Rights groups hail president's call to ban honour killings

Rights groups have reacted positively to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's statement on Saturday in which he called for a law banning honour killings, but urge more action, as opposed to mere rhetoric, to back Musharraf's assertion that the Hudood Ordinances and the blasphemy law need to be scrutinised to prevent any further misuse. In his address to a human rights convention in the capital, Islamabad, Musharraf also announced the formation of an independent National Commission for Human Rights during a landmark speech in which he stressed the need to ban honour killings through a specially formulated law. "Though honour killing is illegal, the passage of a law banning it would lend more strength to Pakistan's efforts to do away with this intolerable practice," Musharraf said. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), over 600 women were killed in the name of honour across Pakistan in 2003, although activists and others admit that actual figures might be much higher because a number of such cases go unreported for various reasons. "It's very welcome. We've been asking for this for a long time," Anis Haroon, the resident director of the women's rights and advocacy group, the Aurat Foundation, told IRIN from the southern port city of Karachi. But the time for discussions was long past concerning the hugely controversial Hudood Ordinances and the blasphemy law (both of which were promulgated during the late military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq's 11-year tenure in the late 70s and 80s], Haroon asserted. "As far as the Hudood Ordinances are concerned, I think we've done enough discussions and this is the time to repeal all these laws. If Pervez Musharraf is opening the discussion again, I'm afraid it's like opening Pandora's Box. How many times does he want to discuss it? We've been discussing it since Zia-ul-Haq's days," she asked. "We would like it if he does that [set up an independent human rights commission]. We are all for commissions," Hussain Naqi, the national coordinator for the HRCP's core group on human rights, told IRIN from the eastern city of Lahore. According to Naqi, Musharraf had made a similar promise [regarding the Hudood Ordinances and the blasphemy law] while inaugurating an NGO two years ago. "Then, he promised some women's organisations when he appointed a women's commission," he added. "Making a commission doesn't accomplish anything. Whenever the religious lobby pressurises the government, our establishment is very fond of submitting to the mullahs," Naqi maintained. The Hudood Ordinances were promulgated in 1979 by Haq as part of an "Islamisation" programme. According to the Hudood laws, under which rape cases are registered, a rape victim who is unable to prove her case risks being accused of adultery. These laws make consensual sex outside marriage an offence, while marital rape and raping a child-bride are no longer offences. In addition to adultery and fornication (Zina) offences, the Hudood Ordinances deal with offences related to theft, alcohol and drug consumption, and false accusations in court (Qazf). Their fifth component is the Whipping Ordinance, which prescribes hadd punishments such as up to 100 lashes or stoning to death. "One thing Musharraf has said and which he should stick to is that these are human-made laws and an ordinance made by any individual cannot be equated with the scriptures," Naqi explained. "Even if these were approved subsequently under duress, the Islamic Ideology Council once voiced its opinion that these are against the spirit and the words of the Holy Book," he added. "Okay, it's a positive thing [that Musharraf was keen to re-ignite the debate on the controversial ordinances]. If there are certain schools of thought which have not looked at these ordinances as man-made laws, then they should look at them again. Considering how many women have suffered in the past 25 years, as far as it's not rhetoric and it is something he is going to actually do, then it's all right," Haroon emphasised.