January 5, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 4, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: A lady professor of the International Islamic University has decried honour killing as “straight away murder.” “There are instances in which women were killed by their own family members but rivals were implicated in a murder case to settle personal scores,” said Misbah Saboohi, assistant professor in the Faculty of Sharia and Law, in a lecture at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Centre for Democratic here on Tuesday.

“In the name of cultural norms and honour, women in Pakistan are subjected to different types of violence and are denied rights granted to them by Islam,” she said.

Ms Saboohi said Islam was ‘moulded’ by male chauvinists in the Pakistani society to their own likes and dislikes. Instead of punishing the rapist, the Hudood Ordinance, imposed by military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq, was used to punish rape victims by treating the crime as adultery.

Domestic and custody related violence against women was common in Pakistan. Cases of burning and acid throwing against women were increasing day by day, according to her.

She said in 80 per cent of the violence against women cases pending in lower courts in Pakistan involved family members. Some 1,000 women are sexually abused in the country every year, though a majority of such cases go un-reported because women know they cannot survive with such a stigma.

Only 26 per cent of women had access to basic health facilities owing to which their mortality rate was higher compared to men.

She said the brutal customs of Vani and Swara were still being practised in Pakistan. Contrary to the official figure of 38 per cent, only 10 per cent of women could be called really literate.

She said Islam gave women the right to seek divorce from her husband, to make him arrange a separate house for her and to charge for suckling their child. Islam treats man and woman equally and the only difference it makes between human beings is on the basis of character and righteousness, she added.

Unlike other religions and societies which define greatness of women in terms of their submission to control of men, she said Islam gave women the right to choose their life partner, to get education, to do businesses, to inherit, to enjoy their lives by participating in social activities, beautifying themselves, and to decide what was better for them.

Ms Saboohi called for including human rights as separate subject in the curriculum as the current education system provides no such opportunity to the students.

She suggested the experience of Malaysia should be followed where Muslim couples have to pass a one-month certificate course in family rights and duties before getting married. Without that certificate they cannot marry. The results of this practise were brilliant, she added.

Ms Saboohi said besides judges, lawyers and other court staff should also be trained in human rights in order to make them serve the people and especially women, who had very little say in the affairs of this country.