Kulsoom dares military regime to enforce Shariat

By Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD, MAY 16. Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of the deposed Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, has `dared' the military regime to enforce the Shariat in the country as the Supreme Court had empowered the Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to amend the Constitution.

``Now, the Shariat can be enforced in a minute. The people demand that the system for which the country was attained should be enforced. There should be no delay,'' Mrs. Kulsoom Nawaz was quoted as saying in Lahore.

Her statement is related to Mr. Sharif's introduction of the Shariat Bill, which was passed by the National Assembly, but could not make its way through the Senate as his Government did not enjoy majority.

Begum Nawaz's statement comes at a time when religious parties have called for a nation-wide strike against the Government moves against the blasphemy law. Though the military regime has merely made a procedural amendment for the registration of a blasphemy case, the religious parties are up in arms in what appears to be a pre- emptive strike against the administration.

By calling for a strike, the religious parties (including the `jehadi' groups) are trying to ensure that the Government desists from taking any progressive measures like the procedural change in the blasphemy law. On the same day, some traders' organisations have also called for a strike against the Government's efforts to document the economy and the probable levy of a general sales tax (GST).

Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, who has also supported the strike call given by the religious parties, is now trying to put forward her (and her husband's) agenda of enforcing the Shariat, a move that will find support from the religious parties as well. It may be recalled that a group like the Lashkar-i- Taiba, which had opposed the July 4, 1999, Clinton-Sharif agreement on the pull- back from Kargil, had supported Mr. Sharif's efforts to enforce the Shariat.

Today, Begum Nawaz is trying to give a new twist to the situation by playing the Shariat card and daring Gen. Musharraf to implement the ``Islamic system'' in the country. She is aware that Gen. Musharraf is personally secular and is averse to injecting fresh doses of religion into the body politic given the fact that Pakistan is an Islamic republic. By pointing to his new powers to amend the Constitution, Begum Nawaz is trying to court the religious parties in the country.

She has also been speaking openly against the military Government and continues in her bid to tour the country to elicit support for the PML (N) and her jailed husband. The strike call by the religious parties has come at the right time for her. However, some of these groups, especially the `jehadi' outfits, are unlikely to forget the Washington ``betrayal'' in a hurry.

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