or PTI - the political party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan. In 2022, a parliamentary no confidence vote ousted Khan from office. The following year, after Khan criticized the country's military leadership, he was imprisoned on corruption charges. Raja says the constitutional amendment is an attempt to consolidate power by the current government, which is widely believed to operate with support from the military.
RAJA: It's coercion that is keeping things, you know, quote-unquote, "under control."
JOLES: Imran Khan's supporters stormed military sites after his arrest. That prompted a crackdown against his party, the PTI. Last year, the current government, a coalition headed by two political dynasties, took power after a contentious election. In recent months, Pakistan's military has been asserting its influence, as it has repeatedly in a country that's spent much of its nearly 80-year history under direct military rule. And Raja says the constitutional changes could further strengthen the military's hand in politics.
RAJA: The enhancement in the powers makes us view this change with trepidation. Will future army chiefs be even more overbearing than what we've had in the past?
JOLES: Since the amendment was passed, two Supreme Court judges have resigned, while a group of more than 200 lawyers, academics and other members of the Pakistani public have signed a petition criticizing the changes. Others, though, seem less convinced they'll make much of a difference, especially the new court. Waqqas Mir, a lawyer in the city of Lahore, likens the amendment to a pendulum swinging back against a powerful judiciary.
WAQQAS MIR: They have thrown out prime ministers. They've disqualified ministers. They've made life very difficult for governments at various points in time. And then you get an executive which says, OK, it's time that we use our votes in parliament to push through certain amendments and put the court on the back foot.
JOLES: Mir says that's a process permitted under Pakistan's constitution. What's less clear is whether these changes represent the wishes of the Pakistani people.
For NPR News, I'm Betsy Joles in Islamabad.
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