Shar'iah For Pakistan?
Original Constitution of Pakistan Was Always "Islam" - Say Many
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - April 17, 2009
Maulana Abdul Aziz, finally released on bail after almost two years under house arrest, returned triumphantly Friday to his former mosque in Pakistan's capital, where he called on a crowd of chanting followers to spread the crusade for Islamic law across the country.
Thousands of men and boys in turbans and tunics streamed toward the Red Mosque, the site of a bloody confrontation with Pakistani security forces in July 2007, to hear Maulana Abdul Aziz invoke ...
The gray-bearded Aziz, who arrived under police escort, stopped short of calling for violence and described his cause as a "peaceful struggle." But there was an implicit threat in his message and a mood of barely suppressed eagerness for action in the crowd, which included many young Islamic seminary students.
"If the government wants peace and stability, it should adopt the Islamic system," Aziz said. "But if it chooses the path of aggression and force, it will further aggravate the situation."
Aziz, who took over the Red Mosque after his father's assassination in 1998, is known for his hard-line religious views. In fiery speeches to followers over the years, he has advocated the strict separation of men and women in accordance with rules that he said are set forth in Islamic law. He once seriously condemned a female government official for publicly hugging a man who was not her husband.
On Friday, Aziz and other speakers hailed the imposition of sharia law in Pakistan's northwestern Swat region, along with the Pakistan Parliament and President Asif Ali Zardari. All of them approved Tuesday in an effort to mollify extremist Taliban forces who have waged a terrorist campaign there for the past two years.
Pakistan is a Muslim nation but not a theocracy. Like Afghanistan, it is governed according to a democratic constitution and a modern legal code within an Islamic framework. Sharia courts and laws do exist, but they deal largely with religious and moral issues and do not supersede other courts.
A growing number of religious groups in Pakistan seek to make sharia the exclusive form of national law, asserting that it provides swifter justice than government courts and protects public morality from vulgar Western influences.
Aziz's unexpected release Thursday, just two days after the government approved sharia rule in Swat, appeared to signal a trend of official appeasement of strong forces in many places in Pakistan.
Aziz, who still faces at least 26 charges, denied he had made a deal with the government, and it was not clear why he had been freed on bail by the Supreme Court. But his return to public religious leadership seemed likely to inspire a new burst of fervor among his followers and friends.
