Female MPAs flay polygamy proposal
LAHORE: The licence to commit polygamy-debate remained a hot topic in the House on Friday as well, with many female legislators coming down hard on Samina Khawar Hayat — who defended her stance on the issue of allowing men to marry again without permission from their first wives.
As Friday’s proceedings began, opposition legislator Amna Ulfat flayed her colleague’s stance, clarifying that what Hayat had said on the House floor were her personal views and did not reflect the PML-Q’s stance. She said other women had different opinions and perhaps did not wish to give their husbands permission to contract further marriages.
Other female lawmakers, including Nighat Nasir Sheikh, Sajida Mir and the PPP’s Faiza Malik, also criticised Hayat — who was absent from the proceedings at that time.
On a point of order, the PPP’s Fozia Behram also criticised Hayat, saying she had received numerous phone calls from her constituents, criticising Hayat’s stand. She said it was things like this that made people regard MPAs as non-serious individuals. She demanded the speaker take action against the media for making a ‘mountain out of a mole hill’, but the speaker refused to entertain her request, saying the media only reported what the legislators said in the House, so it was not misreporting on their part but foolishness on the members’ part.
When Hayat reached the House, she demanded the speaker censure all the remarks made by the female parliamentarians and remove them from the House proceedings. Sticking to her stance, she said that according to Islamic law, a Muslim man could marry more than once if he was able to support all his wives.
Coming to Hayat’s rescue, MPA Chaudhry Waheed recited a verse from the holy Quran regarding the allowance for upto four marriages and said that there was no need for a man to have his wife’s consent before getting married again.
Source: Daily Times
Date:2/20/2010
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