Pakistani cleric demands Sharia law in one week - "Or we will do it ourselves"

Pak Cleric Demands Shari'a Law in One Week
Steve Schippert

[link to rapidrecon.threatswatch.org]

From Pakistan’s Daily Times:

Maulana Abdul Aziz, the prayer leader at Lal Masjid and principal of Jamia Hafsa, on Friday gave the government a week’s deadline to “enforce Sharia” in the country, otherwise “clerics will Islamise society themselves.” “If the government does not impose Sharia within a week, we will do it,” Aziz told a gathering after Friday prayers. Similarly, he gave the Islamabad administration a week to shut down “brothels”, otherwise “seminary students will take action themselves.”

“If we find a woman with loose morals, we will prosecute her in Lal Masjid,” he said. Sources told Daily Times that the Jamia Hafsa administration would compile a record of brothels and gambling dens over the week, and then launch a drive. They said the seminary believed these places were being run in collaboration with civil society organisations.

“Jamia Hafsa will hold a conference on April 5-6 at Lal Masjid, where ulema will finalise a strategy against brothels and gambling dens,” said Aziz, adding that the drive would not be limited to Islamabad.

Remember that Aziz’s partner at Lal Masjid is Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, who said Thursday, “The students from universities and colleges and youths from all walks of life ask why we do not call for jihad against a repressive regime, but I always say that the time is not ripe. But when pious lady teachers are punished and arrested for the sake of prostitutes, a call for jihad is imminent.”

The Match.

As for The Tinderbox…

Pakistani authorities have shut down an illegal FM radio station set up by pro-Taliban clerics in Islamabad during growing concern about the spread of Islamist influence.
President Pervez Musharraf, an important ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, has long warned against the spread of what he calls extremism although critics say his government has done little to tackle religious hardliners.

Concern about the spread of militancy, or Talibanisation, intensified this week as militants battled police in a previously peaceful northwestern town and hardline students of an Islamabad madrasa launched a Taliban-style drive against vice.
The clock ticks. Will The Falcon flex its talons? Will the Ostrich raise its head further?

Restless activity stirs in The Birdcage. [link to rapidrecon.threatswatch.org]

March 31, 2007 1:43 AM