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Afghan Laws Will Blend Freedom With Islam?
Source: NNIThe Afghanistan minister of justice told a US panel on religious liberty that the Islam incorporated into a new Afghan constitution will allow for international standards of human rights and freedom of conscience. "It is very difficult in our society to say we are not going to reflect religion in our constitution," Abdul Rahim Karimi said during an all-day forum with the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Washington Post reported. While some Islamic principles "are rigid," other rules of religion "are changable," and so the drafters of new laws for Afghanistan hope to mirror "all the standards and norms of the international community," he said through an interpreter. Like freedom of religion? The forum, held by the congressionally established commission a year after US forces expelled the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, revealed the complexity of efforts to rebuild the war-torn state and allow Western-style rights in an Islamic culture. "There are questions about whether the United States will forget Afghanistan if we move forward on Iraq," said Zalmay Khalilzad, President Bush's envoy to Afghanistan. "I can unequivocally tell you that will not be the case." If they concentrate on being "Islamic" rather than being a "Republic," we can write them off as a total loss with no insurance and save our money. Mavis Leno of the Feminist Majority's Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls said [the Taliban's] approach to women still holds sway in many places. "The Taliban are not gone, and ... they will try to reassert themselves into power, and some of them have already succeeded," she said. Miss Leno, who noted that the 1964 Afghanistan constitution included equality for women even before women in Switzerland could vote, said new legal and political rules must allow women to go to court and to run for public office. "When a society is stable, it is much easier for women to apply their rights." Isn't that Jay Leno's wife? I'm glad to hear they're calling in real experts on the subject... Under Afghanistan's 1964 constitution, once called the envy of Muslim nations, minorities such as Sikhs, Hindus and Shi'ite Muslims were left in peace, though local customs tended to dominate more than the national rules. So the Pashtuns killed them when they could get away with it... While the new Afghan constitution will enforce Islamic law, or Sharia, some Afghan leaders and human rights observers hope it takes a modern approach. There ain't no such animal. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-02-01 |
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