KARACHI, Feb 19: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has welcomed enforcement of ‘Nizam-i-Adl’ in Swat, but pointed out that it is the third agreement signed by a government in this respect.

Similar accords had been signed in 1994 and 1999 after popular movements in Malakand, the JUI-F chief said at the Meet the Press programme of Karachi Press Club on Thursday.

Describing it as a good beginning for restoration of peace in the region, he said he would like to ask the democratic forces “who did not believe in the politics at the gunpoint but in the supremacy of parliament” how was a secular party enforcing Sharia.

He said the Hasba Bill had been enforced after discussion and adoption by the NWFP assembly. Even after removal of clauses which were declared to be in contravention of the Constitution by the Supreme Court, the bill was rejected by the democratic forces which termed it a “martial law of maulvis”, he said.

“Don’t you think it was a joke with democracy? How come the believers in Sharia were afraid of enforcement of Sharia?” he asked.

He said the Constitution called for making all laws conform to the teachings of Holy Quran and Sunnah. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) had been formed to enforce Sharia laws with consensus. The council had made recommendations for legislation after examining 6,000 laws. Why were its recommendations being ignored? he asked.

He said measures should be taken to implement the council’s recommendations.

He said there was no movement anywhere for enforcement of Sharia when JUI-F had formed the provincial government in the NWFP after the 2002 election. The party had taken the initiative and introduced the Hasba Bill after holding seminars and discussing it with intellectuals, but former president Pervez Musharraf created hurdles in its enforcement and rejected it, although all the clauses which had drawn objections had been removed.

Maulana Fazl said the Lal Masjid incident had engulfed the country into flames and even today there was no writ of the government in any district of the province.

He said incidents of kidnapping for ransom and murder were taking place, but people were not lodging cases because they did not believe in a government whose DIGs of police were afraid of wearing their uniform and had changed the number-plates of their vehicles.