By IANS,
Islamabad : Under a new regulation Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has approved for allowing Islamic laws in parts of the country’s restive northwest, appeals against sentences handed down will now be heard by the Federal Shariat Court.
Earlier, appeals were heard by the Peshawar High Court.
The proposed regulation follows a peace deal with the Taliban linked Tehrik-e-Nifaz e Shariah-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) radical cleric Sufi Muhammad Khan that had been demanding the implementation of Shariat laws in the Malakand region.
The Nizam-i-Adl Regulation covering the Malakand region of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), including Swat, will also restore the district and executive magistrates in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA).
The regulation will replace the Nizam-i-Adl Regulation of 1999 that had replaced the PATA Nifaz-i-Nizam-i-Shariat Regulation of 1994.
Under the 1999 regulation, “Shariat bench means bench of the high court constituted for the said area under the Constitution for dealing with any case falling within the purview of this regulation.”
This definition has been deleted and a new provision added which states: “Appeal and revision – subject to the constitution, the Federal Shariat Court shall be the final court of appeal or, as the case may be, revision for the purpose of this regulation.”
Currently, appeals against judgments of different courts in PATA are filed in the Peshawar High Court, except in cases under the Hudood laws.
The government has also removed the provision of muavin-i-qazi (assistant to qazi) from the proposed regulation.
The schedule of the proposed regulation includes around 125 laws that would be applicable to the Malakand region of PATA.