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Swat Peace Deal - The Aftermath

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Swat Taleban find Sharia a challenge


Petitioners have been flooding the court of Maulana Ehsan-ur-Rahman (far left)


By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Mingora, Swat


"I am not going to change the decision as it is valid according to Sharia," says Maulana Ehsan-ur-Rahman softly but adamantly.

Maulana Rahman is a qazi, or judge, in one of the newly appointed Islamic Sharia courts in Pakistan's troubled district of Swat.

He is addressing about a dozen people standing in front of the bench in the circuit courthouse of Mingora, Swat's main town.

They are led by a tall, fierce-looking man who adamantly demands an explanation for the court's decision.

He is a commander in the Swat Taleban who fought Pakistan's army to a recent standstill.

The Taleban had demanded the implementation of Islamic Sharia law here.

The government acceded and these courts are the first step in that direction.

The members of the Taleban present refused to accept the verdict and said they would take up the matter with senior Taleban commanders

Court eyewitness

The move led to an outcry across Pakistan and in the international community.

Human rights activists are horrified at the possibility of punishments such as the amputation of limbs, whipping and stoning to death being implemented.

Moreover, legal experts are worried over the challenges posed by setting up a parallel legal system.

But the common people in Swat have welcomed the establishment of the courts and have thronged to them.

"We believe we will get quick and impartial justice from the Sharia courts," says Umar Hayat, a local man waiting to file his petition.

"In the past, cases used to drag on for years, but now they are settled in days. More importantly, everybody is equal in front of the law."

Farmer's win

The "Taleban case" before the court vividly illustrates this.

It pertains to the creation of a dirt track through the fields of a local farmer at the behest of the Taleban.


Maulana Rahman says he has heard 100 cases since 18 February

The farmer filed a case in the Sharia courts and the matter was adjudicated by Maulana Rahman.

The ruling was in the farmer's favour.

"But the members of the Taleban present refused to accept the verdict and said they would take up the matter with senior Taleban commanders," an eyewitness says.

"They also twisted the judge's words and brought in the commander after telling him that Maulana Rahman had said that he did not care if Maulana Fazlullah himself had demanded a repeal."

Maulana Fazlullah is head of the Taleban in the Swat region. His power is said to be absolute.

The clearly incensed Taleban commander demanded an explanation from Maulana Rahman.

The qazi made it clear he had not made any such comments.

But he also reiterated the fact that the ruling was final.

SHARIA IN SWAT
The Nizam-e-Adl (Order of Justice) ordinance implements Sharia in Swat retrospectively from 15 March
Cases are decided according to the sect of the person(s) filing
There are two major sects: Sunni (80%) and Shia (20%) but they divide into many subsects
The Taleban follow the Wahhabist/Deoband Sunni subsects and want their own form of Sharia
Most Pakistanis follow the Barelvi Sunni subsect
For several minutes, the Taleban commander and his henchmen continued to argue.

But Maulana Rahman refused to budge, and fellow qazis waded into the argument in his support.

Finally, they managed to convince the Taleban after quoting examples supporting the decision from the Koran.

They also said they would personally come and investigate the matter if the ruling was not followed.

At this, the Taleban agreed to the decision and beat a hasty retreat.

"This a system that works for us," says Qari Fazal Maula, a petitioner at the court.

He had just received a ruling in his favour over a dispute involving the ownership of his rickshaw taxi.

"I couldn't get a decision despite having filed two years ago in a local court," he says.

"It was a waste of money with all the lawyers' fees and other costs. Here I had to spend 20 rupees (25 US cents) on a piece of official stamp paper."


Most of the other petitioners at the crowded court voiced similar sentiments.

But there are dissenting voices.

"The courts are not admitting our cases," says Farooq Ahmed.

He is waiting to file a petition regarding a property dispute dating back 40 years.

"Cases that were filed before the implementation of the original Sharia draft in 1999 will not be accepted," a judge explains.

