ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf, said today there was no room for "Talibanization" in Pakistan. Islamists controlling Pakistan's conservative North West Frontier Province (NWFP) last week passed a bill to enforce sharia, or Islamic, law in their region, introducing a conservative criminal code that critics say is reminiscent of neighboring Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban regime. "In a changing international scenario, people should project and build Pakistan as a moderate, Islamic, and a democratic state," state-run Pakistan Television quoted Musharraf saying during a meeting with lawyers in Lahore. "There is no room for Talibanization in the country." The provincial government of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance (MMA) of six hard-line Islamic groups also plans to set up a department to promote religious observance. Musharraf also refused to budge on MMA demands that he roll back constitutional changes that increased presidential powers and that he choose between politics and the military.
| See if he holds to that position. I think he'll try. I'm not sure he won't change his mind later, when the fundos are pouring into the streets... |
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