Word: shari
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Even in the best of times, the implementation of Shari'a, or Islamic law, led to quarreling among the country's 72 Muslim sects and subsects over the "pure" interpretation of the law. And this could be the worst of times for Pakistan to try to revive fundamentalist laws. Everything seems to be going wrong for Nawaz Sharif. His support of the Taliban militia in neighboring Afghanistan has drawn enmity from Iran and the Central Asian republics (see following story). India and Pakistan have intensified their cross-border artillery fire in disputed Kashmir. Nearly bankrupt, Pakistan...
...Benazir Bhutto, say the new Islamic bill is likely to increase that tyranny. One interpretation holds that this amendment will anoint Nawaz Sharif as a religious dictator, a supreme arbiter of what is considered good and evil under Islam. Nawaz Sharif, though, contends that only a strict adherence to Shari'a--which relies on the Koran and on the Sunna, a record of the Prophet Muhammad's deeds and sayings--can save Pakistan from "corruption and maladministration...
...Afghanistan observe the undiluted Islamic law. This code of justice punishes a thief with amputation, an adulterer with a public flogging and a blasphemer with execution; a man can rid himself of a wife merely by saying "I divorce thee" three times. The more moderate Islamic states apply Shari'a to family and religion but not to legal and state matters. Take beards, for example: in Afghanistan, members of the ruling Taliban militia will grasp a passerby's facial hair in their fist. If the beard is shorter than the Taliban's fist, the offender is publicly whipped. But next...
Nawaz Sharif may hold moderate views, but human rights activists fear the imposition of Shari'a may unleash an army of zealots. Minorities are worried too. Nearly 15% of Pakistan's Muslims are Shi'ite, and in several cities their mosques and schools have been attacked by Sunni extremists. Last week, after the murder in Islamabad of a Sunni extremist leader and three companions, his followers retaliated by burning down a mosque and several homes belonging to Shi'ites...
...DIED. SHARI LEWIS, 65, puppeteer who animated both her inquisitive sidekick Lamb Chop and the quest for quality children's programming; of pneumonia; in Los Angeles. Lewis and Lamb Chop, a woolly sock with exaggerated eyelashes, first appeared on morning television in 1957 on The Captain Kangaroo Show. Lewis' talent for ventriloquism and aptitude for engaging children without condescension led to four different series of her own. A talented musician, conductor and dancer, Lewis wrote 60 children's books and won 12 Emmys during her 40-year career...