Taliban Declares Judicial Independence In Swat

The Taliban cleric in charge of Pakistan's Swat Valley has declared the area judicially independent from the country's federal government.

Sufi Mohammad said Wednesday that Islamic law, or Shariah, decisions handed down by militants in the mountainous region will not be subject to appeal or overrule by the Pakistani Supreme Court or any other avenue of appeal in the justice system, reports CBS News' Farhan Bokhari.

"The appointment of qazis (Islamic judges) will be followed by the creation of a darul qaza (Islamic high court). Any decisions made by these two (institutions) will not be subject to challenge in any Pakistani high court or Supreme Court," said Mohammad.

(AP Photo/Naveed Ali)

At left: Supporters of hardline cleric Sufi Muhammad leave Mingora in Pakistan's troubled Swat Valley, April 9, 2009.

It was a direct challenge to the government just days after lawmakers and President Asif Ali Zardari officially approved the implementation of Shariah law in Swat as a concession to the militants, who had waged a bloody battle against Paksitani security forces in the region for months. They agreed to lay down their arms if Islamic law was instituted.

CBS News' Maria Usman reports that, according to the legislation approved Monday by Pakistan's government, the federal court system does have the ultimate say on decisions handed down by the Islamic courts in Swat.

Bokhari reports that many critics of the government's agreement with the Taliban say Mohammad's statement has confirmed fears that the militant group is only clamoring to expand their influence across Pakistan.

One of those critics has been the government of neighboring Afghanistan. "We do not interfere in Pakistan's internal affairs," President Hamid Karzai's spokesman told the French news agency AFP. However, he said there were concerns that, "dealing with terrorists and handing over parts of one country to terrorists could have dire consequences in the long term."

Ghazi Salahuddin, a prominent political commentator for The NEWS, a leading Pakistani newspaper, told Bokhari, "this position taken by the Taliban in Swat must be unacceptable to all of us. This effectively means that there is a state within a state."

"What space is there left for democracy in Pakistan?" asked Salahuddin rhetorically. "What is happening in Pakistan is a retreat from democracy. Our democracy is under siege."

CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that the Pakistani authorities can do nothing. In February, they ceded control of Swat to the Taliban. Now police stations and army posts lie in ruins.

Watch Palmer's full report for the CBS Evening News:

[thetrajectory]

It was bit ironical that while women in Afghan are protesting aganist traditional laws that are discriminatory, the people of Pakistan in the Swat valley have accepted the imposition of Sharia without any opposition. Do the women of afghanistan have greater aspirations for progressive laws than the entire population of swat valley?
http://thetrajectory.com/

[goliath3021]

You know what...as long as they keep their barbaric ways on their side of the pond...i dont give a **** what they do to each other...if their "president" doesn't have the balls, courage...or COMMON SENSE to deal with them...then they deserve everthing they get.

If they bring their stupidity over here?? then forget the whinny bleeding heart's "win their hearts and minds" ...blow both of those body parts right out of their body.

[nuttah1]

This is all a giant plan. Let the Taliban concentrate in one area they are calling their own and let them announce their independence from Pakistans legal system. Then Pakistan can turn their nose up as we send ground troups in to exterminate them. It's a perfect way for Pakistan to let us in to take care of business and it doesn't make them look bad because the Taliban chose that path.

[WITHINMEANS]

In what century are you living stupid? The Chicken-In-Chief is your beloved Obambi since January, did you forget that?
Posted by _BagdadsHere at 7:12 AM : Apr 15, 2009

For 8 years your hero was unable to even find Osama, in fact he ran the other way and attacked a country that wasn't even harboring him. Your hero did more to allow the Taliban to gain more presence than anyone even imagined possible.

Blaming Obama for this after 3 months shows how pathetically narrow minded you are.

[kds562]

"...lighten up on the women a bit" - maybe they can use smaller stones or shoot them in the leg instead of the head for eloping

[Marie Zarankevich]

sayfud-deen -- This is not a matter of LAW, per se. -- In the US, even in New Jersey, having different beliefs does not get you dragged into the streets, your wife beheaded, your children raped, nor your mother-in-law stoned to death. -- We also believe in law, just not barbaric delivery of consequences of that law. -- We do not believe that individuals have any right to harm other individuals, ever! -- What occurs where the Taliban exists is the antithesis of civilization. -- It is simply primitive and Barbarian behavior, and is quite adolescent.

[walt1944]

The Taliban have announced that the area that they have been "given" by the Pakistani government is now not subject to Pakistani law but to Islamic law and thus there is no appeal to any higher authority.

This, in effect, is like allowing Massachuasetts to follow its own lead and not worry about being answerable to the federal government for anything.

Today, the Taliban have Swat; tomorrow, the Punjab; the next day, Pakistan and all its nukes!!!!

Thank you very, VERY MUCH George W. Bush and all neocon Fascist Nazi Republicans everywhere for makeing us all so much SAFER?????

HAIL OBAMA!!!!

[J_G_H]

The deal the Pakistani government made has essentially ceded sovereignty of the Swat valley. Therefore they should shut up about the Predator attacks. They are no longer occurring in their territory.

For the Muslim who defended Sharia law, there is no single version of Sharia, and it is clear that the version used by the Taliban is extreme. I might add that there is a group of Muslim scholars in Turkey reviewing the Haditha because much of it is an accumulation of local traditions over te centuries which do not mesh with the Koran. It is time for Muslims to take a stand, since the Taliban would have no problem declaring most Muslims to be heretics and infidels if they disagree with any of their beliefs. Like art, you are a heretic to them, Like music, you are a heretic, Think women should be more than ignorant breeding animals, you are a heretic to the Taliban. If you do not declare them to be non-Muslim and act accordingly, you have no right to complain when the world tars you with the crimes the Taliban commit in the name of Islam.

[SueziQ]

If Bush had just finished the job in Afghanistan instead of running off to steal Iraq's oil, this would not be happening.

Now the Taliban are stronger than ever and on the verge of taking over a country with nuclear weapons.

Thanks Bushies!

[promaclaura]

In history, "only seven percent of all terrorist groups have been ended as a result of military force." - Rand study.
"Only 18 percent of Afghanis support more US troops in their country." ABC poll.

Get our troops out of that godforsaken place - now.
Posted by inventagod at 6:35 AM : Apr 15, 2009

I saw a lib analyst on a lib show where it was stated that we could be occupying Afghanistan for 20-25 years. The analyst has spend a lot a time in Afghanistan and has a "clear picture" of what is happening, we cannot fix that country and attacking Pakistan to accomplish this spells doom.