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Pakistan signs new pact with Islamic militants to implement Sharia law in province

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The government of Pakistan reached an agreement Monday with Islamic militants in the Pakistani North West Frontier Province (NWFP) area of Swat to implement Islamic Sharia law, according to Pakistani government officials. The implementation of Sharia law in Swat is contingent upon peace between the Pakistani government and Islamic militants linked with the Taliban operating in the area. The agreement is seen by some as a government concession to Islamic militant groups in the NWFP. As with an earlier tentative agreement reached in May 2008 to establish Sharia law in the Swat area, Monday's agreement will create a separate justice system for the whole region. The May 2008 agreement to establish Sharia law in the Swat area, which collapsed amid ongoing violence between Islamic groups and the Pakistani military, provided that militants would halt suicide attacks and hand over foreign fighters under local protection. In exchange, an Islamic justice system would have been created to operate in parallel with the secular system, and established Pakistani courts would have been advised by Islamic scholars. Violence by Islamic militants has long been a problem in Pakistan's outlying provinces. Earlier in 2008, Pakistan's top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and four others were charged in the assassination of former prime minister Benzhair Bhutto. Meshud is the commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban, a group of Islamic militants with links to al Qaeda. He has denied involvement in the attack.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).