ISLAMABAD Sept 19: Prime Minister Shuakat Aziz and PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain have rejected any link between Women’s Rights Protection Bill and President Pervez Musharraf’s US visit and reiterated the government’s resolve to get the bill passed in consultation with all stakeholders.

Speaking at a joint news conference at the Prime Minister House here on Tuesday, the two leaders also brushed aside an allegation that the bill was aimed at dividing the combined opposition and defuse the Balochistan situation, and that after achieving the two objectives, the government prorogued both houses of the parliament.

They declared that no law repugnant to the Quran and Sunnah would be enacted and all future legislations would be moved after consulting all stakeholders, including religious scholars.

Reacting to allegations that the bill was moved on the US orders, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that if the Americans dared demand any such thing, he would ask them to first bring in a law to protect their own women from the crimes taking place in their own country.

Asked about Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s demand of shelving the women’s rights bill, Prime Minister Aziz said: “We are in contact with all (of them), but it is for our party to decide which bill has to be tabled when.”

He told a questioner that the government sincerely wanted to get the bill passed. It would make another attempt later, after taking all parties into confidence.