WITH the installation of hardliner Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah as chief of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Nov 7, 2013 the Malakand division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Swat, is again in the limelight. Once calling shots in the scenic Swat valley, Fazlullah was dislodged after a military operation Rah-i-Rast in 2009 and he fled to Afghanistan.

Whenever there was any unrest in these areas in the last two decades the judicial system in vogue there always remained focus of discussion. When the militants were holding sway over vast parts of Swat and subsequently in neighboring Buner district in 2009 the regular courts suspended functioning there.

Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariah-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad, who had entered into a peace deal with the provincial government, had on March 1, 2009 set a deadline of March 15, 2009 for establishment of shariah courts to be headed by gazis.

When the deadline passed the regular courts suspended functioning on March 17, 2009.

Subsequently, the courts also stopped functioning in Buner when the militants entered that district in April the same year. The suspension of courts continued for several months and finally they resumed work when the internally displaced persons (IDPs) returned by Aug 2009 when peace was restored there.

A lawyer hailing from Swat, Shaukat Khan, recalled that those days were veryuncertain and people were eyeing the 2009 peace deal with anxiousness in the hope that it might end violence in the valley.

`Following the passage of the deadline set by Sufi Mohammad, he warned that the regular courts shall stop functioning and instead shariah courts should be set up,` Mr Khan recalled, adding that after his warning the functioning of courts was suspended.

The rise of Fazlullah to the position of TTPchief has once again brought to focus the reign of terror let loose by him and his armed supporters, who had no respect for the constitution and laws of Pakistan.

The judicial system in Malakand division always remained a thorny issue which could be easily exploited especially onreligious grounds. Much before the developments taking place in Swat because of Fazlullah, his father-in-law Sufi Mohammad had stepped up his movement for implementation of shariah and bringing the existing judicial system in line with it in 1994. His supporters had staged a sit-in on Malakand Highway for several days and the then provincial government of Pakistan People`s Party (PPP) led by Aftab Ahmad Sherpao announced the promulgation of Nifaz-i-Nizam-iShariah Regulation 1994.

Through the 1994 regulation the government changed the nomenclature of judges and named district and sessions judge as zila qazi; additional district and sessions judge asizafi zila qazi; senior civil judge as aala ilaqa qazi; civil judge as ilaga qazi (civil); and, magistrate as ilaga qazi (criminal). It provided that the conduct of a judicial officer shall be in accordance with the Islamic principles. It was added that all the processes and proceedings of the court shall be recorded and conducted in Urdu and the court record shall be maintained in the said language instead of English.

That law also provided for appointments ofmuavineen-i-gazi (assistants to gazi) for assistance of the court.

Similarly, the court was empowered to refer a dispute to mediators if both the parties agreed.

When Sufi Mohammad again launched a campaign terming the 1994 regulation not sufficient for implementation of shariah inMalakand, the then government of chief minister Mehtab Ahmad Khan replaced it with the Shar`i Nizam-i-Adl Regulation in 1999. While most of the provisions of the previous regulation were included in the existing regulation some modifications were also made.

The 1999 regulation made it mandatory that the gazi should follow the established principles of shariah while dealing with any civil or criminal matter or exercising power or performing any function or discharging any duty. That regulation remained in the field for around a decade and was subsequently replaced with the existing Nizam-iAdl Regulation 2009 on April 15, 2009 whenthe then Awami National Party-led provincial government signed a deal with the TNSM with the commitment of enforcement of shariah in the region in return for restoration of peace.

The regulation provides that duly appointed judicial officers shall be appointed as ilaqa qazi but preference shall be given to those who have completed shariah course.

A local activist said that the organisations like TNSM and TTP always criticised the judicial system, but when they had the opportunity they tried to get benefit from the same system.

He pointed out that Fazlullah was arrested in 2001 when he retuned to Pakistan from Afghanistan along with Sufi Mohammad and 29 other activists. They had gone to Afghanistan after the US attack in Oct 2001 to fight alongside Taliban.

They were tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulation and in March 2002 sentenced to a 10 years imprisonment on different counts on account of carrying weapons and entering Pakistan in illegal manner.

However, the next year Fazlullah approached the FCR tribunal and he was freed on bail. Similarly, the activist pointed out that so far Sufi Mohammad was acquitted in five of the 12 criminal cases registered against him during the last two decades.

He said that because of the activities of these banned organisations Swat and rest of Malakand division would always remain in the limelight, but mostly for bad reasons.