Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is between a rock and a hard place confronting domestic Islamist forces and international demands, reports Iffat Idris Today Pakistan comes under intense international pressure to curb religious extremism -- specifically, to control the spread of extremist thinking in religious madrassas or schools -- a development in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has demonstrated just how hard the task will be and the kinds of challenges Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf faces. The NWFP borders Afghanistan as well as Pakistan's notorious tribal belt. Since elections in October 2002, it has been ruled by a six-party alliance of Islamist parties: the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). The MMA has been a vocal opponent of the Musharraf government's policies in Afghanistan and Kashmir, accusing it of selling out to the West, and at the same time has been trying to promote its Islamist agenda within the province. As part of its election promise to implement Sharia law, the provincial government passed a Sharia Bill in 2003. Specific policies introduced to date include banning the use of women in advertising and their photographs in all public places, banning music in public places, and making it illegal for women patients to be treated by male doctors or technicians. One practical consequence of these measures is that pregnant women in NWFP now have to go to neighbouring Punjab province in order to have an ultrasound scan: male technicians cannot do the scan by law, and there are no females in NWFP qualified to do so. The MMA government has come under a lot of criticism from mainstream parties and civil society organisations for these kinds of regressive policies. While some accuse it of violating human rights, others criticise it for ignoring the real problems facing the people of NWFP -- lack of education, healthcare, jobs -- and focussing on "non-issues" like women's photographs and music. The MMA's latest move towards Islamisation has attracted both types of attacks. On 14 July 2005, the Provincial Assembly passed the Hasba Bill. Stemming from the 2003 Sharia Bill, the Hasba Bill sets up what amounts to a force for the "prevention of vice and the protection of virtue" -- similar to that established by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and to that still operating in Saudi Arabia. Under the Hasba Bill, the chief minister can appoint a provincial mohtasib, or ombudsman. Provision for a provincial ombudsman exists within the constitution, but in other provinces its role is confined to examining cases of maladministration in public office. In the NWFP this mandate has been greatly widened to the policing of society. Specific functions of the provincial ombudsman include monitoring adherence to moral values of Islam, discouraging exhibitions of extravagance (particularly in marriage celebrations), ensuring respect for prayers and the call for prayer, discouraging un-Islamic practices, ensuring what is printed in the media conforms to Islamic values, and checking for corruption in government offices. The provincial ombudsman is to be supported by local-level district ombudsmen, and by an advisory council. A Hasba police force will also be set up to enforce the ombudsman's rulings. For a post that enjoys so much power, the qualifications are relatively light: the ombudsman must hold a "degree" from a religious college -- equivalent to a secondary school certificate in the formal education system -- while the advisory council includes two religious persons "of repute". Meanwhile, the status of the provincial ombudsman is equivalent to that of a federal judge, enjoying all the perks and privileges of that position, while that of a district ombudsman is equivalent to that of a district judge. The position of the ombudsman is further empowered by the fact that his decisions cannot be challenged: "No court or authority shall be competent to question the legal status of the proceedings before a mohtasib... No suit or legal proceeding shall lie against the mohtasib or his staff for anything in good faith done or intended to be done." What the Hasba Bill effectively does is set up a parallel justice system, responsible for enforcing Islamic values in society. It is to be administered by religious people appointed by the provincial government, and answerable to no one. The lack of clarity in the provisions of the Hasba Bill give the ombudsman almost limitless scope for action. There is no definition, for example, of what constitutes "extravagance" at a wedding, or of what conforms to and what goes against "Islamic values". This lack of definition also makes the bill open to abuse: acting at the behest of the provincial government -- to whom he owes his position -- the ombudsman could use his powers as a tool to victimise the political opposition. Because his rulings cannot be challenged, no one can stop this kind of abuse. Analysts view this inherent potential to be a tool of political victimisation, as one of the motives behind the introduction of the bill. Ostensibly, the MMA passed the bill as part of its Islamisation agenda. But others believe the motives are more political: first, giving the provincial government power to suppress political opposition, and second, as a campaigning tool in local government elections due mid-August. Critics accuse the MMA government of trying to cover up or deflect attention from its failings with regard to service delivery and economic growth, by raising the Hasba issue. Little wonder there has been so much angry reaction to the Hasba Bill. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) charge that "the bill is discriminatory in nature and will impose a totally arbitrary system of government, dependent on the whims and fancies of an unelected satrap," adding that "the law will certainly add considerably to the harassment, intimidation and discrimination of all non- conformists and political rivals of the government in the province." The leading English daily, Dawn, also condemned the bill: "The NWFP will indeed be pushed back into an era of Talibanisation, with a rigid and obscurantist code of religion being shoved down people's throats, and with serious implications for the entire country's system of governance and dispensation of justice." Mainstream political parties have slammed the bill as unconstitutional and as a blatant attempt by the MMA to influence the outcome of forthcoming local government elections. In the federal government, both President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz condemned the move. President Musharraf filed a special reference with the Supreme Court, questioning the constitutionality of the bill -- Hasba legislation includes a number of provisions that violate the freedoms guaranteed under the constitution of Pakistan. The full nine-member bench of the Supreme Court met last week to hear the case. It ruled that elements of the Hasba Bill did indeed violate the constitution, and therefore recommended that the governor of NWFP not sign the bill. The MMA government, for its part, is still considering its response to the Supreme Court ruling. Irrespective of what happens with the Hasba Bill, the tussle between the conservative, Islamist forces that it represents and President Musharraf's campaign for "enlightened moderation" will go on. As the international community pressures Musharraf to curb religious extremism in Pakistan, they should appreciate the kind of domestic opposition he has yet to overcome.
