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Pakistanis Decry Taliban Sharia Law

By Drew Nelles, Newser Staff

Posted May 10, 2009 6:30 PM CDT

(Newser) – Public opinion is swinging against Sharia law in Pakistan's Swat Valley as tens of thousands flee fighting between Pakistani forces and the Taliban, the Washington Post reports. A public fed up with inefficient and corrupt secular courts once welcomed the Taliban's version of religious law, but lawmakers and pundits now say the Taliban's harsh punishments are part of a power grab that disrespects the Koran.

Two months ago, a videotape of Taliban hoods whipping a teenage girl accused of an affair shocked many in Pakistan. Now scholars are reminding Swat Valley residents that religious courts are designed to be cautious, and exact high standards of proof. "That's why nobody's hand is ever cut off here," one scholar said. Despite the outcry, observers say most people are afraid to speak up. "With each passing month a deeper silence prevails," one columnist wrote.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (2)]

A child sits with his mother in a car at a refugee camp near Mardan, in northwest Pakistan, Saturday, May 9, 2009. Hundreds of thousands of residents have fled fighting in Swat Valley. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

A local resident who was injured in fighting between security forces and Taliban militants sits in the compound of a local hospital after receiving initial treatment in Mingora, Saturday, May 9, 2009. (AP Photo)

In this April 24, 2009 picture, Pakistani Taliban leave Buner, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Naveed Ali, File)

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The Koran is very clear that there should be no coercion in religion. You cannot cram it down people's throats. This is where the Taliban destroyed their own case. - Khurshid Ahmad, Islamic scholar and national legislator

When people talk about sharia law and punishments like cutting off a thief's hand, they don't realize there are 13 preconditions that have to be met before that punishment is ordered. - Raja Zafar ul-Haq, an Islamic scholar and political activist

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COMMENTS

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Showing 2 of 2 comments

freethemall

May 11, 2009 8:20 AM CDT

I've not read the Koran, except for an excerpt from Sam Harris's book titled "The End of Faith". Those passages from the Koran were tedious, violent, and barbaric, but there was no mention of burkhas or the hijab. Of course, there is much in the Old Testament that is just about as violent and barbaric as those passages from the Koran, but there are other parts of the Old Testament are edifying. According to Harris, there is very little in the Koran that isn't violent and barbaric. I recommend his book to any open minded person.

freethemall

May 11, 2009 3:34 AM CDT

The Taliban are fundamentalist muslims who interpret the Koran literally. Say what else you will about them, they do not disrespect the Koran, any more than fundamentalist Christians who interpret the Bible literally disrespect the Bible. I pity those who are under the power of the Taliban, even more than I would pity any who fell under the power of fundamentalist Christians, though not much more.

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Islam • Taliban • Pakistan • courts • Islamic Sharia law • Swat Valley

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