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No room for democracy in Islam: Pak cleric
Radical cleric Sufi Muhammad, who played a crucial role in enforcing Islamic law in Pakistan’s restive northwestern Swat valley, today said there is no room for democracy in Islam and that no one could appeal against the verdict of Shariah courts.
Radical cleric Sufi Muhammad, who played a crucial role in enforcing Islamic law in Pakistan’s restive northwestern Swat valley, today said there is no room for democracy in Islam and that no one could appeal against the verdict of Shariah courts.
Addressing a gathering of thousands of people at Mingora, the main city of Swat district, the chief of the banned Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi described democracy as an un-Islamic system. The existing system contravenes Islam and the Quran, he claimed.
Asserting that there is no room for democracy in an Islamic system, he claimed Pakistan’s rulers are appeasing the West by thrusting the system of "kafirs" or infidels on the people of the country.
Muhammad said many years of struggle for implementing Shariah or Islamic law in Malakand division, which includes Swat, were now bearing results. Claiming that all un-Islamic laws will soon be abolished in Malakand, he asked all civil judges to leave the region by April 23.
“I want all (civil) judges in Malakand division to withdraw from the area. Darul Qaza (appellate courts) should be formed in each district by April 23 and Qazis appointed in all districts within this month. If this is not done, the government will be responsible for any consequences," he said.
