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Pakistan president signs legislation to implement Sharia law in province

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

[JURIST] Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari signed legislation Monday that would establish Islamic Sharia law in the volatile North West Frontier Province (NWFP) area of Swat, sending the bill to the Pakistani parliament for approval. The Pakistani government and Islamic militants linked to the Taliban reached an agreement in February on the deal, which is contingent on peace between the government and the militants. Zardari's endorsement of the deal follows a parliamentary resolution passed earlier Monday calling on the president to ratify the agreement. 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 agreement for the implementation of sharia law in Swat has been seen by many as a controversial concession by the Pakistani government to Islamic militant groups. 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 Benazir 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 April 14, 2009 (boomark / email).