KARACHI, March 23: Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (women's wing) chief Dr Farida Ahmad Siddiqui has said that the Hadood Ordinance has provided protection to women and as such it should not be repealed in any circumstances.

Speaking at a two-day women's convention, held under the auspices of the Karachi division JUP here on Sunday, she highlighted the issues of inheritance, Karo-kari and marriage with the holy Quran, and said those problems were production of the feudal culture and had nothing to do with Islam.

Dr Farida Ahmad, a member of the National Assembly, stated that she and other women members of her party were striving to eliminate all such traditions so that women could be emancipated from oppression. She said"Hadood" were laws ordained by Allah.

Describing the report submitted by the National Commission on the Status of Women as misleading, Dr Farida said the statement given by the NCSW chairperson that the women legislators had voted unanimously to repeal the ordinance was baseless as, out of the 19 members of the commission, only six had favoured elimination of the ordinance.