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November 13, 2006

Pakistan: Islamists Pass a Sharia Bill In North-West Frontier Province

The Regional Assembly of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is dominated by members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or MMA, a coalition of six parties which are all Islamist in nature. In the National Assembly of Pakistan, the opposition is led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the MMA. In May, Rahman made a speech demanding that Sharia law should be instituted in Pakistan. Rahman leads the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Islamic Party of Religious Leaders or JUI), one of the MMA parties, and threatened that if Sharia was not instituted, members of the MMA would take to the streets. They did this in February in protest at the Danish cartoons, causing violence in which at least three people, including a child, were killed.

Today, Xinhua News reports that the Regional Assembly of Northwest Frontier Province has yet again voted in an Islamist bill, called the "Hisbah" or "accountability" Bill.

In July 2005, the local government of North-West Frontier Province first tried to introduce this sharia-based set of laws, which would be enforced by a "morality police", led by an Islamic official called a Mohtasib. The bill was passed unanimously by the NWFP Assembly, mainly populated by MMA members, on July 14.

In August, President Musharraf tried to stop this hisbah (accountability) bill being passed, according to the Guardian. The bill would have allowed the closure of cinemas and businesses at prayer time, with the morality police empowered to interrogate people about their relationships, and to arrest beggars.

The bill needed to be signed by the governor of NWFP before it could be passed into law. The Pakistan Supreme Court said that many of its clauses were "unconstitutional" in an August ruling. Finally the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, declared the Hizbah bill to be unconstitutional and therefore illegal.

Despite the previous failure of the regional assembly in NWFP to make the Hisbah Bill become binding law, the move today is a sign of defiance of the government. Following the bombing on October 30 of an Islamic seminary in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) region of NWFP, there has been increasing anger from the MMA. The attack upon the madrassa in Chenagai village near the town of Khar, Bajaur agency led to protests by MMA members. The madrassa was governed by the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat Mohammadi, or Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws. It had tried to impose strict Islamic rules on Bajaur agency in the 1990s, and is an ardent supporter of the Taliban.

Similarly, the MMA wish to impose Islamic rules, and also support the Taliban, both inside Afghanistan and their home-grown Taliban who now control Waziristan, one of the regions within North-West Frontier Province.

After the attack upon the TBSM madrassa, a suicide attack was made on army members in Dargai, NWFP, took place on November 9 last week.

It is highly unlikely that the governor of NWFP will be allowed to sign his agreement to the Hisbah Bill, without being removed from office by Musharraf. The president has shown increasing exasperation at the undemocratic antics of the MMA recently. He said after the Dargai attack: The MMA has no right to criticise the operation as they give tickets of heaven to extremists while their own children sit in full comfort at home." He condemned the MMA for spreading false propaganda. They had claimed that the Bajaur madrassa attack was carried out by the US, with Musharraf's approval, an assertion he strenuously denies.

The current Hisbah Bill appears to be identical to that which was passed unanimously on July 14 last year. These are a few details cherry-picked from the original bill's 24 Articles:

Article 3 - Appointment of Mohtasib.-(1) There shall be a Mohtasib for the North-West Frontier Province, who shall be appointed by the Governor of the North-West Frontier Province in consultation with the chief minister of the province. (2) A mohtasib shall be a person who is a qualified religious scholar and is eligible to be appointed as judge of the Federal Shariat Court. (3) Before entering upon office, the mohtasib shall take an oath before the chief minister in the form set out in the Schedule. (4) The mohtasib shall, in all matters, perform his functions and exercise his powers independently, honestly and diligently and all executive authorities throughout the province shall act in aid of the mohtasib.

The Mohtasib shall govern for four years, and shall receive the pay rate of a Judge of the Federal Shariat (Sharia) Court. Article 10 states that the Mohtasib is responsible for (a) Enquiries into the allegations of maladministration against any agency or its employees; (b) Protect/watch the Islamic values and etiquettes; (c) Watch the media established by Government or working under the administrative control of Government to ensure that its publications are useful to the purpose of upholding Islamic values; (d) Forbid persons, agencies and authorities working under the administrative control of government to act against Shariah and to guide them to good governance; (e) Formulate such directives and principles which may help in making the conduct of authorities working under this section to be effective and purposeful.

Article 13 states that the Mohtasib or members of his "Hisba Force" (Islamic morality police) can enter any government office and examine all documents, and can remove any documents, as long as a receipt is provided.

Article 14 deals with contempt against the Mohtasib - any ridicule of his person or obstruction of his powers renders the offender liable to the same powers as are enacted by the High Court (i.e. imprisonment and/or a fine).

And Article 23 details the exact nature of the Mohtasib's duties and powers. He shall be required: (i) To monitor adherence of moral values of Islam at public places; (ii) To discourage exhibition of extravagance, particularly at the time of marriages and other family functions; (iii) To follow code of Islam in giving dowry; (iv) To discourage beggary; (v) To monitor adherence of Islamic values and its respect and regard at the times of iftar and traveh; (vi) To discourage entertainment shows and business transaction at the time of Eids and Friday prayers around mosques where such prayers are being held; (vii) To remove causes of dereliction in performance and proper arrangement of Eid and Friday prayers; (viii) To discourage employment of under-age children; (ix) To remove unnecessary delay in discharge of civil liability which is not disputed between the parties; (x) To prevent cruelty to animals; (xi) To remove causes of negligence in maintenance of mosques; (xii) To observe decorum of Islam at the time of Azan and Fardh prayers; (xiii) To prevent misuse of loud-speakers and sectarian speeches; (xiv) To discourage un-Islamic and inhuman customs; (xv) To check the tendency of indecent behaviour at public places including harassment of women; (xvi) To eradicate the deal as profession in Taweez, palmistry, magic, etc; (xvii) To protect the rights of minorities, particularly to regard the sanctity of their religious places and sites where they perform their religious ceremonies; (xviii) To eliminate un-Islamic traditions, which affect the rights of women, particularly taking measures against their murders in the name of Honour, to remove the tendency of depriving them of their right of inheritance, to eliminate the tradition of Cirri, and to protect their rights guaranteed by Sharia and law; (xix) To monitor weight and measures and eliminate adulteration; (xx) To eliminate artificial price hike; (xxi) To protect government properties; (xxii) To eliminate bribery from government offices; (xxiii) To incite feeling of service to people at large amongst government functionaries; (xxiv) To advise those who are found to be disobedient to their parents; (xxv) To perform any other functions which the Provincial Mohtasib determines from time to time in consultation with the Advisory Council; (xxvi) To mediate amongst parties and tribes in matters pertaining to murders, attempts to murder and similar other crimes threatening to law and order situation.

The last clause, (xxvi) is disturbing, as it encourages the custom of jirga justice, where murders can be forgiven their crime by making compensation under the agreement of a jirga or village council. In NWFP, such jirgas have condoned the barbaric custom of swara or vani marriage, where a murderer or any other criminal can get off scot free by promising a female relative in marriage to the family of the person he has committed a crime against. Vani marriage was officially made illegal in the beginning of 2005, but it is a common practice among the Pashtun peoples of NWFP. Often, underage girls are given away in such "compensation" deals.

Hopefully, the governor of North-West Frontier Province will not be so unwise as to sign this Hisbah Bill into law.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 13, 2006 11:02 AM

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