A landmark bill seeking to deter all forms of domestic violence against women has reached a serious deadlock following stiff resistance by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F). Claiming that the bill undermines Islamic values, the party announced on Friday it would fight “tooth and nail” against it.
Strong resistance by opposition parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), had forced the government on April 4 to defer the bill, introduced in 2009, which sought heavy jail terms for those involved in violence against women.
“We cannot adopt a bill which is a ditto copy of a bill on women passed by India’s parliament,” observed JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman, when lawmakers, under the leadership of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Syed Khurshid Shah, met to forge a consensus on the issue.
Fazl claimed the bill promotes Western culture and values rather than Islamic ones. “NGOs continue to promote the culture which keeps women away from Islam and that is not acceptable to us.”
The JUI-F chief termed it an effort to destroy the dignity of women in Islam and urged followers to stand united against those who wanted to impose Western culture in Pakistan.
“We know women’s rights better than the PPP… Western culture cannot be promoted under the pretext of protection in Islamic states,” maintained the JUI-F chief.
On Thursday, lawmakers across party lines failed to evolve any consensus to amend a controversial clause of the aforementioned bill passed by the National Assembly in 2009. Since the bill was not adopted by the Senate in 90 days, rules stipulate it can only be passed in a joint sitting of Parliament.
PPP MNA Yasmeen Rehman had tabled the bill earlier stressing the institutionalisation of measures required to protect women and children from domestic violence.
Despite PPP senior minister’s efforts, the opposition could not be convinced into contributing positive suggestions so that the bill could be tabled once again before the joint sitting next week.
“The PPP-led government has always been a strong supporter of women’s rights but some forces (followers of conventional schools of thought) are dead against the passage of this landmark bill,” Khurshid Shah told The Express Tribune after the meeting.
PML-N, the top opposition party in the National Assembly, also dragged its feet over the bill when MNA Khawaja Saad Rafiq implied that external forces had stakes in the passage of its controversial clauses. He refrained from explaining his thoughts further.
The government has long wanted to move the overdue Domestic Violence Bill, 2009. The opposition, however, maintains that the bill cannot be passed by Parliament until further amendments are made to its clauses. “We are not against passage of this bill, but we want some changes in clauses.”
The lawmakers will now hold a meeting over the issue on Monday.
Friday also witnessed opposing protest rallies outside Parliament by, both, human rights activists and Islamic parties. Rights activists chanted slogans in favour of the passage of the bill, while religious activists raised slogans opposing it. Harsh words were traded by both sides during the demonstrations as they also raised slogans against each other. The protesters were eventually dispersed by the local police.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 7th, 2012.
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@Rakib Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 Primarily meant to provide protection to the wife or female live-in partner from domestic violence at the hands of the husband or male live-in partner or his relatives, the law also extends its protection to women who are sisters, widows or mothers. Domestic violence under the act includes actual abuse or the threat of abuse whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic. Harassment by way of unlawful dowry demands to the woman or her relatives would also be covered under this definition.Violence Act 2005.
I support azmat and kaalchakra. And the ones commenting against the action taken by Moulana Fazal ur Rehman must try reading the clauses of bill first. If you want Pakistani society to be a wild open society like the American where you don't know your father and couples get engaged to each other after having 3 children, you better think once again.
Islam doesn't supports violence of any type. But giving everyone a free hand to do whatever he/she want contaminates the cultural and moral values, which we still possess.
For all those who are not Pakistani and are not muslims.........keep your nose away from our matters. You have no right to speak on these matters and you are not asked to give your opinion.
@Freeman:
If indian is not able to improve domestic violence with this law then how Pakistan will do that.
Section #302 PPC and IPC are similar. The Section, among many others, has been on statute books since the year 1860 based on original drafting of 1850 by Thomas Babington Macaulay of East India Company, Calcutta. In last 150 years it has not eliminated "Murder" from the Subcontinent. And so?
@kaalchakra:
"..I sincerely hope you don’t make that comment in the real life company of believing Muslims. .." (etc)
You seem to be more loyal than the king. Tad overdone,I say! Give up the charade kaalchakra. It is mischief to malign the name of good Muslims by pretending to be one and yet deliberately overstating the attitude of the hard-right among them.
Rakib
I sincerely hope you don't make that comment in the real life company of believing Muslims. The Quran is not just another "religions/holy books, folklore and cultural practice" or the man-made laws of Jews or Hindus, it is the word of Allah. It is Allah's greatest blessing that Muslims countries cannot make laws in direct contravention of Allah's words. We don't have to agree with those who disagree with the Quran because Allah has perfected His religion for us. You are painting Islam as some kind of backward form of other religions! You are promising unbelievers 'change' when Allah strictly forbids change in His laws for Muslims.
@shadi: If indian is not able to improve domestic violence with this law then how Pakistan will do that. Still in india there are huge number of violence incidents are hapening everyday. Its not about the law its about the implitation of Law.
