Women protection: CII tells members to finalise bill

Secretary CII Dr Ikramul Haq says proposed bill drafted as per Quranic verses and no extraneous material consulted

ISLAMABAD: Undeterred by severe public reaction, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) distributed the draft of its proposed women protection bill among members, asking them to come ‘prepared’ in the next meeting for a thorough discussion so that the final draft could be sent to Parliament, The Express Tribune learnt on Wednesday.

The council proposed its own women protection bill, recommending ‘a light beating’ to a wife who defied her husband’s will, which was widely criticised by the public.



“We discussed only 31 clauses of the proposed draft in the last meeting. We will continue the discussion in the next meeting and the draft has been forwarded to all (council) members,” Secretary CII Dr Ikramul Haq told The Express Tribune.

Haq said that the agenda of the previous meeting of the CII held on May 24 included the proposed bill, but not all members had been handed over the document.



CII proposes husbands be allowed to ‘lightly beat’ defying wives

Now, he said, all members had been directed to suggest necessary modifications in the next meeting before sending the draft to Parliament.

Sources in the CII said that the only woman member, Dr Samia Raheel Qazi, did not attend the last meeting and the proposed bill was discussed in her absence. The sources said that she was currently in the US and the draft bill had been forwarded to her.

The bill was drafted by Mufti Imdadullah, a JUI-F member of CII, who sought his teacher’s (Mufti Sohaib Alam’s) help in drafting the bill.

According to the CII secretary ‘a light beating’ would be defined in the next meeting, adding that the proposed bill was drafted in line with the Quranic verses and no extraneous material was consulted.

‘Gentle beating’ of wife is no violence, says CII chief

The council is a constitutional body which offers recommendation to Parliament on Islamic laws. But, Parliament is not bound to consider the CII’s recommendation. The CII moved to draft its own version of the bill after rejecting the controversial Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, 2015, terming it against Islamic injunctions.

CII’s Chief Researcher Dr Inamullah agreed with Dr Ikramul Haq and said that the draft included 163 clauses and the council had discussed only 31 points.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2016.