Islamabad, May 4 (Inditop) The Sharia and democracy are incompatible, says radical cleric Sufi Muhammad who brokered a controversial peace deal in Pakistan’s restive northwest and has pledged to spread the Islamic law across the country.
In an interview to Geo TV, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad said there was great difference between democracy and Sharia.
“Many (Pakistani) religious leaders, including Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Maulana Samiul Haq, are trying to find Sharia in democracy which is wrong,” he added.
The system of the Quran and Shariah is known as Shariat-e-Mohammadi and “we will continue our struggle for its implementation”, the cleric maintained.
Sufi Mohammad had brokered the Feb 16 peace accord with the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government for imposing Sharia laws in Swat and six other districts of the province’s Malakand division in return for the Taliban laying down their arms.
The Taliban, however, reneged on the deal soon after it came into force April 15, leaving their Swat headquarters and occupying the Buner district in the south that is just 100 km from Islamabad.
The security forces moved into action April 26, initially in Lower Dir to Swat’s northwest and then in Buner. Over 150 Taliban fighters have so far been killed in the operations.
On Sunday, the cleric had rejected as “unilateral” the NWFP’s decision to establish Darul Qaza’s or Islamic appellate courts in the Malakand division, saying he had not been consulted on this.
Also on Sunday, the Swat Taliban said the peace accord was “practically stands dissolved” in view of the military action against the Taliban.
Team DainikDisha