Approaching the West — Page 72
A pproaching the West—72 the question of whether or not any law is repugnant to the provisions of Isl ā m. ” The Shar ī ‘ah Court had officiating members that included religious learned men who did not have any legal qualification. General Zia-ul-Haq retained the power to appoint or modify the term of the officiating members of the Shar ī ‘ah Court, and made it certain that the religious-based Shar ī ‘ah Court could easily be manipulated to approve and endorse his administrative policies. He went so far as to declare that the Shar ī ‘ah Court could not challenge any Martial Law regulation or order! In other words, he himself and his military command were kept above the Isl ā mic Law. Thus, the ability to manipulate religious law for achieving his personal, political or administrative ends was kept wide open. In his fervor to introduce Religious Law in Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq attempted, in 1980, to raise the Isl ā mic Zak ā t tax which caused a violent discord between Sh ī ‘ah Muslims and Sunn ī Muslims in Pakistan. We all know that Zak ā t is one of the five “pillars” of Isl ā m. But the proposed taxation was not in line with the Sh ī ‘ah religious tradition. They argued that to give Zak ā t was a pious charitable act done voluntarily and not under compulsion of any legal or financial system. They protested against the compulsory collection of the Zak ā t by a Government that they perceived was towing the majority Sunn ī Muslim religious line. The Sunn ī s, under the instigation of their ‘Ulam ā , the religious leaders, violently responded to the Sh ī ‘ah minority protests. By the end of 1980, both Sh ī ‘ahs and Sunn ī s were killing each other in a vicious cycle. For the next ten years, the tragic situation continued to deteriorate. Paramilitary