Beyond the laws...

The Protection of Women bill,
finally passed by Pakistan's National Assembly on Wednesday after many months of bitter debate and controversy, continues to divide public opinion.


The controversial Hudood laws, introduced in 1979 by the late military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq as part of his sweeping policies of 'Islamisation', have been regarded by women's rights activists as highly discriminatory. Especially the crime reporting part - If she was unable to prove the crime – with the law requiring she produce four male witnesses to do so – she stood in danger of being charged. Countless number of women have been thrown in jails on charges of adultery under the Hudood because they could not produce the mandatory four men to stand witnesses for the charge.

In Pakistan, a rape is often just the beginning of a victimized woman's tragedy. But now President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan is challenging his country's version of that law and has issued an order that all women imprisoned on charges other than robbery, murder or terrorism, be set free immediately. He deserves praise far and wide for the effort.

A brave effort indeed.

And as expected he has not pleased those bearded self-proclaimed advocates of islam.

This is the ugliest face of sunni and shia religious scholars who are holding up to the laws which are neither the part of Islam nor are writen in Qur’an. Their Shariah Laws are based on hearsay and traditions which overrule the Qur’an laws and this is the problem with the majority of Muslims. These scholars are holding up these brutal inhumane laws just because they find some stupid story falsely attributed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) telling them that he approved of such punishment.
Qur’an does not specifically says anything on what kind of punishment should be there for adultery or rape and this is where the problem starts.

Hudood ordinances are widely held to be discriminatory and unjust to women. Some Islamic scholars have also said they do not reflect the true spirit of the religion...thank god some are sane.

There’s a real need for a reform movement inside Islam and it’s not just to say, ‘No, we don’t want terrorists,’ it’s to say in order to unshackle this philosophy from the literalists and literalist chains, we have to create a world in which people can question the first principles, you have to create to world in which people can rethink the core of the text. And until that happens we will have a paralysed culture.

It seems there is a need to think beyond the laws..


Technorati Tags: Hudood, Ordinance, Pakistan, Islam, law, Quran, reform