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Sharief's pro-Islam law incurs critics' wrath

''Let us join hands to make Pakistan a strong and just society free of zulm (cruelty) and na-insafi (injustice),'' reads the text of a newspaper advertisement in Lahore.

This is one of the many appearing in leading newspapers recently to hammer home Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's announcement on Friday that his government would ''make the Quran and the Sunnah (Islamic traditions) the supreme law of Pakistan''.

The notice went as far as inviting suggestions and queries over fax, phone, post and email at khidmat@yahoo.com.

But while these ''public service messages'' try to drum up support for Sharief's move, his pronouncement -- seen almost universally as an attempt by a floundering government to consolidate power -- has been blasted publicly even by religious organisations.

The government has said its introduction of a constitutional amendment to establish a legal system based on the Quran would help curb what Sharief called ''rampant incidents of terrorism, lawlessness, injustice, corruption and mismanagement''.

Religious parties like the right-wing Jamat-e-Islami may accept the bill conditionally, if Sharief agrees not to make the amendment to Article 239 of the constitution which would result in an increase of governmental powers.

But non-government organisations and human rights groups make it clear they will not accept the bill, the proposed 15th amendment to the Constitution, in any form.

''The proposed measure is the most blatant and shameful attempt to date to exploit religion for petty political gain,'' said a statement by a group of 16 NGOs in Islamabad on Friday.

''Proceeding from a subjective and distorted interpretation of Islam, the bill seeks to destroy the constitutional basis of the state and divert the people from a democratic creed,'' it added.

Officials have said the bill does not mean a shift to fundamentalism and will not lead to the trampling of minority or women's rights.

But ''women are often the first victims of such moves to establish undemocratic policies, norms and institutions,'' commented sociologist Fareeda Shaheed of the Shirkat Gah collective, a women's resource centre.

''We've seen it happen under Zia,'' she added, referring to Gen Zia-ul Haq who took power in a 1977 military coup and stayed till his death in a mysterious plane crash in 1988.

Sharief is seen as a protege of Zia, who blatantly used religion to try and justify his illegal stint in power.

''Throughout Zia's time, women were made into symbols of identity, national and religious, and oppressed on these grounds,'' explained Shaheed.

''The law minister's attempts to reassure the people of Pakistan that the proposed bill will not impinge upon the rights of women and minorities is a laugh,'' said Shahtaj Qizilbash, convenor of the Joint Action Committee for People's Rights.

The proposed amendment has been blasted by religious minorities, who point out that they are already underprivileged. ''The constitutional guarantees of equality to all citizens give us no protection,'' said Joseph Francis, general secretary of the Pakistan Christian National Party.

He points to a media report this month that President Rafiq Tarrar, a visibly right-wing nominee of Sharief's, has initiated a crackdown against religious minorities. The report, which has not been contradicted, says a presidential directive has ordered the removal of religious minorities from key official posts.

''We have few people in key posts anyway,'' argued Francis, pointing to the recent non-confirmation of Sindh high court judge M L Shahani, a Christian, when his Muslim colleagues were confirmed.

Francis said Shahani was the first Christian to make it as a high court judge since 1965, but has now been ''brushed aside''.

Sharief has also come under fire for resorting to the Islamic legal system to counter criticism from fundamentalist groups, to appeal to religion given difficult economic times in the wake of the May nuclear tests.

''It is simply a decoy by the government to divert attention from its own failure in protecting the security of the country,'' the JAC said in a media conference in Lahore on Monday.

JAC, a network of 35 NGOs and labour groups, sees the proposed amendment as a direct threat to the very existence of the state.

''It strikes at federal principles by letting the federation assume full and unshared responsibility for conceiving and enforcing what it considers is right and prohibiting what it decides is wrong according to its own perceptions of the principles of Islam,'' it added.

I A Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said, ''The federal government would be able to pass any directive regulating the lives of the people and 'state- functionaries', including members of the superior judiciary. Those not complying with these directives can be either lynched or dismissed from their offices.''

''Every ruler in Pakistan who has been in trouble has tried to use Islam to save himself, and it has never worked. We don't need Nawaz Sharief to tell us how to be good Muslims, especially when his real attempt is to secure his own power,'' argued Tahira, a college student.

The opposition to Sharief's move also stems from the perception that the bill would undermine parliament by reducing the special importance given to amendments of the Constitution, which the government now proposes should be made through a simple majority, as opposed to the two-thirds majority now required.

Lawyer Asma Jahangir, the country's best-known human rights activist, said scathingly, ''It strikes at the judiciary itself, leading the way toward controlling it and setting up a tailor-made judiciary which will comply with the prime minister and the president's wishes and whims.''

UNI

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