Dear Pakistanis,
We are pleased to invite all pakistani ladies to migrate to India.
warm regards, yajsingh
@kaalchakra: Violence is violence even if you only beat a little. A wife is not someone you need to make to "obey" using violence. If you have an argument/different opinions you have to sort it out as two equal adults. Are you saying that you can also beat your colleagues, children, sales clerks if they do not "obey" you? To my understanding (not being an expert) the basic islamic principle is that life is sacred and you are not allowed to hurt anyone.
@Sayyed Mehdi:
IMHO: In case of certain Bills majority numbers, though Constitutionally adequate, are still not enough. Bills like these that impact a conservative Society as a whole on long term are best enacted with consensus in a spirit of accomodation & adjustments and by making the people to accept it. This is to make sure that if the Opposition comes to power it will not unnecessarily amend the provisions at a later date or jettison the law altogether.
Just before commenting blindly my friends should know that what was in the bill presented in the Parliament. There were some clauses totally unislamic. I fully support the decision of Fazal ur Rehman by rejecting this bill although i have many differences with his policies. So-called liberals should not be allowed to change Islamic laws in Pakistan. I am mentioning one clause of the bill. 1. If parents will ask his/her children (son or daughter) that why you came so late at night or they will show anger on them, the children (son or daughter) can go to police for lodging an FIR and police have to lodge this FIR. (these are not the exact words but the meaning is same). some other clauses are also unislamic like if a man divorces his wife she can live in his husbands house after divorce if she want. Is it permissalbe in Islam????
@Chulbul Pandey:
"....What kind of holy book promotes violence against fairer sex?...."
Most religions/holy books, folklore and cultural practices allow men in a patriarchal society to discipline their women,especially wives. Laws of Jews, Christians, Muslims and of Hindus permit various degree of chastisement delivered by the husband to his wife for various lapses & petty misdemeanors, which the pious woman is expected to accept without murmur or demur..In practice, many assume a scriptural but conditional permission to be an unconditional licence. Apart from a boorish husband,it is not unthinkable for a mother-in-law to egg the son on to "discipline" her daughter-in-law. It could be a gentle godly slap to mild caning to a rap on the knuckles to a brutal belting. The "gentle tap" or ungentlemanly slap is not the issue; the humiliation is; and so is absence of matching right to women. To be fair to Pakistan, West & India apart from Far East have framed laws only recently to ban such beatings. Most of these laws are of 21st century, many in only last 5 years or so. Muslim countries too will enact suitably someday, obscurantists notwithstanding; more time is needed..
pandey ji is here only to incite. apparently he is tired of TOI but brings the same adb and tehzeeb of that comment section.
I think most of the people commenting here don't know what is exactly in bill is?? I mean The Questions raised by PML N MNA khawaja Saad Rafique are very genuine Questions.How come in a Muslim society a father cant ask his children about their activities, their routines?? These so called NGOs funded by different anti Islamic countries just want to spoil our culture and traditions..If they are agreed on these terms they simply follow it at their homes..We being Muslims and living in a Muslim country we have to live under Islamic Laws and according to The Holy Quran and Sun-nah. I think our media who is already proven that funded by america will not raise those points which really needs to be discussed..Otherwise none of us against omens right and domestic violence. But in an Islamic country Laws can be made under Islamic preaching.
This bill should not be passed by Parliament, The point raised by Khawaja Saad Rafique today in lakin, they are realy valid points and these so called NGO and Liberals Women should answer to these Questions??
not once in the whole article did i find any proper solution to the problem who oppose this law...
if ur opposing a solution to a problem....give the solution that is proper according to u...
or maybe atleast give proper reasoning....
never do i say god bless pakistan...i always say god save pakistan...n the content of the article is the real reason for it
actually maulana was saying this for 98 % population of Pakistan.this statement was not for burger family. so please do not cry and lead your life according to western imported culture and allow the 98% to choose their destiny.do not tell us that what you (burger family) like will be good for us.who has a courage to say that woman is 100% safe, no rape case and no physical harassment in Europe and USA.every one that women are more miserable there. nowin in west woman is a industry. if few cases occured here in our country, it was not wise way to say the woman plight is bad here. here in Pakistan woman are more safe.
@Chulbul Pandey: Regarding your reply to '@Yaida M', I am pretty sure that s/he was being sarcastic.
Chulbul Pandey
I have to agree with Saima Malik, - what a horrible human being you are. Islam does not promote blind violence. A disobedient wife, when she does not yield to the needs and rights of her husband, is to be given gentle taps as interpreted by her husband. That is not domestic violence - that is moderation between beating her black and blue (or red or green) and letting her walk all over you, destroying her own modesty (and chances in the hereafter.).
It is a sign of Allah's greatness that he has anticipated and instructed us about everything that a man needs in his life.
god forbid we follow a law that protects my mother, wife, daughter, sister
uff, i can't deal with this maulana diesel.
@Yaida M: Beating the wife is halal in Islam. This law is against Islam Are you saying that the holy book contains text that permits beating of wife/wives? If this is true, I am afraid to say that there is no relevance of Islam in the civilized word. What kind of holy book promotes violence against fairer sex?
