Punjab

Women’s protection bill: Punjab govt accused of ‘delaying tactics’

JI leader Asadullah Bhutto said the provincial government seems least interested in removing the controversial bill

Obaid Abbasi June 26, 2016

PPP activists say CII is interpreting the Holy Quran in an outdated manner. PHOTO: ABID NAWAZ/EXPRESS.

ISLAMABAD: A top cleric, who heads the committee negotiating with the provincial government over the controversial Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act-2015 (PPWVA), passed the buck on the Punjab government on Saturday, saying the committee has shared its input on the issue, and now it is up to the provincial government to act.

Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith President Senator Sajid Mir – who is heading the committee which was constituted to negotiate with the provincial government so that the controversial PPWVA could be either amended or removed – expressed his concern over the Punjab government, which he said was using ‘delaying tactics’.

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“We had conveyed our point of view and pointed out controversial clauses in the bill. Now the ball is in the Punjab government’s court,” Senator Sajid Mir told The Express Tribune.

The Punjab Assembly passed the PPWVA in February. While the act included remedies for the victims of violence, it also criminalises all forms of violence against women and also advised setting up special centres for victims. But, religious parties rejected the bill, terming it ‘un-Islamic’. The Council of Islamic Ideology also rejected the bill and proposed its own bill.

Later, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif constituted a committee headed by adviser to the chief minister Salman Sufi, who held only one meeting with the committee.

“The last meeting took place on April 18 in which we have conveyed our reservations, now it is the responsibility of the government to respond instead of delaying the matter,” Mir explained.

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He warned that if the government continues to delay the matter then religious parties will devise a new strategy in which the option of staging protests tops its list. Mir said after Eid, the JUI-F chief will call a meeting of all religious parties in which fresh decision will be taken.

JI leader Asadullah Bhutto said the provincial government seems least interested in removing the controversial bill. The party leadership will devise their future strategy after Eid.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2016.