Debate on domestic violence bill goes on
LAHORE – The Punjab Assembly’s Standing Committee on Home Affairs continued a discussion on the domestic violence bill in Lahore on July 27 as the mover claimed that the opposition’s wave to the bill had subsided.
The bill had been moved in the house by the ruling PML’s Dr Anjum Amjad. The MMA and members of some other parliamentary parties had opposed the bill due to some reservations about the role and authority assigned to the protection officer in the bill.
However, the mover told Dawn on Tuesday that these reservations were based on some misunderstandings and had now been removed during clause-by-clause deliberations on the bill in the committee.
The committee has so far held five hearings. Dr Anjum said the opponents of the bill somehow misinterpreted the role and authority of the “protection officer”. They took the term protection officer as the police officer and that too from the male sex.
She said the opponents also had the wrong impression that the protection officer would have suo motu authority to enter the house whose woman inmate had complained of domestic violence.
Once these misinterpretations were removed, all the MPAs whether belonging to the treasury or the opposition benches, had started supporting the bill which, she believed, would be cleared soon by the committee for adoption by the house. Attempts to get MMA elders’ comments on Dr Anjum’s claim remained abortive.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/28/2004
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