Three changes made to Women’s Protection Bill
By Mohammad Imran
ISLAMABAD, September 12 2006: The government and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on Monday agreed to three changes in the Women’s Protection Bill. The changes were agreed at a meeting of the committee of religious scholars set up to review the bill. Scholars representing the government proposed the three changes, while the MMA made six proposals. The changes include that the crime of rape be punishable under Hadd, if the conditions laid down in Hadd are met. The second proposal is that adultery be punished under a new section against “lewdness” in the PPC, which says: “A man and a woman are said to commit lewdness if they willfully have sexual intercourse with one another and shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.”
The third change is replacement of Section 3 of the Hudood Ordinance with the following: “In the interpretation and application of this ordinance the injunction of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah shall have effect not with standing anything contained in any other law for the time being in force.”
The MMA’s six proposals include legislation to protect women’s right to inheritance; legislation to stop forced marriages; making the declaration of divorce through ‘triple-talaq’ a crime; making the law banning marriage with Quran stricter; making Wata-Sata marriages, A crime; and a stricter law to deal with the sale of women. The bill will now be redrafted and then tabled on Wednesday.
Online adds: Four ministers, due totravell with President Gen Pervez Musharraf abroad have been dropped from the delegation, and will join him after the bill is passed, sources said.
Source: Daily Times
Date:9/12/2006
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