Foreign Policy Blogs

Enforcement of shariah in Malakand delayed

PESHAWAR,PAKISTAN: The NWFP government is unlikely to enforce the Nizam-e-Adl Regulations 2008 on the 27th of Ramazan owing to delays in the consultation process and a lack of response from the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM).

Officials said the draft was forwarded to the TNSM a few days back, but the Dir-based group had not responded as yet. Earlier, the government had announced that the shariah law would be enforced in Malakand during Ramazan.

Sources close to TNSM said the group's chief Sufi Mohammad wanted amendments to the shariah regulations that had already been finalised by the provincial government.

NWFP Law Minister Barrister Arshad Abdullah told Daily Times that a government meeting had been scheduled for Thursday last week to discuss the enforcement of the shariah law. However, it was postponed due to the provincial cabinet meeting the prime minister in Islamabad on that day.

Abdullah said the meeting would be held this week, but no date had been fixed. The NWFP chief minister would chair the meeting, which would be attended by two senior ministers, cabinet members from Malakand and the law minister.

The minister said his ministry had proposed the appointment of new judges and their staff , numbering around 100 , to ensure speedy trials and quick decisions, a major demand of the people of Malakand. He said the government was trying to enforce the law during the month of Ramazan, but no date had been fixed and the law might be implemented after the end of the holy month.

Daily Times

 

Author

Bilal Qureshi

Bilal Qureshi is a resident of Washington, DC, so it is only natural that he is tremendously interested in politics. He is also fascinated by the relationship between Pakistan, the country of his birth, and the United States of America, his adopted homeland. Therefore, he makes every effort to read major newspapers in Pakistan and what is being said about Washington, while staying fully alert to the analysis and the news being reported in the American press about Pakistan. After finishing graduate school, he started using his free time to write to various papers in Pakistan in an effort to clarify whatever misconceptions he noticed in the press, especially about the United States. This pastime became a passion after his letters were published in Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and his writing became more frequent and longer. Now, he is here, writing a blog about Pakistan managed by Foreign Policy Association.

Areas of Focus:
Taliban; US-Pakistan Relations; Culture and Society

Contact