Pakistan announced the formation of an Islamic appellate court for part of its northwest under a deal to end fighting between security forces and the Taliban, but a spokesman for a cleric mediating the pact rejected the panel yesterday.
Under the deal struck in February, the government agreed to impose Islamic law in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas that make up the Malakand Division in exchange for peace with militants.
But the pact appeared to embolden the Taliban in Swat, who soon entered an adjacent district just 100km from the capital.
US officials have furiously criticized the deal, which they say will encourage militants along the border of Afghanistan, where US and NATO troops are battling an increasingly virulent insurgency.
Over the past week, the Pakistani military has gone on the offensive to push the Taliban out of Buner district, and said it has killed dozens of insurgents. Still, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government insists it is not abandoning the deal.
NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the formation of the appellate court — the Darul Qaza — meant the government was close to fulfilling its obligations. He said two judges have been appointed to the panel and more will be named later.
Already a handful of judges trained in Islamic law, called qazis, have been hearing relatively routine disputes in Swat. Hussain said more such judges would be named throughout the rest of Malakand Division.
Pakistani officials insist that the deal has, at the very least, symbolic value. By carrying out their part of the agreement, they can gain more support from the public to take action against the Taliban if and when the militants violate the pact, they said.
Besides, a speedier justice system has long been a demand of local residents in Swat, where regular courts are corrupt and inefficient. It is a grievance Taliban militants exploited in their campaign there, one marked by beheadings and burnings of girls schools over the past two years.
The new appellate court takes away justification for militants to keep fighting, Hussain said.
“Now anyone carrying arms would be treated as a rebel and would be prosecuted in the qazi courts,” he said.
But the announcement did not satisfy a hardline cleric who has mediated the deal, said his spokesman. Amir Izzat Khan said the cleric, Sufi Muhammad, was supposed to be consulted on the makeup of the appeals court but was not.
“We reject this Darul Qaza and further consultation is on to discuss the future line of action,” Khan said.
A good deal still remained unclear about the appellate court, including when it would start functioning and whether its decisions could be reviewed by Pakistan’s Supreme Court — an institution that Muhammad rejects.
Asked about the Supreme Court’s role, Hussain said: “The people of Malakand need not to go to anywhere to seek justice after the whole system is established right there.”
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