Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari has signed a law introducing Islamic ‘shariah’ law in the picturesque Swat valley in northwestern Pakistan in an attempt to end Taliban violence, but critics warn that it could encourage Taliban influence to spread further in the fragile country.

Lawmakers in the lower house of parliament on Monday unanimously approved a resolution paving the way to install Islamic law in courts in the Malakand region, of which Swat is the headquarters.

Mr Zardari immediately followed the parliamentary resolution by formally approving the law, agreed on between the government and Islamic militants in February to end months of intense fighting between the Pakistani military and Taliban militants.

However, critics denounced the law on the grounds that it would embolden the Taliban to demand similar ‘shariah’ Islamic law elsewhere outside Malakand.

“This step by the government will only embolden the Taliban movement in the sense that if they demand for something, the government concedes, and then they come back with more demands” said Asma Jehangir, a Pakistani human rights lawyer.

The agreement has attracted fresh controversy after a group of Pakistani human rights activists earlier this month released footage showing the Taliban publicly whipping a 17 -year old woman in Swat after she was accused of adultery. The incident sparked fresh debate over the Taliban’s particularly harsh brand of justice.

“If you are the Taliban and you believe in such public displays of harsh measures, you are then capable of doing anything, especially once you have legal cover” warned a western diplomat in Islamabad. “The danger is that these laws give cover to practices that have questionable legitimacy.”

However, a Pakistani government official said the deal was vital to bring peace to Swat as a prerequisite for the government re-establishing its control over the area. “This was a bitter pill that had to be swallowed in the long term interest of Swat and its surrounding region” said the official.


who would have thought!? mashallah, i hope pakistan has shariah Law all over!