“Domestic violence bill a copy of Indian law: Fazl “ So what? Sometimes people and countries progress by emulating other countries policies, legislations and educational system. So at the end of the day it is not the merit of the bill but the origin of the bill is the issue. I suppose you never used a foreign (China) made cell phone or a car or a laptop? Number of democratic countries in the world has copied Indian Constitution. I suppose it will be OK with you if it is a copy of law from Saudi Arabia as your depth of knowledge and level of comfort is limited to only one book written 1400 years ago. Once this legislation is passed you perceive to loose grip over the most valuable members of the society, by the way our mother, sister and daughters belong to this fraternity.
Whether India has a similar law or not is immaterial. What matters is that women be protected. Under the Islamic view of this ridiculous, little man women are no better than cattle. Adopt the law and protect your women.
@kaalchakra: Oh yea, like two women witness = one man witness or women need four witness to prove that she was raped. A man can marry four woman but she can be murder at any given time in the name of family respect. How sick you can be?
“We cannot adopt a bill which is a ditto copy of a bill on women passed by India’s parliament,” observed JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman, Fazl claimed the bill promotes Western culture and values rather than Islamic ones.WHEN India become Western culture?
@Yaida M: @paklord:
As far as women's rights are concerend, Islam says the following:
(beat them) (4:34), وَاضْرِبُوهُنَّ, waidriboohunna (2:282) A woman is worth one-half of a man
So it is against Islam to stop men from beating their women and treating them equally. In addition, Muslims can only beat their wives with a stick no thicker than their thumb. So rememeber boys, you can't beat your wives with a cricket bat—that would be a sin; unless, of course, your thumb is the size of a bat!
I can't believe this. How can you call yourself a Muslim and say that? So anti-domestic violence laws are western values? Well I welcome western values then. How dare he say that it's against Islam. I know it's hardly the most shocking thing him and his party have said, but it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Where in the Quran does it encourage domestic violence? Don't tarnish our religion as well as our country, what a horrible human being. Why are so many so called "Muslim" leaders being so un-islamic nowadays? If anything western values and ideals are BASED on Islamic values, read the Quran fully. If it's not some crazy Mullah supporting Taliban/Al-Qaeda it's someone like this that comes along. I wish their were more Mullahs and Imams and representatives of the Islamic community who stood up and supported bills like this. I think It's Qayamat time soon, look how the world has been in the past 20 years or so? everything is going down hill.
sorry for this slightly off-topic comment.
this remind me of an example which was quoted by javed chowdhary in his show:
when a rail met with an accident in india, the then railway minister LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI resigned taking moral responsibility for it.
few months later, a similar kind of accident happened in pakistan, some parliamentarians asked for his resignation citing example of shastriji.
the minister was livid, and said that he would never follow a hindus example.
PS: a good many no. of indians agree that he is the best pm that india had in it's 65 year history.
The Indian act is a good piece of legislation even as it needs some tweaking. In India this is officially called Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005. There are a few sharp criticisms against it. While it protects the women from violence at home & ensures that she can't be thrown on the streets it does not protect a woman from violence by a woman. In a joint family women hurting women is not uncommon. And it provides no room for protection even to elderly men of vulnerable age who may be battered or abused by other family members. There have been cases of misuse of the Act to foist false cases against family members. Pakistan can certainly improve upon the Indian law by altering it suitably.
How can people look at events like these and not wonder if religion is an impediment to our social progress?
The fact that you even need some kind of a religious debate to figure out whether beating women to pulp is right or wrong, is just...mind-boggling.
Beating the wife is halal in Islam. This law is against Islam.
SO WHAT?
In India, people walk on two legs. So there must be something wrong with doing that. So this guy would want everyone in Pakistan to walk on one leg. Insanity!
Jibran: Please look at the women's bill passed by the Punjab assembly to understand what the PML N believes in.
can someone refer to a specific aspect of this law that is against Islamic values
the first reason that you can't beat your wives ,which is CLEARLY ordered by ALLAH Subhan Wa Talla in GLORIOUS Qur'an
so the logic goes that anything Indian/American/Jewish is inherently wrong?!
Be it Islamic law or Western law, both are foreign to Pakistan as well as subcontinent. So the only parameter that should be considered is which is more just and human.
Clear signs Maulana is trying to woo Sharifs, who don't believe in women rights either!
"Claiming that the bill undermines Islamic values, the party announced on Friday it would fight “tooth and nail” against it."
Protecting women's rights is against Islamic values? I am not a Muslim, can someone refer to a specific aspect of this law that is against Islamic values? I am very curious.
If women protection is unislamic, then its unislamic. He is the guy who knows in and out of Islam. You all just have to live with it. Sad face.
and what is wrong with adapting an indian law? they already out did us in every field, maybe by copying some of their steps we can improve our condition as well.
It seems surreal reading all these news.
Pakistan! Will you ever take one single step in the right direction? Why are you hellbent on self destruction?!! What is wrong with you?
"if India and the West think something is wrong, we'll do it and somehow make it Islamic tradition."