Drivers and conductors of public buses in Lahore resisted attempts by religious militants to seize their tape players but said they were facing increased problems on entering NWFP.
This was the first indication that actions being taken by the MMA givernment in the Frontier Province, as part of an effort to impose a more Islamic society, are also having in impact on the Punjab.
Activists of several religious groups, most linked to Jamaat-e-Islami have made an attempt to remove cassette recorders and video players from buses at the Badami Bagh bus terminal.
Such equipment has already been removed from vehicles in the NWFP and a ban placed on music in vans and buses.
“When we take our vehicles beyonf tthe Punjab, in to the NWFP, we have been stopped and asked to turn off cassettes.Threats have been made by the Police that they will seize the players unless we pay a bribe,” said a driver who frequently plys the route from Lahore to Peshawar.
Other drivers made similar complaints. However, a potentially more serious fall-out regarding goverrnment decisions in the NWFP concerns the possibility that the Punjab governemt may follow suit.
Although the coalition of the religoius parties, the MMA, holds only seven seats in the Punjab assembly, some of those within the ruling Muslim League (Q) are known to have orthodox views on many issues.
In the past too, the PML government of Nawaz Sharif passed a shariah bill that would have had huge implications, and members of the minority community in the country.
Only lobbying by the women’s activists led to the bill being turned down by the Senate. There is for this reason a fear that, especially if the MMA puts certain proposals before the Punjab Assembly, it may accept these.
MMA'S GOVERNENCE IN THE NWFP
Such a scenario is less likely in the centre, with General Pervez Musharraf(wudnt call him president) still wielding considerable influance on matters of governance, while Prime Minister Jamali is widely seen as a man less likely to succumb to orthodox pressure than Punjab CM Pervaiz Elahi, who has many close ties within the religious parties. The MMA leadership has meanwhile acted swiftly in the NWFP to enforce strict ‘hijab’ on female student in medical colleges, banning music at public places and banning student plays featuring both male and female actors on stage.Three days ago, 25 video shop and cinema owners were detained in the province during a crackdown on ‘vulgar’ media ordered by the NWFP government.
Special teams, conducting raids ordered by CM Akram Khan Durrani as part of a campaign to close down all pornographic and unlicensed movie houses nabbed 25 people, a police official in Peshawar confrimed.
NWFP police chief Mohammad Sameed Khan was among the officers who raided 10 video shops and three small cinemas, police said. Seperately,in Nowshera district, police ordered on Monday that all video shops and Snooker clubs must stay closed during the day. In other areas of the NWFP, MNAs elected from the MMA platform have forced music shops, restaurants and cable TV networks to close down.
Some reports say that in fact , in parts of the Swat valley, TV has been banned altogether, and female students forced to quit colleges 