Minister for parliamentary affairs, Dr Sher Afgan, declares that a bill preventing wife-beating was against the Sharia
Uproar in NA over minister’s remarks
By Raja Asghar
The main Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill seeking to make provisions for the protection of women, children and family was moved by Mrs Sherry Rehman of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) while another — The Domestic Violence Against Women (Prevention and Protection) — by Mrs Mehnaz Rafi of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League who got her draft to be clubbed with the first one.
Mrs Rehman said her proposed legislation, which has been waiting on the house roster for a year, was needed because there was no provision now in the Pakistan Penal Code against domestic violence while women frequently became victims of offences such as acid-throwing, beatings and Kara-Kari honour killings.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi provoked an uproar mainly from PPP benches as he opposed the introduction of the bill arguing that it was contrary to the Holy Quran, which, according to him, permitted repeated beating of disobedient women by their husbands — an interpretation disputed by several opposition members, including some Ulema from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) alliance.
“If a wife is not on the right path, admonish her; if she does not change, then beat her; if she does not change even then, beat her again; and if that also does not work then send her out of the home,” he quoted the Holy Quran as saying.
PPP’s main legal Aitzaz Ahsan, one of the 14 other sponsors of Mrs Rehman’s bill, said the constitution guaranteed equal rights to men and women and the new legislation sought to rectify the situation cited by the minister through a “wrong interpretation” of the Quranic verses and that allowed “man’s barbarism over woman”.
By Raja Asghar
The main Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill seeking to make provisions for the protection of women, children and family was moved by Mrs Sherry Rehman of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) while another — The Domestic Violence Against Women (Prevention and Protection) — by Mrs Mehnaz Rafi of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League who got her draft to be clubbed with the first one.
Mrs Rehman said her proposed legislation, which has been waiting on the house roster for a year, was needed because there was no provision now in the Pakistan Penal Code against domestic violence while women frequently became victims of offences such as acid-throwing, beatings and Kara-Kari honour killings.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi provoked an uproar mainly from PPP benches as he opposed the introduction of the bill arguing that it was contrary to the Holy Quran, which, according to him, permitted repeated beating of disobedient women by their husbands — an interpretation disputed by several opposition members, including some Ulema from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) alliance.
“If a wife is not on the right path, admonish her; if she does not change, then beat her; if she does not change even then, beat her again; and if that also does not work then send her out of the home,” he quoted the Holy Quran as saying.
PPP’s main legal Aitzaz Ahsan, one of the 14 other sponsors of Mrs Rehman’s bill, said the constitution guaranteed equal rights to men and women and the new legislation sought to rectify the situation cited by the minister through a “wrong interpretation” of the Quranic verses and that allowed “man’s barbarism over woman”.
posted by India News Watch at 4:52 PM
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