Dar es Salaam — The government and the Muslim Council of Tanzania will form a bilateral committee to look into modalities of establishing Kadhi Court.

This comes after Muslims expressed outrage at Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mathias Chikawe's declaration that there were no immediate plans to establish the court.

Tabling 2009/10 budget estimates for his ministry before parliament last week, Mr Chikawe said that some aspects of Islamic law would be incorporated into statutes instead of enacting a separate law for the court.

"We were invited by Mr Pinda and I selected some sheikhs from all Muslims denominations to meet him.

The meeting recommended the establishment of the committee," the Mufti of Tanzania Sheikh Issa Shabaan Simba said yesterday. He said that they had also asked Mr Pinda to clarify the matter before Parliament again.

The Mufti further asked Muslims in the country to calm down as their leaders engaged the government and hoped the matter would be solved soon.

But as Sheikh Simba was calling on Muslims to calm down, other sheikhs in Dar es Salaam were busy planning a peaceful demonstration and special prayers.

The angered sheikhs have asked their followers to embark on 40 days of prayers, asking Alright God to punish 'those involved in the formulation of the ruling party manifesto'.

But Mufti Simba said Mr Pinda had assured him that the matter would be solved amicably and there was need reason to agitate.

He said they were assured by the Premier that Mr Chikawe's declaration did not mean that the idea had been crapped.

"The Kadhi court idea is still alive; the government is just finding the best ways of going about it, I am sure the sheikhs can contribute good ideas on the matter," he said.

"We hope that the government will listen to us and this is our right, so let's be patient as we are consulting with the government; we will fight for this right up to the end.

"I am speaking for all Muslims in the country because I am the one who initiated this move; I want them to calm down as there are hopes in these negotiations," he added.

It is unclear, whether his plea will calm some Muslims, who will start their special prayers on Sunday on orders of the chairperson of all Muslims committees, Sheikh Suleiman Kilemile.

"Because the ruling party has shown disrespect for Muslims we are praying, asking the Almighty God to punish all those who participated in preparing their manifesto, we are also praying to God to facilitate in the establishment of Kadhi court in the country," said sheikh Kilemile.

The decision was made by over 400 Imams and Sheikhs who met at Mtoro Mosque in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

In their statement read on their behalf by Sheikh Mohamed Issa, they said Muslims had been annoyed and sadden by the government's move to incorporate Islamic principles into statutes.

Sheikh Issa said on Friday they would hold peaceful demonstrations to force the government to change its stance on Kadhi's court.

At another press conference last week, Mufti Simba had rejected the government's move to incorporate Islamic Principles into laws and attacked the government for treating Muslims as second-class citizens.