October 04, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 10, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: A five-member ministerial committee, tasked to table the draft legislation on amendments to Hudood laws in parliament, has not been able to agree on a timeframe to do that.

Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani told reporters after a brief meeting of the committee here on Thursday: “We met to develop a strategy for reaching a consensus for the smooth sailing of Hudood laws in parliament without any hurdle.”

On Wednesday, the federal cabinet after approving the draft amendments had set up the ministerial committee to pilot Hudood laws through parliament.

The plan worked out by the committee would also be discussed with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the minister said, adding that members of all political parties in parliament, especially the opposition, would be briefed in detail on the suggestions.

Presided over by Law Minister Wasi Zafar, the meeting was attended by Mr Durrani, Minister for Women Development Sumaira Malik and Tourism Minister Nilofer Bakhtiar.

Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq arrived at the exact time, but no member of the committee had arrived by then. He had to leave without attending the meeting because he was preoccupied with other matters, while Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed could not attend the meeting because he was in Karachi.

Later, Law Minister Wasi Zafar told reporters that it was not possible to table the draft legislation in the National Assembly during the session starting on Friday.

On the salient features of the proposed legislation, Mr Zafar said amendments relating to Zina (rape) and Qazf (slander) had been made in relation to provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code-1860 (PPC), Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), Qanun-i-Shahdat Order, Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act-1939 and the Family Courts Act.

Any offence not mentioned in Quran and Sunnah or for which punishment was not stated therein being liable to Tazir (penal laws) had been removed from the Hudood ordinance and inserted in the PPC, he said. Briefly, the offences include kidnapping, abducting women to compel for marriage, selling or buying persons for purpose of prostitution, he explained.

Since the Tazir punishment for Zina (rape) was not a requirement of Quran and Sunnah, therefore it had been dropped from the ordinance, he said. The proposed law contained only Zina liable to Hudd for which the punishment was stoning to death if the accused was married or hundred stripes in case the accused was unmarried.

The requirement of four adult Muslim male witnesses for the offence of Zina had also been dropped in the ordinance and a new provision requiring only four adult witnesses had been added in the Qanun-i-Shahadat Order-1984. It was in accordance with Islamic jurisprudence keeping in view the present day circumstances, he said.

Likewise Zina-bil-jabr had been dropped from the Zina Ordinance and inserted in the PPC by renaming it as a rape in original PPC. The punishment for rape would be death or imprisonment for life as an alternative punishment in view of observations of superior courts in such cases.

The requirement of four witnesses was only for the offence of Zina entailing Hudd punishment. It could not be made applicable to Zina-bil-jabr for which Tazir punishment could be awarded.

Therefore it had been dispensed with and the cases would be decided on the basis of direct and even circumstantial evidence.

At present in case of Zina, a first information report (FIR) is lodged before the police against the accused which has been changed to ‘complaint’ before the sessions judge who would proceed with the trial of the case only after recording statements of four eye witnesses along with that of the complainant.

Qazf had also been made a complaint case. The compliant procedure and the testimony of four eye witnesses before trial had been adopted in line with the Islamic injunctions and also taking into account the abuse of the provision at the hands of police.

Requirement of proof of Qazf by two Muslim male adult witnesses had been dropped and a new Article in Qanun-i-Shahadat Order had been inserted which provided proof of Qazf by confession by accused or other testimony. Further a court acquitting an accused in case of Zina may proceed against the complainant of that case without further proof.

The punishment of whipping, except for case of Zina and Qazf, had also been dropped. The punishment of whipping was provided for offence of Zina and Qazf only being Hudd punishment. To provide it for Tazir was a state policy and therefore had been dropped for Tazir offences.

In any instrument involving financial and future obligations the requirement of attestation by two men or one man or two women had been dropped and court may accept, or act on the testimony of one man or one woman or such other evidence as circumstances of the case might warrant.