India has sharply criticised Pakistan on the global stage over what it described as a “constitutional coup” following sweeping constitutional changes that grant extraordinary powers and lifetime legal immunity to Pakistan’s top military leadership.
Speaking at the United Nations Security Council, India’s Permanent Representative Parvathaneni Harish said Pakistan should “introspect about the rule of law” after the Shehbaz Sharif-led government passed the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which significantly strengthens the military’s role in governance. According to India, the amendment effectively allows Pakistan’s armed forces to engineer constitutional changes that undermine civilian authority.
Harish specifically pointed to the amendment’s provision granting lifetime immunity to Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Field Marshal Asim Munir. “It could start by asking itself how it has let its armed forces engineer a constitutional coup through the 27th amendment and giving lifetime immunity to its Chief of Defence Forces,” he told the UN forum.
The controversial amendment was passed in November 2025 and has been widely seen as cementing the military’s supremacy in Pakistan’s political structure. In December, the Pakistani government formally appointed Asim Munir as the country’s first-ever Chief of Defence Forces a newly created and highly powerful post.
As CDF, Munir now commands all three branches of the military the Army, Navy and Air Force and also oversees the National Strategic Command, which manages Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and missile systems. This makes him the most powerful military figure in the country.
In addition to consolidating military command, the new position grants Munir legal protection equivalent to that of Pakistan’s president, including lifelong immunity from prosecution. Similar protections have also reportedly been extended to the chiefs of the air force and navy. The amendment also reduces civilian government oversight of military affairs.
India’s remarks add to growing international scrutiny of Pakistan’s civil-military balance, with New Delhi warning that such moves weaken democratic institutions and threaten constitutional governance in the nuclear-armed nation.
