The government of Pakistan has entered into an unconstitutional agreement with the Islamic militants operating in the country to implement an Islamic code of practice, the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation (NAR), through a resolution passed in the national assembly on April 14, 2009. The President signed the resolution immediately. The resolution, passed without any debate in the assembly, is an attempt by the government to purchase peace in the Swat valley, a region in the northern-western part of the country, that shares boundary with Afghanistan.
Prior to this, the government has signed an agreement with the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) on February 17, 2009, following the provincial government of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) entering a peace agreement with the same organisation. The agreement signed between the government of Pakistan and the TNSM is regarding the implementation of Shari’ah in the region. When the President, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, decided to present the resolution to the country’s parliament, before signing it, the Taliban and the Muslim militant organisations operating in the country threatened the parliamentarians that anyone in the national assembly who opposes the resolution would be declared an apostate and a non-Muslim.
The agreement signed between the government of Pakistan and the TNSM in February, known as the Malakand Accord, calls for the withdrawal of the Pakistan army from the Swat valley; the release all Taliban prisoners; the withdrawal of criminal cases registered against Taliban’s leaders and its members; and the imposition of Shari’ah law in Malakand Agency. Malakand Agency is a region that encompasses more than one-third of the NWFP.
It appears, that the government expects peace in the valley, in return for the agreement it has signed with the TNSM. In fact, the TNSM and the Taliban, operating in the country, has forced the government of Pakistan with more demands and resorting to violence throughout the province and the agency, until the government agreed that it will not only implement Shari’ah law in the region, but also further, will agree to the TNSM’s demand to implement Nizam-e-Adl. The Nizam-e-Adl is a conservative Islamic order.
In order to force the government to implement the Nizam-e-Adl, more than 400 security personnel – including army men – were abducted and killed by the Muslim militants. A large area of the valley came under Muslim militancy and many people lost their life. It is estimated that more than 350 schools were destroyed. Women are not allowed to go outside their residence without a male companion who is related to the woman by blood. A girl found to be accompanying her father-in-law was flogged in public by the Muslim militants. More than 500 lawyers are prohibited from going to the court. The militants have displaced more than 250000 persons from their homeland.
The valley is under Muslim militant control since many years. The TNSM and the Taliban controls the region. The TNSM is an outlawed organisation since January 12, 2002. The TNSM is allegedly involved in anti-state and terrorist activities. Maulana Soofi Mohammad, the head of TNSM, was convicted on April 24, 2002, along with 30 of his henchmen, for imprisonment for a period of ten years for inciting people to cross over into Afghanistan to fight against the US forces and for violating state restrictions. Mohammad is out of prison since 2005.
Mohammad’s son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah, is the head of the Pakistani Taliban. He refuses to agree to the peace-deal until the whole country is Talibanised. The government of Pakistan has denied that the Taliban has anything to do with the Swat negotiations. The government claims that its negotiations are with the TNSM.
After the NAR was passed in the national assembly, two bomb blasts were reported from the NWFP. Twenty persons were killed in these blasts. In a follow up, to enhance the Talibanisation of the country, and in jubilation of the moral and political surrender of the government, the Taliban has assumed control of a vast area in the neighboring city, Buneer. According to the media reports, the Taliban is grabbing private property of the people and is recruiting youth into their army. In another city, Bannu, the Taliban destroyed a girls’ school. The people of Bannu are migrating to other parts of the country, particularly to Karachi, the capital of the Sindh province.
Mohammad, the head of the TNSM, has announced that with the signing of the Nizam-e-Adl, the judges of the civilian courts, following the country’s legal system, are non-functional and their appointments redundant. Mohammad has further declared that only those having knowledge of Shari’ah law and practices would be allowed to adjudicate matters from now.
In a press conference held on April 15, Mohammad said that the Qazi courts (Islamic courts) would dispose of cases in line with Shari’ah. By referring to Shari’ah, Mohammad was referring to the Taliban’s interpretation of Shari’ah. He said, that their verdicts could not be challenged in the High Court or at the Supreme Court. He claimed that Darul Qaza (higher courts) should be set up at the divisional level as a final court.
On the other hand, Mr. Muslim Khan, the spokesperson of Pakistani Taliban, in an interview to the Reuters, said that the Pakistani Taliban will not lay down their arms in the northwestern valley as part of a deal that included the introduction of Shari’ah law, but will spread their activities to new areas. He said, “Shari’ah doesn’t permit us to lay down arms, if a government, either in Pakistan or in Afghanistan, continues anti-Muslim policies
Taliban laying down arms is out of question“. Khan further said “
we will push into new areas
when we achieve our goal at one place we move further to other areas“.
It is a clear indication that the Muslim fundamentalist groups operating in Pakistan will continue their efforts to change the country into a fundamentalist Muslim state run by the militants. They will try to impose their ways, thereby pushing the country into the stone ages. Systematic and widespread practice of restricting freedom of the women and denying education to them is one such action. Death by stoning and slaughtering of humans would be the order of the day according to Taliban’s interpretation of the Shari’ah. In fact, such practices already exist in the country, even before the implementation of NAR.
By passing the NAR through a resolution in the national assembly, the parliament members have surrendered Pakistan’s territory into the hands of religious fundamentalist groups. Many members tried to oppose the regulation in the national assembly. However, the government dissuaded them with the argument that such an act of surrender is required to prevent Islamabad, the capital of country, falling into the hands of the Taliban. The opposing members were asked to abstain from voting and were forced to be absent.
By this act, the government of Pakistan has virtually allowed Islamic fundamentalists to run a parallel judicial system. Licensed lawyers have no place in this system. Only those persons who were educated in Madresas (seminaries) will be allowed to become judges (Qazis).
The government has exposed its double standards by failing to pay heed to the genuine demands for assistance by the people of Balochistan province, who have suffered indiscriminately during the military operations. The government of Pakistan and the members of the national assembly have passed the regulation and have proved that they are weak, before the militants, who challenge . The government has surrendered before the threats of the non-state actors, who have taken-up arms, and has allowed the population to be held hostage by these militants in the name of a particular Muslim sect.
The government of Pakistan must revoke the NAR immediately. The government must follow its constitutional mandate, which, the people of the country have entrusted it with. Illegal and criminal activities carried out by Muslim militant organisations must be prohibited and the criminals brought before the law. All attempts to subvert the functioning of democratic and constitutional institutions must be prevented. If these measures are not taken immediately, Pakistan will soon slip into instability and self-destruction, to the detriment of its citizens and the region.
