Politics of Counter-terrorism and the 21st Constitutional Amendment in Pakistan

Abstract

This research concerns the recent amendment (called the 21st Amendment) to Pakistan‟s constitution and the discourse of exceptionalism it generated in the context of a counter-terrorism project. Immediately after the horrific attack on a military run school in Peshawar—the Army Public School, an All Parties Conference (APC) was held in Peshawar that approved a 20 point National Action Plan (NAP). It seemed as if the tragic event in Peshawar was long awaited site for generating discourses of threat, urgency, crisis and exception. The meaning and interpretation of the event was thoroughly incorporated into a regime of legitimation for exceptional sovereign practices (such as torture, and detention without trial) promulgated in the 21st Amendment. This research problematizes the discourse and regime of truth constructed around the Peshawar tragedy and the 21st Amendment‟s justification. Methodologically, due to dearth of academic works on the subject, the research heavily relies on journalistic sources and semi-academic pieces published in various newspapers and journals.