Pakistani Islamists Try For Taliban-Style Judiciary

11 July 2005 -- Islamic hardliners in northwest Pakistan today introduced a bill that would create a judicial system that has been compared to that of Afghanistan's Taliban movement.

The bill was introduced in the assembly of the Northwest Frontier Province.

The bill proposes, among other things, that a religious watchdog be appointed to ensure observance of Islamic values in public places and that a religious ombudsman supervise the media under the control of the provincial government to ensure that publications are "useful for the promotion of Islamic values."

Opposition lawmakers described the bill as fundamentalism and Talibanization and called the draft bill a "black law."

(AFP)