| Afghanistanâs newly adopted constitution does not guarantee religious freedom and a judicial system that can enforce Islamic law, a semi-official US religious freedom watchdog said on Wednesday. This âcrucial - and potentially fatal â flawâ in the constitution was pointed out by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom in its 2004 annual report released Wednesday. The commission warned that, although the constitution provided for the freedom of non-Muslim groups to exercise their faiths, âit does not contain explicit protections for the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion that would extend to every individual, particularly to individual Muslims in Afghanistan.â Muslims make up the overwhelming majority of the war-torn countrys 26.2 million people. The commission, which advises the White House and State Department on global religious concerns, said the constitutional flaw was compounded by a ârepugnancy clauseâ that states âno law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of Islam.â Fueling the confusion were provisions for a judicial system empowered to enforce the repugnancy clause and apply so-called Hanafi Islamic jurisprudence to cases where there is no other applicable law. |