Pakistan's fiercely independent Pakhtun tribals become sacrificial lambs for Shariat.
Malakand's Islam is no different from the one being practised by the Taliban in Afghanistan," boasted the jubilant governor of Pakistan's North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP). He was referring to the promulgation of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation 1999 (System of Islamic Justice Regulation) on 16 January, coinciding with the 27th of Ramzan, the most sacred day in the Islamic lunar calendar. This was the second promulgation of the Shariat in four years in Malakand, and came at a time when the central government of Nawaz Sharif was facing stiff opposition to its move of introducing the Shariat elsewhere across the country.
Since colonial times, Malakand, a mountainous region comprising seven districts of NWFP, has been ruled by special laws called Provincially Administered Tribal Areas Regulations (PATA). The British introduced this special arrangement for Malakand primarily because of the difficulty in governing this land of deeply religious and fiercely independent Pakhtun tribais. The arrangement was continued by independent Pakistan. Under PATA, the judicial process is controlled by a hierarchy of executive officers who rule with the help of local notables. This perhaps explains the region's high degree of crime and lawlessness.
An attempt was made to change this structure in January 1994, when the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that PATA contradicted the basic human rights laws as enshrined in the country's constitution. Islamabad began preparations to include Malakand within the purview of Pakistan's Penal Code. And that is what might have happened had it not been for the vehement opposition from a local religious group.