The Court of Appeal’s decision to refer the case involving the custody and conversion of the sons of S. Shamala and Muhamad Ridzwan (Dr Jeyaganesh C. Mogarajah) to the Federal Court last Tuesday has given rise to some interesting issues.

Chiefly, it is going to be one of the biggest tests for the government as well as the judiciary system after the Cabinet made a courageous decision that children of divorced parents should be raised in the religion of the time of their marriage should one of them later convert to another religion.

NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has announced the setting up of Darul Qaza in Malakand region.

Addressing a news conference here on Saturday night, the provincial minister said that “Ziauddin and Moinuddin have been appointed as Qazis at the Darul Qaza, adding that a notification has also been issued in this connection.”

“It is a good news for the people of Malakand who have been demanding for long for the establishment of Nifaz-e-Adl Regulation,” Hussain said.

He said that the regulation would be implemented onwards from today.

Malay- sian government is planning to empower the sharia courts in the country to make it more effective, so as to change the perception that penalties imposed under the law were far too light, reports said.

SECRET talks are under way to bring Islamic sharia law courts to Scotland, The Scotsman has learned. Qamar Bhatti, director of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT), which runs the courts, admitted discussions were taking place with lawyers and Muslim community groups in Scotland. The group is believed to be aiming to set up courts in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

In September it emerged that five sharia courts, ruling on civil cases from divorce to domestic violence and financial disputes, had been operating for more than a year in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and at MAT headquarters in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The courts have legal powers, with their decisions enforceable through the county courts or high courts. However, concerns have been raised about the establishment of a "dual legal system".