KARACHI, Aug 4: Speakers at a seminar on Friday warned that a protest movement would be launched if any change was made in Hudood laws.

The seminar on ‘Hudood Ordinances: facts and objections’ was jointly organised by the Islamic Research Academy and Women Commission of Jamaat Islami. The speakers criticised the people who called Islamic punishments as barbaric and said that these punishments had been prescribed to deter the people from committing the crimes and keep society peaceful and crime free. They regretted that the government was changing these laws under the pressure of Western governments.

Former chief justice of Pakistan, Justice (retd) Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui said that there was no flaw in the Hudood Ordinance, but there could be some flaws in police procedure which implemented these laws. It could be reviewed and improved, he said.

He said that in certain instances the parents had also registered cases against their children, who had married against their wishes, but this flaw could also be done away with.

MMA MNA Maulana Abdul Malik said that Hudood laws were falsely being denounced of being discriminatory towards women by some activists of the non-governmental organisations which were being funded by the western governments. He said that no woman had ever been victimised because of Hudood laws and if anybody had problem with any law it could be brought into the Shariat Court which would decide if that law was according to Islam or not.

Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Dr Rizwan Nadvi, Justice (retd) Shafi Mohammadi, Prof Noor Ahmad, Amanullah Baloch and others also spoke.