Monday, January 26, 2009

Pakistani PM rejects Taliban courts



ISLAMABAD, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Monday rejected Taliban courts and said that they would not be allowed to run a parallel judicial system. "We will not accept parallel courts of Taliban," Gilani told reporters in Islamabad. "The government will not allow Taliban to set up their courts and will sternly deal with them." Taliban in Pakistan's insurgency-hit Swat valley have released a list of 43 people, including former and incumbent ministers, who they have declared "wanted" and liable to punishment under the Taliban sharia. The "wanted" men also include former and current members of the national and provincial assemblies, district and local mayors, officials of political parties, local elders and other influential residents of the restive valley. Taliban leader Maulana Fazalullah asked the ministers, members of parliament, political leaders and prominent figures to appear in their court, prove their innocence and to get pardon. At the same time, Gilani said that investigations into the Mumbai attacks were Continuing and the result would be shared with India and the world. When asked about the U.S. missile strikes on the tribal regions, Gilani said that Americans had voted Barack Obama for a change and "we hope he will change his policies". Gilani also hoped that Obama would change policy of drone attacks on Pakistan. He was of the opinion that the U.S. policy had not been successful in Afghanistan. Expressing concern over the law and order situation in some parts of Pakistan, Gilani said that the government was taking solid steps to improve the law and order situation there. He said that that the authorities concerned had been directed to submit report regarding Monday's blast in Dera Ismail Khan and a firing incident in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.

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