Monday, April 13, 2009

Zardari sends shariah bill down to parliament

Delaying the inevitable. BBC

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has sent a bill introducing Sharia law in the Swat region to parliament, amid controversy both at home and abroad.

The implementation of Islamic justice was agreed in February in return for an end to the Taleban insurgency. [...]

The bill introducing Sharia courts in the troubled Malakand division, comprising six north-western districts including Swat, has been sent to parliament for consideration.[..]

The secular ANP party, which governs North West Frontier Province and which negotiated the bill with Sufi Mohammad, is unhappy with Mr Zardari's decision to send the bill to parliament.

NWFP information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told the media the president had not discussed the change of tactics with the ANP.

A spokesman for the Taleban, Muslim Khan, told the Associated Press news agency that MPs who opposed the deal in parliament would be considered apostates.

Apostasy, or abandoning Islam, can in some areas mean the death penalty.
Yeah, places ruled by shariah law.

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