Pakistan Government allows Sharia Law to end fighting

Pakistani government officials agreed Monday to allow Sharia, or Islamic law, in the Swat Valley and areas of North West Frontier Province as part of a deal to hold off Taliban militants, whose influence has been spreading from the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan into Pakistan.

The government will recognize Sharia in the Malakand Region, which includes the Swat district, the chief minister of North West Frontier Province Amir Haider Hoti announced Monday in a news conference.

"All un-Islamic laws related to the judicial system, those against the Quran and Sunnah, would be subject to cancellation and considered null and void," a North West Frontier Province (NWFP) spokesman said in a statement following the talks.

Few details of the Sharia were given, but the spokesman said that laws that fail to comply with Islamic texts would be suspended.