PAKISTAN PROVINCE FOCUSES ON PRAYERS, CURBING VICE
By Amir Zia

August 30, 2004 - (Reuters) Cinemas are barred from hoisting movie bill-boards and shopkeepers are afraid to display posters featuring women in the historic northern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

The city's only state-run theatre long ago closed its doors to singers, dancers and musicians, who are banned from holding public concerts because the ruling religious alliance in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) considers it against Islam.

Undeterred by allegations it is following in the footsteps of the ousted Afghan Taliban militia, the province's six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) coalition government is bolstering efforts to enforce Islam in every sphere of public life.

Government employees are being "encouraged" to go to mosques to pray, and shopkeepers have been persuaded to keep businesses closed during prayer time, the latest edicts say.

"It's our goal to mould the society according to Islam," Asif Iqbal Daudzai, the province's information minister, told Reuters. "But we do not use force. We only persuade and motivate the people."

The province has also made it mandatory for new public and private buildings to allocate space for a mosque.

But human rights activists and political opponents complain that the Islamic alliance is trying to "Talibanise" the province, a deeply conservative region bordering Afghanistan.

"This the Pakistani edition of Talibanisation," said Afrasiab Khattak, a prominent human rights activist.

"The provincial government is geared toward establishing the rule of clerics from the top to the grassroots level," he said.

"They are promoting a culture of extremism and intolerance, which in its turn breeds violence and terrorism. It is lethal not just for our society, but also for Afghanistan."

The MMA, which includes factions of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and is sympathetic to Islamic militants, rejects the charges it is intolerant and says it had no role in what happened in Afghanistan.

Malik Zafar Azam, a senior MMA minister, said promoting virtue and curbing vice was the government's responsibility.

"The Taliban implemented Islam. They used force because Afghanistan was a different society. But we are doing it gradually because this society is more educated and developed."

SCORES AT ELECTION

The MMA won control of the province in October 2002 elections when it cashed in on anti-U.S. sentiment triggered by the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

But political analysts also link its election success to covert support from military ruler President Pervez Musharraf, who wanted to sideline his main secular rivals -- most notably the party led by exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The party's agenda includes the segregation of women and curbing what it calls vices of dance and music, as well as obscenity and vulgarity.
The measures have made life difficult for some.

"We are in show-business, but we cannot show what we are screening," said an owner of a cinema in Peshawar on condition of anonymity.

"Our business is ruined, but we cannot raise our voice because we fear attacks by stick-wielding students of religious schools," he said.

Gulzar Alam, a Pashto-language singer, said he was beaten and thrown in prison for singing in a public programme.

"I can't hold concerts now. Music and poetry is part of our culture, but they are too narrow-minded to appreciate it. Hundreds of artists and their families have been hit."

The MMA is also trying to introduce a controversial set of laws under the "hasba" or "accountability" act that would empower government-appointed clerics to make judicial decisions, settle disputes and act as a moral watch-dog.

The new legislation calls for a special hasba police force and appointment of clerics as ombudsmen to ensure enforcement of Islamic values in public places.
Azam, the provincial minister, said the act would bring relief to people by providing them with speedy justice.

But Bushra Gohar, who works for the Human Resource Management and Development Centre, said the act undermines state institutions and its constitution.
"It would make society hostage to the narrow-minded interpretations of Islam by mullahs who would act as judge as well as executioner with no accountability at all," he said.

Naseem Wali Khan, a leader of the secular Awami National Party, said the government's proposals were aimed at diverting public attention away from real issues.

"They have failed to end corruption, provide jobs and health facilities to the people. These issues are not on the MMA's agenda," she said.

From: http://in.news.yahoo.com/040829/137/2fqzr.html