| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| MMA backs away from creating religous police |
| 2003-12-19 |
| Registration The controversial Hisbah Act drafted by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government in the NWFP as an appendage to its earlier Shariah Bill has been put in cold storage. In a move that reflects back-channel understanding between the NWFP governor and the MMA government, Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has sent the draft law to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) to seek the constitutional bodyâs expert opinion on whether or not the proposed law is in harmony with the Constitution. Sources told TFT the governor referred the draft law to CII after raising several objections to it. If the NWFP Assembly approved the Bill, it would have given the conservatives-led government sweeping powers to implement the Shariah through use of force. The draft law also envisages setting up a Taliban-style vice and virtue police department and courts, a system that is likely to run parallel to the existing criminal justice system. The draft has drawn much flak since it was revealed almost a year ago by the MMA government. Now it seems the MMA government wants it to be frozen until a more appropriate time. This is revealed by the fact that the government has allowed the governor to refer it to the CII before first debating it in the assembly, a normal procedure. âBy reversing the procedure, the provincial government has allowed the representative of the federal government [the governor] to get it diluted to a point where it loses its poisonous teeth,â says an analyst. On the whole, the MMA leaders (as opposed to the grassroots), are very pragmatic, and willing to negotiate with the government to maintain their hold on power. On the face of it the MMA members hope the CII will debate the draft law and send it back, though others think that hope is misplaced. MMA Law Minister Malik Zafar Azam, who holds an American Green Card and runs an Italian food restaurant in the United States, believes it might be months before the Hisbah Act may be moved in the assembly because the CII quorum remains incomplete. Interestingly, General Musharraf had publicly denounced the draft law and called it âTalibanisationâ, vowing to not allow it to be passed. Hisbah is an Arabic word that means accountability. The MMA law minister defended the Act before TFT and said it would root out injustice and improve law and order. âAchieving these two things would mean living in a perfect society,â he told TFT at his office last week. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #1 so an we take from this that MMA is on the defensive now? |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-12-19 1:41:41 PM |