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| Sunday, 17 July 2005 |
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Musharraf seeks to overturn 'Taliban law' PESHAWAR (AFP) - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf on Friday asked the country's Supreme Court to rule on whether a Taliban-style justice law is unconstitutional, officials said. Military ruler Musharraf interceded after the Islamist-ruled regional legislature in North West Frontier Province Thursday passed a controversial bill enforcing strict adherence to Islamic teachings. The court said Musharraf had asked the court to decide whether the so-called Hisba, or accountability bill, was "unconstitutionally overboard and vague and suffers from excessive delegation." "The Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued notices to the government of North West Frontier Province and secretary of the provincial assembly to appear and assist the court," attorney general Makhdoom Ali Khan told reporters. Under the legislation a watchdog will be set up with sweeping powers to reform the society in accordance with "Islamic values" and enforce the observance of such values in public places. Critics say the ombudsman is similar to the Taliban regime's notorious Department of Vice and Virtue in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Provincial Law Minister Malik Zafar Azam said the assembly would stand up for the new legislation. "We will strongly defend the law in the Supreme Court," he told AFP in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where Islamists distributed sweets to celebrate what they said "victory against secular forces" by passing the bill. |
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