"This had to be done otherwise there would be a huge backlog of cases and this would again start the delay in justice."

According to Maulana Rahman, he has so far heard 100 cases since the courts were started on 18 February.

"I have given a decision in 20 of the cases," he says. "The decisions are on the basis of Sharia and consensus."

There is already a minor backlog because of the available number of judges - just seven for the entire district.

Ordinance

The newly implemented Sharia system for the Malakand division is three-tiered.

There is the Ilaqa (local area) court, which comes under the zila (district) court, all of which are presided over by the Darul Darul qaza court for the entire division. This acts as the supreme court.

The region needs at least 20 judges to make the system workable and efficient.


Not everyone is happy. Farooq Ahmed's case is too old
But that is just a problem of resources which can be addressed quite quickly if need be.

The real issue remains the validity of the implementation of Sharia law itself.

A declaration was made for it to take effect from 15 March but the actual ordinance has still to be signed.

"When the ordinance is signed by the president, the relevant code will have retrospective effect," insists a local TNSM leader.

The TNSM organisation, led by former militant leader Sufi Mohammad, brokered the peace agreement between the Taleban and the government.

But that peace may not hold.

Under previous Sharia regulations, courts came to their decisions by taking both the law and consensus into account.

Most analysts believe this is unlikely to change and that it may lead to trouble from the Taleban.

"The Taleban have always said they want the implementation of their version of Sharia law here," explains a local legal expert.

But the Nizam-e-Adl, or Order of Justice, for Swat talks of interpreting Sharia according to the demands of the relevant sects involved.

"This is a sure recipe for disaster," the legal expert says.


BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Swat Taleban find Sharia a challenge
 
The eneducated fools of the Taliban, do not deserve even the Shariah. It is obvious, that if anything more serious than a 'dirt track' case goes against a Taliban Commander or Leader, then the Qazis can expect a lot of trouble. These savages would not be above killing Islamic scholars and Qazis that do not conform to their will

They obviously don't wan't the Shariah, they want their manmaani clothed as Shariah.

P.s. I have a good feeling about the Shariah courts, if only they could be resourced properly, and free of Taliban involvement.
 
if they start targetin qazis then it will be TTS against TNSM. ppl will be on GoPs side this time and things will be different. hope this system works coz otherwise swat might become another bajaur
so far it seems that ppl are happy with these shariah courts
 
The eneducated fools of the Taliban, do not deserve even the Shariah. It is obvious, that if anything more serious than a 'dirt track' case goes against a Taliban Commander or Leader, then the Qazis can expect a lot of trouble. These savages would not be above killing Islamic scholars and Qazis that do not conform to their will

They obviously don't wan't the Shariah, they want their manmaani clothed as Shariah.

P.s. I have a good feeling about the Shariah courts, if only they could be resourced properly, and free of Taliban involvement.

If anyone had any doubt that the Taliban were anything but thugs and a criminal mafia, the article posted should serve as an eye opener. The Jirga system and elders in FATA largely followed tribal traditions, custom and conservative Islamic interpretations prevalent in the area - yet the elders were massacred in the Taliban campaign and the tribal system uprooted, despite being very similar to the 'Shariah; being implemented in Swat.

The Taliban struggle is not for Shariah - it is a fight to impose tyranny and the control of a criminal mafia.
 
swatians want peace only either with taliban or army..they have welcomd shariah courts as well as taliban nd army..but zardari wants no peace in swat..still he hasnt signd the peace deal..
 
They should call another metting, with the taliban leaders and just bomb them, they are taking away the rights of women.
 
swatians want peace only either with taliban or army..they have welcomd shariah courts as well as taliban nd army..but zardari wants no peace in swat..still he hasnt signd the peace deal..

Its not Zardari that is the problem - you obviously did not read the article carefully. The Qazi's are in place, even though not at the required numbers, and it is the Taliban now refusing to accept justice from the Qazi's.
 
