No sane person could be against protection of women's rights. After all he/she is son or daughter of a great woman
Thursday, November 16, 2006
To,
The Editor,
Letters to the Editor Column
Subject: Women's Right Bill
Dear Editor: Peace be upon you and your family.
No sane person could be against protection of women's rights. After all he/she is son or daughter of a great woman. However while Musharraf is trying to pretend be the champion of women's rights, let us not forget the following:
· Under the new laws the rapist can be sentenced to jail for one day only as the maximum punishment for the rapist is 25 years while minimum is not mentioned. It could be just one day! This would thus suit the rich and influential to get off the hook easily and many people will be forced to take the law in their own hand to punish the rapist and others will suffer from infinite depression for too soft treatment to the rapist. The rapist after release from jail will again commit rape and indulge in more crimes as jails are usually Crime Universities where one's crime capabilities are polished and improved. There had been numerous cases including one narrated by Ex Baptist Church leader and now reverted to Islam Amina Salimi of USA in her speech that a rapist in USA raped a woman twice after being sentenced to jail for first rape. In his third rape he even killed the woman in front of her children. The news laws are thus not pro woman but against woman and her family. In Islam the rapist would be killed, period which is much more humane to the victim and the society and would put a very powerful control over potential rapists.
· Musharraf had no regard for women and children as he had detained many Pakistani citizens illegally without telling their whereabouts to their mothers, wives and children
· Musharraf himself is known to be heavy drunken and womanizer person as is evident from his confessions in his book has no respect for the honor of woman and Islamic laws
· Musharraf according to his own confession has killed 83 children and teenagers without giving them a chance of fair trial and defense. Where were his feelings for the mothers and sisters of those children and teenagers??? ?
· Musharraf handed over many innocent people including Afghan Ambassador to be kept and tortured in Guantanamo prison without trial. Where were his feelings for the mother, wives and daughters of these handed over persons? Musharraf has admitted that he had received millions of dollars in return for handing over these people to Bush. This reminds us the tradition of Shah Nawaz Bhutto and others who handed over Hur Mujahideen to British rulers in order to get lands of the poor Harees.
If Musharraf had genuine concern for women he would have tried to abolish prostitution and stopped the vulgar culture and programs which lead to rape and abuse of women. One PPP MNA on TV 1 yesterday actually defended prostitution. Both PPP and Nawaz League had displayed their hypocrisy by voting for the bill or remaining silent.
Islam is the best protector of women's rights. Through modesty and lowering the gaze on part of man and woman, Islam does not allow to take woman as a physical object of pleasure. The Hijab actually deprives the chauvinist man to enjoy the beauty of honored and respected woman. Islam thus prevented woman from lustful eyes of the bigot men. The Western Jahilia culture is not new as vulgarity and abuse of women are very ancient. Quran had referred to this as Jahilia. The Western degenerating and necrotic Sub Animal Materialism (SAM) has an obvious clash with Islam which provides total protection of woman, family and society. The current bill is thus an implementation of the Bush Blair orders which in turn originated from die hard Zionists and Neo Cons which have unleashed A War of Terrorism on Islam on all fronts.
There is a genuine need to bring sincere and practical laws based on Islam to protect woman at all levels throughout the world. I also strongly protest against those who label Islamic laws as harsh! Actually these are the most humane from the view points of the victims, their families and for prevention and stopping of breeding of new generations and breeds of potential criminals.
With Kindest Regards
Sincerely yours,
Prof. (Dr.) Anwar Ul Haque
Consultant Pathologist
116. St. 49 F 11/3 Islamabad 44000
Pakistan
Phone: 2293707 (Home), 9260189 (office), 03335129849 (cell)
Reply:
Pakistan lower house of parlim
Replied by(
Ghost)
Replied on (15/Nov/2006)
Pakistan lower house of parliment voted on wednesday
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's lower house of parliament voted on Wednesday to put the crime of rape under the civil penal code, curtailing the scope of Islamic laws that rights groups have long criticized as unfair to women.
The Women's Protection Bill was seen as a barometer of President Pervez Musharraf's commitment to his vision of "enlightened moderation" and a major battle in a struggle between progressive forces and religious conservatives over the Muslim nation's course.
