US Based Human Rights Groups Blast Talibanization of Pakistan's Swat Valley
April 22, 2009 (Washington, D.C.) - Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari authorized Islamic law, Shariah, in that country's Swat Valley last week opening the door to direct rule by the Taliban. The Pakistan government's surrender to Taliban leaders in the region has already forced a rollback in women's rights, murders of local officials and levy of a jaziya, a type of penalty or tax, on Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities residing in the valley. Two prominent Washington, D.C. based human rights groups, he Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and the Institute on Religion and Public Policy (IRPP), took the unusual step of a joint press release today once the extent of ongoing human rights crisis in the Swat Valley became apparent.
HAF's annual human rights report has long highlighted religious and social persecution of a dwindlng Hindu minority in Pakistan, and the foundation is concerned that recent events will exacerbate these abuses. After at least 200 Sikhs fled from the restive Taliban-dominated region to various Sikh temples in Pakistan according to a several reports last week, HAF and the IRPP reacted with their release today.
"The decision of the Pakistan government to impose Sharia law on entire regions of Pakistan in concessions aimed at pacifying a spreading Taliban insurgency has brought about the unfortunate and expected results of greater persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan," said Joseph Grieboski, President of IRPP. "Hindus and Sikhs are fleeing the Swat region with no help whatsoever from Islamabad."
The Taliban's Islamic scholars purport to issue rulings based on a combination of their interpretatons of the Qur’an (the Muslim holy book) and the Hadith (reports of statements and actions of the prophet Muhammad), and their laws are to cover all aspects of life from personal acts of worship and commercial dealings to marriage, divorce, crime and punishment.
"Wherever Sharia has been imposed as the basis of controlling any society--as is the case in Saudi Arabia and Iran--adherents of non-Muslim traditions and women have been the immediate casualties," said Ishani Chowdhury, Director of Public Policy at HAF. "We join with the IRPP and many other human rights advocates in condemning the events in the Swat Valley that testify to the perverse nature of Taliban justice and Pakistan's inept central government."
Over the last two years as Taliban leaders strengthened their hold in the Swat Valley, residents have witnessed the demolition of approximately 200 all-girl schools, the beheadings of dozens of local officials and paramilitary troops and very recently, the flogging of a 17-year-old girl for allegedly refusing to marry a militant commander, according to press reports.
"By his imposition of Islamic Shariah in Swat, Zardari and the Pakistani Parliament are undermining and destroying any hope for a liberal democracy in Pakistan and protection of fundamental rights in the entire country," Grieboski added.
Click here to listen the radio interview of HAF's Ishani Chowdhury, by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy on the issue.