{{primary sources, date=March 2011
The Legal Framework Order, 2002 was issued by
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
i president
Pervez Musharraf
General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...
in August 2002. It provided for the general elections of 2002 and the revival of the 1973
Constitution of Pakistan
The Constitution of Pakistan ( ur, ), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. Drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with additional assistance from the country's opposition parties, it was approved by ...
, and added numerous amendments to the Constitution. The following month, the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. 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, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single gr ...
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, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...
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
The Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan (Urdu: آئین پاکستان میں سترہویں ترمیم) was an amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan passed in December 2003, after over a year of political wrangling between s ...
. With this amendment, parts of the Legal Framework Order were incorporated into the Constitution.