The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan (Urdu: آئین پاکستان میں آٹھویں ترمیم) allowed the President to unilaterally dissolve the National Assembly and elected governments.
The eighth amendment strengthened the authority of the President and also granted additional powers to dismiss the elected Prime Minister's government.
These powers included the right, expressed in sub-section 2(b) inserted into Article 58, to dissolve the National Assembly (but not the Senate) if, in his or her opinion, "a situation has arisen in which the Government of the Federation cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and an appeal to the electorate is necessary."
The Eighth Amendment, besides making a number of other changes to the Constitution, introduced the following clause into Article 58 of the Constitution: (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (2) of Article 48, the President may also dissolve the National Assembly in his discretion where, in his opinion, General Zia-ul-Haq first used the amendment to dismiss Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo for alleged corruption in May 1988.
Consequently, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments had the effect of removing the institutional checks and balances on the Prime Minister's power, by giving him or her immunity from being legally dismissed.
In general discourse, the Eighth Amendment has become synonymous with Article 58 2(b), which in turn is considered to be the provision that introduced the presidential power to dissolve the National Assembly.
14 of 1985 by a slightly modified version, preserving the text declaring the validity of all of his actions, including his takeover of July 5, 1977 and subsequent constitutional amendments.