Pak court rejects NWFP law

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday said parts of a law that aims to establish a Taliban-style morality police in a conservative northwestern province are against the constitution.

In a brief ruling the court urged the governor of the North West Frontier Province not to sign the bill into law in its "present form."

The province's assembly, which is dominated by a coalition of radical Islamic groups, on July 14 approved an "Accountability Act" that called for establishment of a department to ensure adherence to "Islamic values at public places."

The bill seeks to discourage entertainment outlets and businesses from operating during weekly Friday prayers. It proposes that violators could be jailed for up to six months or fined.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf filed a petition with the Supreme Court, seeking an order to strike the bill down.

A nine-member bench of the Supreme

Court that heard the petition said it will give reasons for its decision later and explain which parts of the provincial legislation are against the constitution.

"We will introduce the bill again with some amendments," Malik Zafar Azam, the province's law minister, told reporters in the Supreme Court after its ruling.

The six-party Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Forum swept to power in North West Frontier Province in parliamentary elections in 2002 mainly on a platform of support for Afghanistan's former ruling Taliban and opposition to the United States.

The provincial government has already banned music on public buses, prohibited male doctors from treating female patients and restricted men from watching or coaching female athletes -- acts it deems to be against Islam.

More reports from Pakistan