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| Friday, 30 May 2003 |
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Opposition rejects sharia bill as eye-wash PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Thursday (AFP) Opposition parties rejected as eyewash a bill seeking to enforce Islamic sharia law in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), which Islamists claim would bring a silent revolution in the region bordering Afghanistan. "This is the first step towards Islamization of the society," senior provincial Minister Siraj ul-Haq said. He called the sharia bill and a Hisba act a "historic and unprecedented" step that would usher in a silent revolution in the province. The Hisba act would establish a department to promote virtues and suppress vices, similar to the dreaded institution one established by the former hardline Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan. The right-wing Islamic alliance of the six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Tuesday tabled in the provincial legislature the bill aimed at eradicating obscenity and promote Islamic justice. It binds civil courts to operate under sharia law, but shelved decisions on key issues of interest-free banking and inheritance and divorce laws. Law Minister Malik Zafar Azam, who introduced the bill, said the NWFP government would set up commissions on education and judicial reforms. But the bill allayed fears expressed by non-Muslim minorities, saying they would be exempt from sharia law and would be free to practice their religion, customs and traditions. The NWFP government would also ensure that sharia laws do not contradict the federal constitution. Opposition deputies and jurists said the bill was a half-hearted attempt similar to one made by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1991. Senior lawyer Bacha Khan said there was nothing new in the document and the MMA move was in line with attempts by successive governments "to exploit people in the name of religion." He said people wanted solution to their economic woes and the bill offered no solution. |
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