Pakistan's army chief to get expanded powers under proposed reform

Pakistan's powerful army chief will be given an expanded role and the remit of the Supreme Court will be curbed under constitutional changes passed by the upper house of parliament on Monday, a move the opposition says will undermine democracy.



Pakistan, historically coup-prone, is seeing its longest period of elected government. But in recent years, after civilians have sought to assert more authority in governance, the military has taken tighter hold of the levers of power, while not staging an outright takeover.



The bill, passed on Monday by the Senate in about three hours, unusually fast for a constitutional change, after the opposition boycotted the debate, will now go before the lower house before it can become law.