ISLAMABAD, Aug 1: The government will propose a legislation amending the Hudood laws to remove the near impossible burden of proof placed on victims of rape and protect them from retaliatory adultery charges, a senior lawmaker said on Tuesday.

The draft amendment will likely be submitted soon to the National Assembly, said Mahnaz Rafi, chairwoman for parliament’s special committee for women’s development.

“This will be a historic change and it will end decades of miseries for women,” said Ms Rafi, a lawmaker of the ruling PML.

Since the country adopted the law in 1979, a woman must produce four witnesses to prove she is the victim of a rape. A woman who claims she was raped but fails to prove her charges can then be arrested and convicted of adultery or for having sex outside marriage.

Under the proposed amendments, “the person who accuses a woman of committing adultery will have to come up with four witnesses” in a common law court, Ms Rafi said.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf has sought to reform laws to improve women’s rights in the past but backed off because of strong opposition from conservative groups.

Earlier this month, however, Gen Musharraf signed an amendment that allowed women awaiting charges to be released on bail, his first change to the Hudood laws.

A lawmaker from a coalition of radical Islamic groups said on Tuesday that the coalition opposes repealing Islamic laws in their entirety, as many moderates are demanding, but it may support legislation aimed at improving how investigations are handled.

“Neither parliament nor anyone else has the authority to remove or change laws of God,” said Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a prominent figure in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.

Mr Ahmed, a member of the National Assembly, declined to comment in detail because he had not seen the draft amendments.—AP