RELIGIOUS police in part of Pakistan have been granted authority to enforce harsh Islamic laws that have been modelled on those imposed by the Taleban in Afghanistan.

Since a United States-led coalition toppled the Taleban regime, thousands of Islamic fundamentalists have crossed the Afghan border to find refuge in North West Frontier Province in Pakistan.The area, which is under the control of the Islamic alliance, has now begun to look more like Afghanistan under the Taleban than a part of Pakistan.

The package of Islamic laws that has been presented to the local assembly by the Islamic alliance will bring the province’s education, judicial and financial system in line with Sharia (Islamic law), based upon the teachings of the Koran. The laws ban what assembly leaders describe as “obscenity and vulgarity”.

The local government also plans to set up a “Vice and Virtue Department” to punish those people found violating the rules and to establish Islamic courts, which will dispense summary justice.

Sharia will be the supreme law in provincial matters and all courts there will be bound to interpret and explain provincial law according to Sharia, the Sharia Implementation Bill said. It is expected to be approved by the assembly, which is dominated overwhelmingly by religious hardliners.

“This is an historic day, not only for this province, but for the whole country because we are setting an example,” said a spokesman for the six-party Islamic coalition that swept to power in elections in October.

Since taking over the provincial administration, the radical pro-Taleban government has imposed a number of measures, including a ban on playing music on buses. It is also mandatory for public transport to stop during prayer time. Several cinemas have been closed, having been accused of on “encouraging obscenity” and the display of pictures of female artists on billboards outside theatres has been banned. This month schools were told to replace a uniform of shirt and trousers with the traditional dress of shalwar-kameez. Female students have to wear a veil.

Hundreds of activists belonging to the ruling alliance went on a rampage through the streets of Peshawar, the provincial capital, on Friday, pulling down advertisements displaying women’s faces. They also cut cable television connections. Police stood by as the crowd, led by an MP, smashed shop and restaurant signboards carrying pictures of women models.

There have been several cases of mobs vandalising video and music shops and removing cassettes from public vehicles. Musicians complain that they are being harassed by hardliners who are attempting to stamp out music and films. Several artists said that they had been arrested and treated unfairly by police. Women’s rights activists fear that female workers may be banned from working for foreign nongovernmental organisations.

The provincial administration could find itself in conflict with the federal Government, which will see the “Islamic justice” as challenging the authority of the country’s laws and the Constitution. The federal Government may try to block the laws by opposing them in the Supreme Court.

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