Good News, Bad News in Swat valley....

The imposition of Sharia law means no lawyers...but....

Since Sharia came into effect on 16 February lawyers have lost their job, NGOs have not been allowed to operate, polio vaccination has been banned, Taliban in custody have been released, and demands that Islamic law be implemented in the other districts of the province have made. The agreement signed by the government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Tahrik-e-Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) movement in a bid to end years of war and violence is bearing fruit. Under Sharia civil liberties and personal freedoms are being curtailed and what was once a famous destination for national and international tourism is being progressively “talibanised”.

On Sunday 14 more Taliban terrorists were released from jail, taking the total number freed so far to 48. At the same time TNSM chief Sufi Muhammad’s ban on district courts and lawyers’ presence in Qazi courts (Islamic courts) in Swat has left around 500 lawyers unemployed since Sharia only allows people filing cases and the accused to appear before the new “Islamic courts”.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Sunday also ordered all non-governmental organisations to immediately leave Swat. For the Islamist organisation “NGO is another name for ‘vulgarity and obscenity’,” because they hire women who work with men, in the field and in offices. “That is totally unislamic and unacceptable,” TTP spokesman Muslim Khan said.

The Taliban have decreed that there shall be no polio vaccination because “it causes infertility” and because the vaccine was imported, Khan said.