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PAKISTAN: New bill on women's rights divides opinion

17 Nov 2006 12:37:57 GMT
Source: IRIN

LAHORE, 17 November (IRIN) - The Protection of Women bill, finally passed by Pakistan's National Assembly on Wednesday after many months of bitter debate and controversy, continues to divide public opinion.

On Thursday, the Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA), an alliance of religious parties which holds 53 seats in the 342-member national assembly, upped the pressure on the government by threatening to resign collectively.

As religious parties, clerics and their supporters continue an angry condemnation of the bill, rights activists who have been campaigning since 1979 for a scrapping of the Hudood laws - which impose penalties for a range of crimes including rape and adultery - have cautiously welcomed the change in the law.

"It represents a step forward, but it is not enough. We continue to demand the Hudood laws be scrapped entirely, and this bill shows the laws can be changed," Asma Jahangir, leading rights activist and chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), told IRIN.

The controversial Hudood laws, introduced in 1979 by the late military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq as part of his sweeping policies of 'Islamisation', have been regarded by women's rights activists as highly discriminatory.

Thousands of women facing accusations of adultery have in recent decades served long periods in jail as a result of the laws. In many cases, an accusation of adultery was enough to place a woman behind bars, with trials often continuing for years.

The Hudood laws also posed a risk to any woman reporting rape. If she was unable to prove the crime – with the law requiring she produce four male Muslim witnesses to do so – she stood in danger of being charged, by her own admission, under adultery laws, which also carried a possible penalty of death by stoning. The punishment has never been officially enforced.

The Protection of Women bill, passed by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) which holds 69 parliamentary seats, with the support of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) which holds 71, offers some relief for women charged under rape or adultery laws.

The punishment for adultery, described in the bill as 'lewdness' has been cut from death to five years imprisonment and a Rs 10,000 (US $166) fine. In order to reduce accusations of adultery being used against women, a false accusation now carries a sentence of 10 years in jail.

In cases of rape, judges will decide whether the trial will take place in a secular civil court or an Islamic court. Four witnesses to prove the crime are no longer required.

The move to amend the Hudood laws began early this year, when the government initiated a campaign of debate and discussion on the laws on television and in the press. Despite the recommendation in 2003 of the National Commission on the Status of Women that the laws be repealed, orthodox clerics had argued for years that they were divinely ordained, and as such could not be altered.

Meanwhile, in a continuing series of angry diatribes, MMA leader and chief of the influential Jamaat-e-Islami party (JI), Qazi Hussain Ahmed, described the bill as being "un-Islamic and designed to encourage immoral behaviour." Other religious leaders have commented that the bill could turn Pakistan into a "free sex zone".

A campaign against the bill has been swiftly launched, and handbills appeared on some walls in the northeastern city of Lahore on Friday urging "all Muslims' to protest against the bill. It is believed the student wing of the JI is spearheading these efforts.

Clerics leading Friday prayers during their sermons are also expected to lash out against the bill. Some have already held it could be used to implicate men in false cases of rape.

But despite these fiery warnings, women activists remain united in their determination to ensure the change to the law is followed by other changes that can better the plight of women.

Spokeswoman for the Lahore-based Women's Action Forum (WAF), which through the 1980s led the struggle against discriminatory laws, Khawer Mumtaz, said: "We think these amendments are not enough, but they set an example that negative laws can be changed. This shows the Hudood laws were not made by God, and they can be repealed."

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Last updated:Fri Nov 17 12:38:41 2006