Research · Reference

Policy glossary

The laws, agreements, institutions and places that come up again and again in relations between the United States and Pakistan, each explained in a short, neutral, sourced entry.

65 entries, A to Z

7 of 65 terms in Institutions. Show all

C

Corps Commanders’ Conference

institutions. Also Corps Commanders Conference, Corps Commanders. A regular meeting of the Pakistan Army’s senior leadership, chaired by the Chief of Army Staff at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and attended by the commanders of the army’s corps and its principal staff officers. It reviews the security situation and professional matters. Its conclusions, published by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), are read as statements of the army’s position on national security.

E

Eighteenth Amendment

institutions. Also 18th Amendment. The 2010 amendment to Pakistan’s Constitution, passed unanimously by Parliament and signed on 19 April 2010, which made about a hundred changes. It removed the President’s discretionary power to dissolve the National Assembly, abolished the Concurrent Legislative List so that subjects such as education, health and labour passed to the provinces, and protected the provinces’ share of revenue under National Finance Commission awards.

F

Federal Board of Revenue

institutions. Also FBR. Pakistan’s federal tax authority. It formulates and administers federal tax policy, collects income tax, sales tax, federal excise duty and customs duties, and decides tax and customs cases and appeals. It works through two main arms: Inland Revenue, for domestic taxes, and Pakistan Customs, for duties on imports and the enforcement of trade rules.

N

National Finance Commission Award

institutions. Also NFC Award. The formula, set by a commission that Article 160 of Pakistan’s Constitution requires at intervals of no more than five years, for dividing federal tax revenue (the “divisible pool”) between the federal government and the provinces, and then among the provinces. The seventh award, agreed in 2009, raised the provinces’ share to 57.5 percent, and the Eighteenth Amendment bars a later award from reducing a province’s share.

P

Parliament of Pakistan

institutions. Also Majlis-e-Shoora, National Assembly of Pakistan, Senate of Pakistan. Pakistan’s federal legislature, the Majlis-e-Shoora, which under Article 50 of the 1973 Constitution consists of the President and two houses. The National Assembly is directly elected and chooses the Prime Minister. The Senate gives the provinces equal representation, its members elected by the provincial assemblies, and is a continuing house in which half the members are elected every three years. Money bills originate in the National Assembly.

S

Special Investment Facilitation Council

institutions. Also SIFC. A Pakistani body set up in June 2023 as a “single window” to attract and fast-track domestic and foreign investment in priority sectors: agriculture, mining and minerals, information technology, energy and defence production. Chaired by the Prime Minister, it brings together federal ministers, provincial chief ministers and the army chief, giving the military a formal seat in economic decision-making.

State Bank of Pakistan

institutions. Also SBP. Pakistan’s central bank, which began operating in July 1948 and is governed by the State Bank of Pakistan Act 1956. Its primary objective is domestic price stability. It sets monetary policy and the policy interest rate, sets and carries out exchange-rate policy, holds and manages the country’s foreign-exchange reserves, issues the currency and supervises banks. A 2022 amendment to its Act strengthened its autonomy.

Definitions are kept short and neutral, and each cites its sources on the term’s page. Spotted something to correct? Tell us.