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Muhammad Amir Rana
The peace deal between the Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) and the NWFP government has raised hopes for peace in Malakand region. The TNSM has assured full cooperation in establishing the writ of the state in the trouble region, and in return government will fulfill their demand to amend and enforce Shariah Regulations Act in the area. The TNSM has struggled for more than three decades to get implemented their demand of Shariah enforcement. Here is the brief backgrounder of the Shariah movement and role of the TNSM.
Till 1969, Swat, Dir and Chitral functioned as princely states governed by rulers who were independent about all internal matters of administration. They had their own legal system. Shariah laws operated in Swat through Qazi. But with the passage of time the institution of Qazi was corrupted by bribes and personal influences. One did not hear good things about many Qazis, but people got cheap justice, and cases were disposed off promptly.
In 1969, when the independent status of the three above states came to an end, and they were merged with the state of Pakistan, the Constitution became operative there and the administrative and legal structures were changed according to the Constitution. The three former states were given the status of districts. In Dir, an armed movement against the government broke out in 1975 regarding the royalty of the forests. To make the movement more effective, restoration of the earlier legal system, according to which the right to royalty and illegal felling of trees went in favour of timber merchants, was included in the charter of demands. This made the movement massively popular, and Zulfiqar All Bhutto had to impose a new legal system through FATA regulations in Malakand division encompassing the three districts of Swat, Dir and Chitral, and beyond.
The lawyers of Malakand challenged this regulation in the Peshawar High Court on the plea that it was against the fundamental rights and legal protection of citizens. They demanded that the same legal system functioning in entire Pakistan should operate here also. In the first phase of the rule of the then chief minister Aftab Sherpao, the High Court declared the regulation null and void. The government of Aftab Sherpao challenged the High Court's decision in the Supreme Court which upheld the decision of the High Court.
It was the time when Sufi Muhammad, a cleric from Lal Qila, district Dir, had come on the scene with demand to enforce Shariah in Malakand and formed Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM). He demanded that the gap created by the Supreme Court's decision to annul FATA regulations should be filled in by promulgating Shariah in place of modern legal system.
His movement reached on its peak on 9 May 1990, when the members of the TNSM pitched a camp in Temargrah, in district Dir. However, when the government did not pay any attention to them, even after their agitation for twelve days, they declared imposition of Shariah in the area on their own. After this agitation, they built their office and began to extend their influence to entire Malakand and Swat Valley and their members began to work in mosques secretly.
Eventually a seven-day long sit-in (dharna) by about 40,000 TNSM’s workers on the Grand Trunk Road forced NWFP government to form a consultative committee but Sufi Muhammad and other leaders refused to participate in any discussion. They stood firm on their one-point agenda of Shariah imposition.
On 17 May 1994, the governor of the frontier province issued an ordinance declaring imposition of Muhammadi Shariah in Malakand division. The ordinance was to remain in force for four months. After the expiry of this period, when it was being transformed into an Act, members of the TNSM again came out for a massive demonstration. But this time the government did not allow them to gather at one place. As a result, the crowd gathered at different places in many districts and demonstrated against the government. At some places they turned violent and targeted the army. Badi ul-Zaman, a PPP’s member of parliament, died in a clash.
The members of the Tehreek occupied many government buildings including airports. Eventually Maulana Sufi Muhammad surrendered himself to the army and agreed to cooperate with the government. He made rounds to all the Tehreek centers with the army personnel and asked members to return to their homes. An agreement was reached at between the government and the TNSM according to which the Tehreek's demand for Shariah was accepted. On December 1, 1994, Governor NWFP enforced Nizam-e-Shariat Regulation through an ordinance. Through the ordinance Qazi Courts were set up for both civil and criminal laws.
The TNSM restored agitation once again in April 2001 when federal government enforced an amended Shari Nizam-e-Adl Act-1999 and demanded complete repeal of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (SC) and the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and more powers to Qazi Courts. But this time government had refused to accept their demands and Governor of the frontier province, Lieutenant General (Retd) Syed Iftikhar Hussain, declared it the issue of non-custom-paid cars, illegal felling of trees and tax evasions’.
The movement was picking up momentum when 9/11 incidents changed the whole scenario and the US decided to attack on Afghanistan. The movement turned against the US and Sufi Muhammad, leading thousands of his followers, entered into Afghanistan for fighting along with Taliban against the US forces.
Sufi Muhammad was arrested in 2001 while attempting to return from Afghanistan and was awarded a seven-year jail sentence by the special court established in the Central Jail, Dera Ismail Khan. The TNSM was also banned on January 12, 2002.
Sufi’s arrest was the real blow for the TNSM but his son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah’s emergence with his FM radio channel helped restore the network and structure of the organization. Fazlullah preceded Shariah enforcement agenda and decided to force the government for that through violent movement, and he set up parallel Qazi courts.
It caused division within the TNSM. Maulana Fazlullah was expelled from the organization by Sufi’s close aides Maulana Alam and Badshah Zaib, while condemning the attacks on Pakistan Army and police. It was the reason, which made Sufi’s release as well as an agreement between the government and the TNSM possible.
Now the NWFP government is reviewing the Shari Nizam-e-Adl Regulation-2008 draft to make sure the peace in the area. In the new draft government can fulfill TNSM demands for repeal of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the Peshawar High Court over the Malakand division and Swat district and to make Qazi courts more effective that they would have to dispose off civil cases within 60 days and criminal cases within 30 days.
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