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Thu, 25 Jan 2001 19:08:39 -0000 |
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Thursday, January 25, 2001
JUWARA TO LAUNCH
CAMPAIGN AGAINST
SHARIAH
The national mobiliser of the opposition UDP, Lamin Waa
Juwara, has announced that he plans to launch a campaign
against the introduction of the strict Muslim law, shariah,
in The
Gambia.
In a Daily Observer interview yesterday, Mr Juwara said
advocates for the introduction of shariah in The Gambia "do
not
realise that shariah is a political system. The debate on
shariah is
being misrepresented by religious leaders because shariah
is a
political system with a distinct state organisation and
governance
and it is therefore not a matter for Islamic religious
leaders only
but also for the entire citizens of a given state.
If The Gambia goes shariah, it is not the imam ratib who is
going
to be the head of state. If there is to be shariah in this
nation, will
there be room for a multi-party democratic set-up? Will
Islam not
be mixed with politics, thereby making all our religious
leaders
politicians? The answers to these sorts of questions are
the
reasons why shariah is not feasible in The Gambia." Mr
Juwara
said The Gambia has more pressing problems to address than
to
try to "overturn our secular democratic system that has
brought
us peace and unity as a people with different political
fates. I do
not see how anybody can say that the introduction of
shariah will
not affect non-Muslims.
How is the judiciary going to work? Will we not be
permanently
denying Christians the right to leadership of the country?
What is
going to happen to this current government because it
comprised
of both Muslims and Christians?" Mr Juwara chastised that
"a
handful of Muslim leaders can never introduce shariah in
this
country. As a politician, I am totally opposed to the
introduction
of shariah in The Gambia and anybody who wants to introduce
it
should know that I will lead a stiff campaign against it
because as
a political system, I know what it entails." Mr Juwara
appealed to
both Muslims and non-Muslims to reject the introduction of
shariah "anyhow they are able to do it."
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