29 July 2004	Thursday	11 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

LAHORE, July 28: The MMA has said that it has offered only conditional support to the domestic violence bill tabled by the ruling coalition's Dr Anjum Amjad.

Alliance's MPA from Wah Cantonment, Attock, Muhammad Waqas said they opposed the involvement of police at any stage in any case lodged under the proposed law.

The protection officer must be a woman from any sector other than police and she should be selected through a five-member committee. No decision on the case should be taken without hearing one each representative of the respected wife and her spouse, he said.

If the committee could not settle the dispute, it should be taken to the area's magistrate, he added. He demanded that the law should be referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology besides advertizing it through the mass media to elicit public opinion.

To eliminate the primary causes of domestic violence, Waqas suggested, the womenfolk should be given the rights accorded to them by Allah Almighty and His Prophet (SAW) as well as share in inheritance.