ISLAMABAD, 16 December 2006 — Pakistan’s Supreme Court yesterday blocked a Taleban-style anti-vice bill passed by a provincial assembly in the country’s northwest, a court official said.
Legislators in North West Frontier Province on Nov. 13 voted to establish a moral policing system involving a religious leader who would oversee adherence to Islamic values in public life.
The Supreme Court backed a petition filed by President Pervez Musharraf “seeking an opinion as to the legality of the Hasba (Accountability) Bill 2006,” a court official told reporters.
A panel of five judges headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary “today stayed the Hasba Bill 2006 from being enacted, or being deemed to be enacted into an Act” in the province, the official said.
The judges also summoned the North West Frontier Province government to defend the bill in the third week of January, he said.
The Supreme Court’s ruling instructed the provincial governor not to sign the bill. No bill passed by a provincial legislature can become law until the provincial governor signs it.
The bill was a watered-down version of another one that was ruled unconstitutional in 2005 by the Supreme Court, again following a challenge by Musharraf’s government.
The bill empowers the provincial government to establish accountability courts and appoint ombudsman. It also empowers provincial ministers to access federal and provincial official documents. A unit led by a scholar will be established to promote virtue and eliminate vice, with a separate police force to implement its orders.
Musharraf, who promotes a vision of “enlightened moderation” for his country, filed a petition against the bill on Thursday. Under the previous bill the anti-vice ombudsman was to enjoy sweeping powers to reform the society and enforce the observance of moral values in public places.
The modified bill dropped a clause calling for strict Islamic behavior in public during prayer times and allows people to challenge the ombudsman’s decisions. It also called for the protection of women’s rights.
The new bill was backed by Pakistan’s main alliance of religious parties, the Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal or the United Action Party, which rules the province.
Opposition parties staged a walkout when it was passed last month saying it sent the “wrong signals” to the international community about the so-called Talebanization of the province.
Liberal critics say the proposed accountability body is modeled on the Taleban’s Department of the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue in Afghanistan, which ran a religious police force before the group’s 2001 ouster. An alliance of religious parties won power in the province in 2002 elections. Musharraf has called on voters to reject conservative parties and choose moderate candidates in a general election expected late next year or in early 2008.
