Pakistan sharia law infringes rights, democracy: US

WASHINGTON: The White House said Tuesday that an accord signed by Pakistan's president putting part of the country under Islamic law in a bid to combat the Taliban went against human rights and democracy.White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that the Obama administration believed that ‘solutions involving security in Pakistan don't include less democracy and less human-rights.‘The signing of that denoting strict Islamic law in the Swat valley goes against both of those principles.’We are disappointed the parliament did not take into account legitimate concerns around civil and human rights.’President Asif Ali Zardari's move formalised a controversial deal between a pro-Taliban cleric, who led thousands of supporters to fight against US troops in Afghanistan, and the government in North West Frontier Province.The deal applies to Malakand, a district of around three million people in the province that includes the Swat valley.The central government lost control in Swat, a former ski resort and jewel in the crown of Pakistani tourism, after cleric Maulana Fazlullah launched a campaign to enforce Taliban-style sharia.