"It is a historic bill because it will give rights to women and help end excesses against them," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the assembly after the vote.
The Islamic laws, known as the Hudood Ordinances, were introduced by a military ruler, President Zia-ul-Haq, in 1979. They made a rape victim liable to prosecution for adultery if she could not produce four male witnesses to the assault.
The main amendment approved on Wednesday takes rape out of the sphere of the religious law and puts it under the penal code.
That does away with the requirement for four male witnesses and will allow convictions to be made on the basis of forensic and circumstantial evidence.
The amendment bill must be approved by the upper house of parliament before it becomes law.
Human rights campaigners have long pressed for total repeal of the Islamic laws, but have nevertheless welcomed moves to amend them.
The amendments were fiercely opposed by an alliance of Islamist parties, which make up the main opposition bloc in parliament.
"SOME RELIEF"
Islamist lawmakers walked out of parliament, boycotting the vote, after leader Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman told the assembly the change to the law would encourage free sex.
"This is an attempt to create a free sex zone in Pakistan," he said. "Existing laws are correct and should be maintained ... The changes are not in line with Islamic teaching."
In an apparent concession to conservatives, an amendment was introduced shortly before the vote setting down punishment of up to five years in prison for extra-marital sex, though sex outside marriage had always been an offence under laws on adultery.
Opposition members of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's more liberal Pakistan People's Party supported the bill.
"It's something that's partial. It's half-way. We would have liked to see a total repeal of these anti-women and discriminatory laws," Sherry Rehman, a senior member of Bhutto's party told Reuters.
"We felt that since there was some relief provided to women in this particular bill, we would not stand in its way."
The amendments also introduced the concept of statutory rape, outlawing sex with girls under 16. The Islamic code had banned sex with girls before puberty.
The government abandoned an attempt to pass the bill in September in the face of a threat from Rehman's Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance to pull out of the national and provincial assemblies if it was passed.
The Islamist leader did not repeat that threat on Wednesday, and analysts said it was unlikely the religious parties would risk losing influence.
The debate came two days after Islamists ruling North West Frontier Province passed a controversial bill to introduce what critics said would be a Taliban-style religious police force.
The Islamist-led provincial government succeeded in getting a watered-down version of its bill adopted on Monday after the Supreme Court last year blocked it, saying several clauses were unconstitutional.
Reply:
GOVT HAS TAKEN AN ANTI ISLAMIC
Replied by(
Noman)
Replied on (15/Nov/2006)
GOVERNMENT HAS TAKEN AN ANTI ISLAMIC STEP BY PASSING HADOOD CANCELLATION BILL -- JUSTICE ( R ) TAQI USMANI / MUFTI MUNEEB (URDU)
Reply:
Rights body asks Pervez to ref
Replied by(
Noman)
Replied on (15/Nov/2006)
The US-based Human Rights Watch has asked Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf "to stop dithering" and reform the controversial Hudood laws without any further delay.
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- By Shafqat Ali |
Islamabad, Nov. 14: The US-based Human Rights Watch has asked Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf "to stop dithering" and reform the controversial Hudood laws without any further delay.
The group urged Gen. Musharraf's administration to table a new Women's Bill before the Parliament's current session ends on Monday.
"General Musharraf claims he is an enlightened moderate in favour of women's rights, but so far he has been all talk and no action," HRW's South Asia researcher Ali Dayan Hasan said in a statement. "Failure to act this time will irrevocably damage his credibility. "
The Hudood laws backed by the religious parties and rejected by the liberal parties were introduced in 1979 by the military dictator General Zia-ul Haq. Under pressure from Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Gen. Musharraf's government delayed tabling the bill in September. HRW quoted law minister Wasi Zafar as telling the group the bill would be "presented as agreed" between the ruling coalition and the Opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in the next session of the Parliament.
"The government must present the draft bill to the Parliament as agreed with the PPP to ensure that Pakistani women finally get at least some of the rights long denied to them," said Mr Hasan.
"It is time for the government to stop dithering and honour its word," he said. "The laws are hopelessly flawed and should be repealed, but this bill will provide at least modest relief to the victims," added Mr Hasan.
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