MINGORA, Pakistan: Judges trained in Shariah began reviewing cases yesterday in a northwest Pakistani region where the government has alarmed the West by agreeing to impose religious rule to make peace with the Taleban.
A pair of judges, or qazis, reviewed 30 minor cases in the Swat Valley’s main city of Mingora but referred all the petitioners to the police for mediation or investigation. A total of seven Islamic courts began functioning in the valley yesterday, top government official Syed Mohammad Javed said. Months of fighting killed hundreds of people and forced up to one-third of Swat’s 1.5 million residents to flee.
A cease-fire struck in mid-February appears to be holding. The provincial government also has agreed to other measures, including closing shops at prayer time and cracking down on drug dealers. Mian Kareem Dad, 55, filed a petition with one of the judges in Mingora in hopes of resolving a long-standing land dispute within his family. He said the matter had languished in the regular courts, but that the new judge had already assigned it to a police officer.
The officer was told to come to the court within two days with the other party, Dad said.
“I have had this issue for many years,” he said. “I hope it will be solved without any fuss and without too much cost. I am hopeful for justice.” The religious courts’ legal standing remained somewhat dubious because President Asif Ali Zardari has not signed off on the agreement to impose Islamic law in Swat.
Javed said the religious courts would operate in several tiers, allowing for appeals.
Judges who already worked in Swat but do not have the proper degree in Islamic law will be transferred elsewhere, Javed said.
