As Pakistan Restores Judges, Taliban in Swat Sends Some Home
By James Rupert

March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Taliban guerillas in Pakistan’s Swat Valley replaced judges appointed by the government with Islamic religious courts, undermining the judiciary hours after the nation’s chief justice won back his job. The Tehrik-e-Nifaaz Shariat Muhammadi, a militant group, ordered government judges not to show up for work “because we are establishing a true Islamic justice system,” said Amir Izzat Khan, a spokesman. The group is introducing Sharia law in the region as part of a government truce with Taliban fighters. “As of today, the government courts are closed and all judicial decisions are being made by qazis,” or religious judges, Khan said in a telephone interview from Swat. The establishment of religious courts and law is part of a Feb. 16 peace deal signed by the movement’s leader, Sufi Muhammad, with the government of the North-West Frontier Province.

Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, said last month that he was “troubled” by the deal struck in Swat, where militants have burned schools, banned education for girls and beheaded government officials. The decision put a region only 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of the capital outside central government and judicial control. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari yesterday bowed to opposition demands that he reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and judges who were fired in November 2007 by his predecessor Pervez Musharraf. The U.S. voiced concern that the subsequent tussle over the judges between Zardari and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif distracted the government from confronting the Taliban and their allies.

Rule of Law

Democracy and the rule of law are “critical” in “preventing extremism and violence from stalking the Pakistani people,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters yesterday in Washington. The Obama administration will announce its new strategy for the region this month, which is set to include increased economic assistance to Pakistan in exchange for greater cooperation against terrorists operating along the porous Afghan border. The biggest gain by Taliban guerrillas in the past year has been their re-capture of Swat, a verdant mountain valley that was once Pakistan’s biggest tourist destination. Taliban led by Sufi Muhammad’s son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah, have fought the army for the past 20 months to replace government rule with Islamic law. Fazlullah’s Swat-based fighters, reinforced by other Taliban groups in Pakistan, have tightened their control in the valley since a previous truce with the government collapsed in July.

Pakistan said last month’s deal was in the country’s best interests and didn’t represent a victory for the Taliban because it was negotiated with Muhammad, who has foresworn armed struggle.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Rupert in Lahore at jrupert3@bloomberg.net.

Source: Masood baloch