The news report of the NWFP cabinet’s recent meeting was confounding at best. On the one hand, the provincial government deliberated on the massive loss of life and property in the ongoing conflict in NWFP and recommended the early dismissal and confiscation of properties of government employees who provided moral and material support to the militants; on the other hand, it unanimously decided to fulfil the promise of appointing qazis in Malakand Division. The NWFP cabinet urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan and Peshawar High Court to establish Darul Qazas and appoint qazis to complete the implementation of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation 2009, the absence of which might cause damage to the peace.

The Nizam-e-Adl Regulation was promulgated in the context of peace negotiations between the government and militants represented by Sufi Mohammad of the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) in order to defuse the situation in Swat/Malakand. This organisation had always used the demand of Malakand Division’s people for quick and easy justice as a cause célèbre to gain influence in the area. The regulation was perceived as a tactical move by the government to expose the real colours of TNSM and its backers. The government did not have to wait long. The other party ditched the agreement by stating that it did not accept the constitution of Pakistan and considered democracy un-Islamic, after which the military option became inevitable. Even the people who initially supported TNSM are completely disillusioned with its so-called Islamic credentials. They are not ready to let the Taliban back in after suffering the trauma of the military operation and internally displaced persons’ crisis in their area. With the retreat of the militants from Swat, we thought the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation was dead and buried and that space had been created for the government to reconstruct state infrastructure as well as the ideological foundations of the area. Whereas strategy teaches that the best time to strike the enemy hard is when it is fleeing the battlefield, who thought that the ANP — the party of descendents of the Khudai Khidmatgars — would protect the ideological brainchild of the militants? The Nizam-e-Adl Regulation is the think edge of the wedge of the re-entry of at least jihadi thought, if not the jihadis’ presence. It is unthinkable that the ANP actually believes this is what the people of Swat really want. In effect, the mandate of the proposed Darul Qazas is no different than regular courts functioning in the rest of the country. The ANP should reflect public sentiment and extend the country’s justice system into Malakand and ensure its excellent functioning, instead of pandering to the obscurantists. *