Twenty-Fifth Amendment

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, enacted on 31 May 2018, abolished the special constitutional status of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), merging FATA into the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). It repealed Articles 246 and 247 of the 1973 Constitution insofar as they preserved FATA's distinct treatment, removed the President's exclusive executive authority over the tribal areas, and extended the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Peshawar High Court to the merged districts for the first time. The amendment passed the National Assembly by 229 votes and the Senate by 71, and was assented to by President Mamnoon Hussain; the KP Provincial Assembly ratified it on 27 May 2018, as required because it altered provincial boundaries under Article 239(4).

The amendment's central feature was the dismantling of the colonial-era legal architecture, principally the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) of 1901, with its notorious doctrine of collective territorial responsibility, jirga-based adjudication, and the Political Agent's sweeping powers. In its place the Constitution's fundamental-rights chapter, ordinary criminal and civil law, and the regular courts were extended to the seven former agencies (Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram, Mohmand, Orakzai, North Waziristan, South Waziristan) and the Frontier Regions. The Constitution's representation provisions were amended to reduce the National Assembly's FATA seats and to add seats for the merged districts in the KP Assembly; the Twenty-Sixth Amendment (2019) subsequently increased the merged districts' National Assembly representation from a phased arrangement.

Implementation faced fiscal and administrative strain. The federation pledged a 3 percent share of the National Finance Commission divisible pool and a ten-year development package for the merged districts, though disbursement and the integration of Levies and Khasadars into the regular police were repeatedly delayed. Provincial elections to the KP Assembly seats for the merged districts were held in July 2019. By 2026 the merger remains legally entrenched but practically contested: separatist and pro-restoration sentiment, security operations against militant remnants, and disputes over promised funding continue, and proposals periodically surface to revisit the arrangement, none of which has reversed the constitutional change.

For the CSS Pakistan Affairs paper, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment is a high-frequency topic testing the candidate's grasp of constitutional development, federalism, and the legacy of colonial governance. Examiners ask candidates to evaluate the merger's rationale (mainstreaming, ending legal apartheid under the FCR), to compare pre- and post-2018 governance, and to assess implementation challenges. Strong answers cite the repeal of Articles 246–247, the abolition of the FCR 1901, the NFC commitment, and the role of the Peshawar High Court and Supreme Court jurisdiction, while critically appraising whether the promised development and security dividends have materialised.