Word: sharif
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...Nawaz Sharif succeeds in driving his Islamic bill through both the National Assembly and the Senate in the coming weeks, Pakistan, long a reliable U.S. ally in South Asia, will become one of the world's most severe Islamic states. Among Muslim nations, only Saudi Arabia, Iran and 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...
...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...
...imperative that Pakistan shed its tradition of corrupt government, but few are convinced that Nawaz Sharif is the man to do this. His family is one of the richest in Pakistan, yet its members fork out only a pittance in taxes. The armed forces, which have a habit of intervening in Pakistani politics, are displeased with the Prime Minister, and some analysts fear that Nawaz Sharif's actions may increase friction between the pro-Western secularists and religious extremists within the ranks. Warns Maleeha Lodi, a newspaper editor and former ambassador to Washington: "Nawaz Sharif is trying to wrap himself...
Faced with protests from opposition parties, human rights advocates and Islamic scholars, Nawaz Sharif may back down. If he insists on unleashing religious fervor in Pakistan, he could end up one of its first victims, because not all Islamic radicals trust his credentials. Says Maulana Fazl ul Rehman, leader of the militant Jamiat-Ulema-Islami party: "Nawaz Sharif's government is part of the same corrupt system he hopes to overthrow. Only we are the true devotees who will enforce Islam...
...immediate provocation is nine dead Iranians, killed last month when Taliban warriors conquered Mazar-i-Sharif, a stronghold of Afghanistan's Shi'ite community. Only last week did Taliban leaders admit that eight diplomats and a journalist holed up in the Iranian consulate were massacred by the invaders. Iranian officials were equally upset by the defeat and reported slaughter of the city's Shi'ites. Tehran vowed revenge and announced last week that it was dispatching 200,000 troops for "maneuvers" on the Afghan border...