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| India-Pakistan |
| NWFP proposes end to superior courts' role in Malakand |
| 2009-01-29 |
| The NWFP government has proposed setting up Federal Appellate Shariat Courts in Malakand whose verdict would be considered final, provincial Law Minister Barrister Arshad Abdullah said on Wednesday. The proposal -- sent to the federal government to be made part of the proposed Shari Nizam-e-Adl Regulation of 2008 -- will end the jurisdiction of the high court and the Supreme Court in the area, and has come on the demand of the defuct Tehreek Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) led by Sufi Muhammad, the minister said. "The provincial government has proposed the Federal Appellate Court, whose verdict will be final. Let's see the federal government's response to this proposed amendment," the law minister said in a brief talk with reporters after a seminar. The Awami National Party-led provincial government had accepted "almost all the demands" of the TNSM chief, he said. There were "some technical and legal complications" in incorporating Sufi Muhammad's demands which the minister said would also be acceptable to rebel cleric Mullah Fazlullah. But the NWFP government had proposed including them in the Shari Nizam-e-Adl Regulation "for the sake of peace", he said. Barristar Abdullah said the TNSM chief and the people of Swat wanted the government to repeal the the jurisdiction of the high court and Supreme Court in Swat. The move would require an amendment to the Tribal Areas Act of 1973 because there is no provision in the constitution to withdraw jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and high courts, the law minister said. The caretaker NWFP government before the February 18 elections had made a similar proposal in which decisions of the Qazi courts could only be challenged in the Federal Shariat Court. The ANP-led government had initially amended the draft and deleted the withdrawal of Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court jurisdiction from the proposal, saying it would deprive the people of their constitutional rights. But the NWFP government has been compelled by the TNSM chief not only to withdraw their earlier decision, but also to propose the establishment of a Federal Appellate Court in the Malakand Division whose verdict would be considered final. After being released from prison as part of an agreement with the government, Sufi Muhammad had announced he would lead a peaceful movement in Dir district demanding the government implement sharia law in the division. Rebel cleric Fazlullah, the son-in-law of Sufi Muhammad and the leader of the Swat Taliban, had announced support for the proposals Sufi had made. But earlier this week, he summoned politicians and elders of Swat -- including former and current legislators and federal and provincial ministers -- to Taliban courts where he said they would be punished in line with the sharia for opposing the Taliban. |
| Posted by:Fred |