07 January 2004	Wednesday	14 Ziqa'ad 1424

ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: The chances of presenting final report of the Special Committee of the National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW) on Hudood Ordinances to the parliament have gone bleaker with the MMA-government agreement on LFO , a Committee members told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

The special committee after six extensive meetings has overwhelmingly recommended repeal of Hudood Ordinances with consensus among the members that the laws, as drafted, are defective and that a major part of these ordinances consists of sections that have been lifted from the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

He said a soft copy of the report had been sent to the law commission, ministry of women development, civil society organizations, president and prime minister secretariats and apprehended that it would meet the fate of some of the reports done in the past on the controversial Hudood Ordinances.

With the announcement of recommendations, the MMA has outright rejected the findings of the NCSW terming them un- Islamic. The Alliance has also announced that if such a bill was presented to the parliament, it would oppose it and never allow any legislation approving the repeal of the Hudood Ordinances.

Now that the MMA and the government are sitting on the same benches, it is almost impossible that the government will present these recommendations to the parliament for discussion, he argued.

"We are getting impression from the quarters concerned that the government is not serious enough to present the NCSW recommendations to the parliament for open discussion," he said.

As many as 12 members have recommended that the Hudood Ordinances should be repealed, while two members have recommended that these should not be repealed but lacunas and defective parts should be removed from it. One member said the recommendations should be given effect.