TTAP marches from Parliament House to Supreme Court in escalating protest against 27th Amendment

ISLAMABAD: The opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) on Tuesday staged a march from Parliament House to the Supreme Court in Islamabad, intensifying its countrywide protest campaign against the recently enacted 27th Constitutional Amendment.

The amendment — signed into law on Nov 13 after its approval by parliament — has ignited fierce political and legal backlash for introducing sweeping structural changes to the judiciary and the military. Critics, including bar associations and former as well as sitting judges, have slammed the move as an attack on judicial independence and an attempt to alter the Constitution’s basic structure.

The TTAP, a coalition of six opposition parties including the PTI, had announced last week that it would launch an aggressive movement “to restore the Constitution to its original form”. Acting on that plan, leaders and supporters gathered outside the Parliament House on Tuesday morning before marching along Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, PTI Senator Faisal Javed and TTAP Vice Chairman Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas led the march, according to visuals shared by the alliance on X. TTAP Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai also participated.

Protesters carried placards reading “27th Amendment rejected”, “Death to dictatorship, long live democracy”, and “Subjugation of the judiciary is the public’s subjugation”. Chants of “Battle will persist till the judiciary’s independence” echoed through the crowd, while others recited Habib Jalib’s famous verse, “Aise dastoor ko nahi maantey, subh-i-be-nur ko nahi maantey.”

A number of prominent leaders — including former Senate member Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, ex-National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, PTI MNAs Zain Qureshi and Junaid Akbar, and BNP-M’s Sajid Tareen — joined the demonstration. Some participants also waved PTI flags and raised slogans in support of imprisoned party founder Imran Khan.

‘Black Day’ on Friday; national moot to be held

Speaking to reporters, Achakzai announced that TTAP would hold a national conference on the amendment, inviting judges, lawyers, journalists and constitutional experts. He reiterated the alliance’s objection to what it calls “lifetime immunities” granted to the president and army chief under the new amendment, insisting that “no one — regardless of office — is above accountability”.

Achakzai further declared that TTAP will observe a nationwide “Black Day” on Friday, Nov 21, to protest the amendment, which he said undermined civilian supremacy. “Even a party with a 100 per cent mandate cannot change the basic structure of the Constitution,” he asserted.

Former NA speaker Asad Qaiser said TTAP, civil society and the legal fraternity would convene next week to finalise the alliance’s future course of action. In a post on X, he accused the government of “disfiguring the unanimous Constitution of 1973 through force and horse-trading”, adding that the 26th and 27th amendments were designed to bring the judiciary “under executive control”.

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PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja told protesters that the amendments were an “attack on the judiciary and the people”, claiming they compromised fundamental rights including privacy, dignity and property.

Wider political mobilisation

The protest followed a walkout by PTI MPAs in Lahore a day earlier, who marched from the Punjab Assembly to Charing Cross on The Mall in defiance of the amendment. The TTAP has also announced that a resolution against the law will be tabled in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

Formed in April last year and formally structured in July, TTAP has pledged blanket support for all anti-government demonstrations. Tuesday’s march marks the beginning of what the alliance says will be a sustained nationwide campaign to force a rollback of the amendment.

With tensions rising over the legislation, the coming weeks are expected to witness heightened political activity as opposition parties seek to build momentum against the government’s constitutional changes.