Press releases
13.July 2005 - 00:00
FEARS GROW OVER ‘TALIBANIZATION’ OF PAKISTANI PROVINCE
A proposed law in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has heightened fears that Pakistan could be moving towards a Taliban-style government in that region.
The proposed Hasba Act would legislate for the creation of a department modelled on the repressive Department of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue in Afghanistan. This department led to religious police roaming Afghan streets confronting men without beards of sufficient length and enforcing the universal wearing of the head-to-toe burqa dress.
The ruling party in the NWFP, the Muttahida Majils-e-Amal Party (MMA), is a coalition of Islamist radical parties said to have close links with the deposed Taliban regime. The party already enforces several policies with worrying echoes of the Taliban’s religious extremism; music is banned on public transport, male doctors are forbidden from examining women and male journalists are banned from covering women’s sports. The party seems determined to push the legislation through the Provincial Assembly, ignoring all objections and suggestions from even the Islamic Ideological Council and other political parties.
This has led critics of the Hasba Act to suspect that it is part of a strategy to impose a ‘Talibanization’ of the province, which would fundamentally affect universally accepted standards of human rights.
Shahbaz Bhatti, Chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) fears that the act, if passed, would be a “hanging sword for religious minorities who would become a prime target for religious extremists”.
He goes on to comment that the act, if passed, would only serve to encourage the terrorist activities of religious extremists who wish to capture all democratic institutions. Christians and churches have already suffered bomb attacks and prosecutions under the existing discriminatory laws.
Not only is the proposed act against all democratic norms and the UN Declaration on Human Rights, it is also contrary to Pakistan’s own constitution. Mr Bhatti also points out that, if passed, the act will further tarnish Pakistan’s human rights record and deter much needed foreign investment and so damage Pakistan’s economy.
Mr Bhatti calls on all Pakistanis to protest against this legislation and to demand immediate action from the President and Prime Minister to stop the enactment of the Hasba Act in the North West Frontier Province. He added that the Hasba Act was “unconstitutional, undemocratic, inhumane and religious martial law."
Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, shared Mr Bhatti’s concerns, saying: “The growing Islamisation of this province of Pakistan is a cause for international concern and we call on Pakistan to honour its constitutional commitments to uphold fundamental human rights by ensuring that this law is not passed.”
Cecil Chaudry, an executive committee member of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Pakistan, said: “The MMA claims to be the citadel of Islam, but in essence, not only is their Hasba Bill anti-Islamic, but also unconstitutional. Religious minorities will be forced to embrace Islam or face the sword and women will be confined to the four walls of their houses.”
A proposed law in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has heightened fears that Pakistan could be moving towards a Taliban-style government in that region.
The proposed Hasba Act would legislate for the creation of a department modelled on the repressive Department of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue in Afghanistan. This department led to religious police roaming Afghan streets confronting men without beards of sufficient length and enforcing the universal wearing of the head-to-toe burqa dress.
The ruling party in the NWFP, the Muttahida Majils-e-Amal Party (MMA), is a coalition of Islamist radical parties said to have close links with the deposed Taliban regime. The party already enforces several policies with worrying echoes of the Taliban’s religious extremism; music is banned on public transport, male doctors are forbidden from examining women and male journalists are banned from covering women’s sports. The party seems determined to push the legislation through the Provincial Assembly, ignoring all objections and suggestions from even the Islamic Ideological Council and other political parties.
This has led critics of the Hasba Act to suspect that it is part of a strategy to impose a ‘Talibanization’ of the province, which would fundamentally affect universally accepted standards of human rights.
Shahbaz Bhatti, Chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) fears that the act, if passed, would be a “hanging sword for religious minorities who would become a prime target for religious extremists”.
He goes on to comment that the act, if passed, would only serve to encourage the terrorist activities of religious extremists who wish to capture all democratic institutions. Christians and churches have already suffered bomb attacks and prosecutions under the existing discriminatory laws.
Not only is the proposed act against all democratic norms and the UN Declaration on Human Rights, it is also contrary to Pakistan’s own constitution. Mr Bhatti also points out that, if passed, the act will further tarnish Pakistan’s human rights record and deter much needed foreign investment and so damage Pakistan’s economy.
Mr Bhatti calls on all Pakistanis to protest against this legislation and to demand immediate action from the President and Prime Minister to stop the enactment of the Hasba Act in the North West Frontier Province. He added that the Hasba Act was “unconstitutional, undemocratic, inhumane and religious martial law."
Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, shared Mr Bhatti’s concerns, saying: “The growing Islamisation of this province of Pakistan is a cause for international concern and we call on Pakistan to honour its constitutional commitments to uphold fundamental human rights by ensuring that this law is not passed.”
Cecil Chaudry, an executive committee member of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Pakistan, said: “The MMA claims to be the citadel of Islam, but in essence, not only is their Hasba Bill anti-Islamic, but also unconstitutional. Religious minorities will be forced to embrace Islam or face the sword and women will be confined to the four walls of their houses.”