Posted on 08/23/2006 8:48:12 AM PDT by ncountylee
Islamabad, 22 August (AKI/DAWN) - The government of Pakistan seeking to pass a Protection of Women Rights Bill met fierce resistance from its opponents when it was tabled in parliament and later referred to an all-party select committee for scrutiny. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) alliance of six Islamic parties rejected the bill as "un-Islamic", vowing on Monday to resist it inside and outside parliament and many of its members tore up copies of the draft bill after it was introduced in the house by Pakistan's law and justice minister Mohammad Wasi Zafar.
The MMA staged a token walk-out in protest after the house majority voted for the proposal.
Monday's noisy proceedings were also marked by angry exchanges between members on the two sides of the political divide and opposition calls for the prime minister to resign when he came to the house.
The bill seeks amendments in the "Hudood Ordinance" of 1979 which has been criticised for discriminating against women, as well as the Pakistan Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Dissolution of Marriages Act of 1939 to provide what it calls relief and protection to women against misuse and abuse of law and to prevent their exploitation.
It says its objective is also to bring in particular the law relating to zina (rape and adultery) and qazf (false allegation of zina) in conformity with the stated objectives of the constitution and the injunctions of Islam.
The two "Hudood Ordinances" about zina and qazf are among the four decrees enforced in 1979 by then military ruler General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq as part of his controversial Islamisation programme the other two being about theft and drinking.
(Excerpt) Read more at adnki.com ...
Ignored by American women's rights groups and MSM, of course.
They operate under something like the Napoleonic Code - that women are chattle.
Paging NOW...
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