Second Amendment

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, enacted on 7 September 1974 during the government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, amended Article 260 to insert an explicit constitutional definition of who is a "non-Muslim." It declared that a person who does not believe in the absolute and unqualified finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad (Khatm-e-Nubuwwat) — or who recognises any claimant to prophethood after Muhammad — is not a Muslim for the purposes of the Constitution or law. The amendment thereby classified the Ahmadiyya community (both the Qadiani and Lahori groups) as non-Muslims, resolving in the negative a question that had agitated Pakistani politics since the 1953 Lahore anti-Ahmadiyya disturbances investigated by the Munir-Kayani Inquiry Report. The amendment was passed unanimously by the National Assembly following proceedings of a Special Committee of the whole House that examined the doctrinal position, in which the Ahmadiyya leadership was heard.

Operationally, the amendment added a new clause (3) to Article 260 defining a "non-Muslim" to include "a person of the Quadiani Group or the Lahori Group (who call themselves 'Ahmadis' or by any other name), or a Bahai, and a person belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes." Its key constitutional effect was to place the question of religious classification beyond the reach of an individual's self-identification, making the finality of prophethood the constitutional test of Muslim identity. The amendment built upon the Objectives Resolution (1949) and the Islamic provisions of the 1973 Constitution, and was later reinforced by General Zia-ul-Haq's Ordinance XX of 1984, which inserted sections 298-B and 298-C into the Pakistan Penal Code, criminalising the use of Islamic epithets, practices and the call to prayer by Ahmadis.

The constitutionality and effects of these measures were tested in Zaheeruddin v. State (1993), in which the Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld Ordinance XX, reasoning that allowing Ahmadis to use Islamic terminology could deceive the Muslim public. The classification continues to govern Pakistan's separate electorate arrangements for religious minorities and entries in national identity documentation; an Ahmadi seeking a passport or CNIC as a Muslim must affirm the finality of prophethood and disavow the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. As of 2026 the Second Amendment remains in force and is a settled feature of Pakistan's constitutional order, periodically reaffirmed amid controversies over census enumeration and electoral rolls.

For the exam, the Second Amendment is core syllabus in CSS Pakistan Affairs (constitutional development and the politics of the Bhutto era) and frequently surfaces in CSS Islamic Studies under the doctrine of Khatm-e-Nubuwwat. Examiners typically ask candidates to trace the issue from the 1953 disturbances and the Munir Report, through the 1974 amendment, to Ordinance XX of 1984 and the Zaheeruddin judgment — testing both the precise textual change to Article 260 and its broader significance for minority rights, citizenship and the relationship between religion and the state in Pakistan.