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Kamal Siddiqi
ISLAMABAD, JAN 16: Pakistan moved a step towards a harsher Islamic system of justice today when the Nawaz Sharif Government imposed Islamic law in the traditional tribal areas of the north-west straddling the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, vowing to impose it throughout the country.The tribal areas are run with the help of a political agent but are otherwise largely independent of the federal or provincial governments. The day-to-day running of the areas, largely barren and under-developed, is left to the jirga, the Pashtun tribal of elders which administers justice and provides a loose governance. Conservative and religious-minded, some people in the areas have long demanded strict Islamic laws.
All legal and criminal cases in these areas will be decided according to the Quran in courts headed by Muslim clerics, said an ordinance signed by the Governor of the North-West Frontier province. The Governor represents the federal government in the provinces.
The Islamic laws include public punishment by lashing,amputation of hands and feet, and execution. ``The people of these areas wanted Islamic law and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Government has fulfilled its promise,'' said Sardar Mehtab Khan, Chief Minister of the Northwest province. In 1996, Muslim clerics in the area led an armed revolt demanding Islamic law.Sharif introduced a controversial Constitutional amendment in August to scrap any remaining British laws in Pakistan and replace them with laws based on the Quran. The National Assembly, where Sharif enjoys absolute majority, passed the amendment in September. It awaits approval by the Senate to become law. But Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League does not enjoy a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
Opposition parties, human rights groups and non-Muslim minorities bitterly oppose Sharif's efforts to introduce Islamic laws, saying they violate the Constitution and will wreck institutions. The Government replies that only pro-West Opposition parties are opposed to Islamic law.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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