EFL
Islamist groups in Pakistan are up in arms against the abolition of the draconian Islamic penal law called Hudood, after a government commission recommended its repeal last month, saying it has sparked an increase in crimes against women. Enacted as a law by the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq in 1979, the Hudood Ordinance is steeped in archaic and discriminatory clauses, one of the most controversial being that a woman must produce four Muslim male witnesses to prove rape, failing which she faces the charge of adultery. The law prescribes stoning to death as punishment for those convicted of adultery. The testimony of a female is considered half that of a man. Incredibly, Zina or extra-marital sex is considered a crime against the state of Pakistan.
Hudood has been severely censured by human rights organizations and the secular media. Liberal political parties and rights groups have called for its repeal as according to them, violence against women - particularly incidents of rape - have shot-up since the ordinance was imposed. According to an independent study, about 70 to 75 percent of women in jails in Pakistan are imprisoned or convicted under Hudood. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) mentions in its annual report that of the 2,200 women in Pakistani prisons in 2001-02, most are awaiting trial or were convicted under Hudood. According to HRCP, one woman was raped every two hours and one subjected to gang rape every eight hours in Pakistan in 2002. "The actual incidence of rape could be far higher. Social taboos and the stigma attached to rape meant that most rape cases went unreported, with families at times going to extraordinary lengths to cover-up cases," it reports. Women rights groups say many rape cases go unreported partly because of the impossibility of proving the crime under the Hudood laws.
| That and the fact that it's always possible Mom or Sis could end up getting stoned to death. Who'd do the laundry then? |
But liberal opposition to Hudood has led to a backlash from Pakistan’s religious groups. Holding that the law originates from the Holy Quran and Hadith, the fanatics have declared they would not allow the government to touch Islamic law. "We strictly oppose the idea of imposing the suggestions and opinions of a few Westernized women on the nation, contrary to the will of a majority of women," says the vice-president of the women’s wing of the Jamat-e-Islami (JI), Sakina Shahid. The NWFP assembly has unanimously supported Hudood by adopting a resolution in its favor and against the NCSW’s recommendations. "We will never allow anyone to repeal or amend the Hudood laws," warns the MMA’s deputy secretary general and deputy parliamentary leader, Liaquat Baloch. "Hudood should not be considered an act of an individual (General Zia) rather it is a divine law."
| Liaquat is Qazi's deputy amir. It's a sign of Islamic piety to enshrine barbarism like this in holy writ. |
|