ISLAMABAD, July 11: Parliamentarians Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) on Tuesday called for taking all discriminatory laws including Hudood Ordinance against women to the parliament for open discussion to build a broad-based consensus among all the political parities.

According to a statement, the PCHR appreciated promulgation of “Law Reforms Ordinance 2006.” It said that it was a step in right direction.

The statement was attributed to Chairman PCHR Riaz Fatyana MNA, Secretary General PCHR & Federal Minister Dr G G Jamal, Executive Director PCHR Kashmala Tariq MNA, Mrs Riffat Javed MNA, Syed Javed Ali Shah MNA Ms Mehnaz Rafi MNA, Ms Gul-e- Farkhanda MNA and Shafique Chaudhry Chief coordinator PCHR .

The legal rights of women were a source of misunderstanding which might have contributed to the belief, held by some, that God had made women inferior to men. While looking at the legal rights of women, a basic understanding of Islamic law was necessary, it said.

Understanding the difference between divine laws and laws made through human reasoning—the former being permanent and mandatory, the latter being subject to reformulation as circumstances require—is necessary to determine which rules are binding on people today and which were developed by jurists to address certain situations and could therefore be re-examined if circumstances warrant, Ms Tariq was quoted as saying.

All credit goes to courageous leadership of President Musharraf who had made this revolutionary step and endless struggle of civil society in the country for keeping this issue in lime light, the statement added.

Present government has shown the resolve to improve the plight of women. Various former regimes in the country have only made statements but nothing could happen on ground. But now people can see light at the end of tunnel after this daring initiative.

However, there is need to do more work to ensure equal rights for women in the society and this is not possible unless all the discriminatory laws against women are amended. Parliamentarians reiterated their stance on women rights.