Government gives in to religious parties on changes to rape law

In the latest episode of a saga over the controversial Hudood ordinances in Pakistan, which cover crimes including rape and adultery, the federal government has struck a compromise with the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a coalition of six hardline religious parties.

The government's decision to accept changes demanded in the draft bill by the MMA, in exchange for which the coalition will not impede the passage of the bill through parliament later this week, has been widely criticised by organisations struggling for the rights of women.

These organisations have conducted a campaign against the Hudood laws since they were enforced in 1979 by military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq.

The government has for the past several months been promising a change in the law to protect the rights of women. Several versions of the draft prepared by the government have been circulated – with many provisions included in the initial draft watered down as the law underwent a series of changes.

"These amendments have made the changes in the law meaningless," Iqbal Haider, a former law minister and a leading lawyer, told IRIN.

The Hudood laws, which have stirred up immense controversy over the past two and a half decades, have led to thousands of women being jailed on charges that include adultery – classified as a criminal offence under the laws.

Religious groups have maintained the laws are based on fundamental tenets of Islam that cannot be tampered with.

Among other things, the law requires a woman who claims she has been raped to produce four male Muslim witnesses – a requirement that critics of the law say is impossible for any rape victim to meet.

Women unable to prove rape risk being charged and tried for adultery – on the basis that by making an accusation of rape, they have themselves 'confessed' to sexual intercourse. Adultery, like rape, carries a maximum penalty of death under the Hudood laws.

While the ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) has a majority in parliament that would have permitted it to pass the original bill, the MMA had created a storm in the national assembly late in August when it tore up copies of the draft.

The MMA has since threatened to quit its seats in parliament if the bill was tabled again.
Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a leader of the MMA and spokesman for the religious parties coalition, has called the agreement reached a "victory".

"Now they have acknowledged that the amendment was in conflict with the Koran," Ahmed said, when asked by reporters for his comments on the compromise struck on Monday.

Federal information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani has meanwhile insisted the agreement on the law is a triumph for democracy, and the changed law will "go a long way towards protecting womens' rights in the country."

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) disagrees. In an angry statement issued on Tuesday, the chairwoman of the organisation, leading lawyer and rights activist Asma Jahangir, described the government's “Protection of Women Bill”, under which it has pledged to amend laws detrimental to women as "farcical". She held that the amendments made in the draft did nothing to address the "basic issues of discrimination against women."

Jahangir said the changes gave leeway to the judiciary to interpret the law "in the most orthodox way." She added the legislation complicated matters by creating confusion between Islamic and civil laws.

The new law is to be brought before parliament in its amended form this week and is expected to be passed by Friday.