Baitullah men are in bad situation after losing any excuse to launch attacks on innocent people and govt after implementation of Sharia and now they find it hard to digest.

mark my words my friend says the deal is going to be broken by these militants in few weeks.
 
Baitullah men are in bad situation after losing any excuse to launch attacks on innocent people and govt after implementation of Sharia and now they find it hard to digest.

mark my words my friend says the deal is going to be broken by these militants in few weeks.

sure this situatuion is bad for those who didnt want peace there..
but i m not agree by the statment that the militants want to break the deal..actually taliban has done what they want but now some1 wants to break the deal..i dont know that y u r saying militants (if u mean taliban)..taliban has opened the shariah courts now der struggle end nd the terrorists struggle has started now to break this deal..

the refusal of our first enemys involmemnt will harm us more n more
 
The welsh soultion is a point we should note.

The welsh had a nationalist political party that wanted its own language to be taught in welsh schools over english and other nationalist issues.
Over time this led to the welsh wanting independence from the UK and the start of mini arson-to turn into-terrorist campaign.
The welsh nationalist party started to gain ground,the british govt in response drained away all support for independence by making the welsh language no1 from teaching welsh in schools to the road markings being in welsh......it left the welsh nationalist with nothing to fight for and sent it back to being a tiny fringe group with no mass support.

My point being that pak govt should give sharia,change the name of the province to whatever they want to call it and so on......leave the pak taliban no issue to fight for and see it turn back into a tiny fringe group without popular support and then we can arrest-kill the motley crew of mullahs involved in attacking the pak army.
 
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If anyone had any doubt that the Taliban were anything but thugs and a criminal mafia, the article posted should serve as an eye opener.
You of all people should talk! You're the one who had faith in the Swat deal. Is it because you had faith that the Taliban would behave this way, so you supported the deal out of a desire for political gain? For that, the people of Swat have to suffer!
 
You of all people should talk! You're the one who had faith in the Swat deal. Is it because you had faith that the Taliban would behave this way, so you supported the deal out of a desire for political gain? For that, the people of Swat have to suffer!

Actually I said that I was very pessimistic over its chances of success, mostly because I did not expect the Taliban to live up to their end of the bargain.

I still am supportive of letting the process (deal) work itself out over some more time - I believe I mentioned a year or so.

Notice that the issue here isn't the Shariah courts, which the people largely seem to be welcoming (for now), its the attitude of the Taliban, and the uncertainty over how they will react if the courts rule against them on something a little more important than 'dirt paths through fields'.

In fact, I would argue that even if the deal does fall through, and hostilities restart, the Shariah courts should stay, because of the reasons outlined by Dabong - that was the idea from the beginning - a marginalization of the Taliban and destruction of their 'protectors of Islam' myth by taking away their 'cause'.
 
...the Shariah courts should stay, because of the reasons outlined by Dabong - that was the idea from the beginning - a marginalization of the Taliban and destruction of their 'protectors of Islam' myth by taking away their 'cause'.
So, you think the people of Swat will love Pakistan more if they are first inculcated with hatred of the Taliban? You think they will forgive "their own" government for purposely abandoning them to the Taliban's tender mercies?
 
So, you think the people of Swat will love Pakistan more if they are first inculcated with hatred of the Taliban? You think they will forgive "their own" government for purposely abandoning them to the Taliban's tender mercies?

The provincial Government voted in by the people of the NWFP, the 'secular' ANP, and many of the political representatives from Swat, and many people of Swat, seem to have wanted this peace deal and the Shariah Courts to see if it could put an end to the violence.

The violence seems to have largely subsided - it remains to be seen what will happen when the Taliban take the law into their hands, and if the courts rule against them.
 
I am very happy that Shariah courts have been set up in SWAT, I believe the GOP made the right choice because this has exposed evil Taliban they probably thought they were above the law now if they decide to go against Shariah courts, I am sure the army and the people will join hands and start a revolt against these Talib thugs just like in Bajaur.
 
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