{{primary sources, date=March 2011
The Legal Framework Order, 2002 was issued by
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
i president
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.
Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...
in August 2002. It provided for the general elections of 2002 and the revival of the 1973
Constitution of Pakistan
The Constitution of Pakistan ( ; ISO 15919, ISO: '' Āīn-ē-Pākistān''), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. The document guides Pakistan's law, political culture, and system. It sets out the state's outlin ...
, and added numerous amendments to the Constitution. The following month, the
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
overruled Musharraf, ruling that the amendments would have to be ratified by Parliament in the manner provided in the unamended 1973 Constitution—the amendments would have to be approved by two-thirds of both houses of the
bicameral
Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...
body.
After the October 2002 general elections, although Musharraf's supporters had a majority in Parliament, they did not have the required two-thirds
supermajority
A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...
to ratify the Legal Framework Order. Parliament was effectively deadlocked by strident opposition from Musharraf's opponents for over a year. In December 2003, a faction was persuaded to vote for a compromise amendment bill, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan. With this amendment, parts of the Legal Framework Order were incorporated into the Constitution.