May 6, 2004

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has assured the chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami that the Hudood Ordinances will not be repealed or amended. These laws that are discriminatory against women are taking Pakistani society back, writes Hilda Saeed

So the cat finally jumped out of the bag a few weeks ago — the prime minister has admitted that ‘to ensure continued cooperation with the MMA, he has given categorical assurance to the leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami that the Hudood laws will neither be repealed nor amended’. Further, the president and the prime minister have mutually decided that the Hudood ordinances will not be touched, so as to avoid a possible confrontation with the religious elements, particularly the MMA (Dawn, March 12, 2004).

Oddly enough, debate by the public, particularly those affected, did not enter into this understanding. The public had long suspected that nothing would really be done about repealing the Hudood laws and now there’s categorical proof of this truth. It is also disturbing to note that the rest of civil society, including those who stand for democracy, justice and human rights, don’t matter an iota.

The Hudood Ordinances, introduced in 1979, were followed by the Qanoon-i-Shahadat (Laws of Evidence), and Qisas and Diyat ordinance, all proved to be equally discriminatory against women. They are widely considered the most damaging laws in the context of women’s rights.

It has been the constant demand of all human rights organizations, women’s and social activists, lawyers, trade unions, academicians, and the majority of the members of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) that these laws must be repealed. The independent media and many politicians are also in agreement with this stand.

Discrimination against women in this country is centuries old, dating back to ancient traditions that also need to be changed so that women are treated with the honour and dignity which is their right. The problem is that the Hudood laws have given license to unscrupulous men to continue their discriminatory practices, simply because such few men are punished for the crimes they perpetrate. To give an example, rape or zina-bil-jabr has in courts of law been misconstrued as adultery, or zina, with the end result that the victim woman lands up in jail.

Eventually, sometimes after as long as 10 years, this poor woman is honourably acquitted — by which time she has lost her family, is stigmatized by society, and has lost precious years of her life. As long as these discriminatory traditions and laws continue, women in Pakistan will continue to be at constant risk of violence.

How many more women and girls will be raped, gang raped, killed in the name of ‘honour’, burnt to death, forced into incestuous relationships and abuse for tortuous years, sexually abused, sexually harassed, trafficked, forced into poverty, prostitution, illiteracy and ill health — because the political will that could support their rights and their lives, and open them to greater potential, just does not appear to exist?

The fact that women are actually being decimated because of all this doesn’t matter, as if they don’t have the same rights as male citizens. There is clear evidence of women’s decimation in the South Asian Human Development Report, 2003. Pakistan has the lowest female to male ratio in South Asia, at 92 women per 100 men. Compare this to developed modernized countries, where the gender ratio averages 110 women per 100 men — but that’s another story.

The admission by the powers that be that the Hudood laws will neither be amended nor repealed is a clear slap in the face of justice. As it is, all the hype by politicians that ‘women’s rights will be uppermost’ or that ‘no stone will be left unturned to ensure justice for women’, etc., spell exactly that — meaningless hype.

On the very same page that the news about the agreement concerning Hudood laws between the president and the prime minister is given, is another news item stating that a minister ‘vows he will leave no stone unturned to ensure that women’s rights are safeguarded’. What is the truth? The whole stance by the authorities appears hypocritical. At best it sends out mixed messages.

The continuing presence of these discriminatory laws amounts to an understanding that women do not matter, that their rights as citizens are non-existent, that all manners of discrimination and cruelty can be perpetrated on them, and that the men who do so will either not, or will rarely be punished. Is this justice? Women do not even have the backing of just laws, or of constitutional rights. The Constitution isn’t what it used to be anyway, what with the series of amendments.

If, as categorically announced, the Hudood laws are here to stay, then is the NCSW only an eyewash? Are its efforts merely for public consumption, and for allaying their fears? Yet, Justice Majida Rizvi is very clear in her consistent advocacy of repeal of these laws.

For a large majority of women, and activists from all across the country, the Hudood laws are a clear licence to unscrupulous men that all manner of atrocities, cruelty and abuse against women can continue. Had it been otherwise, our jails would not be crowded with women who are unwitting victims of the Zina ordinance. (This is very different from the pre-Hudood days, when, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, few women were in prison.)

How often since 1979 have government ministers and other officials tried to allay public concern and alarm, by stating (vacuously) that women will be treated with respect and dignity? A few years ago, it was announced by the then law minister that karo-kari would be treated as murder. But as for the implementation of this new law? Zilch. Karo-kari continues unhindered, each day’s newspaper carries reports of several lives lost to the curse of medieval practices.

Each leader likes to put a pretty face on the developments concerning women; the last one before the present regime was Nawaz Sharif. Following the World Conference on Women held at Beijing in 1995, he announced that a National Plan for Women’s Development (based on the recommendations of the Beijing conference) had been prepared, and that women’s development would closely follow its guidelines and action plans.

Women had enthusiastically set up task forces all over the country to work on those recommended objectives, strategies and actions. There were several, and each one of them could have had a lasting impact, but there were hurdles all along the way, especially where anything to do with women’s rights was concerned. So, a lot of those wonderful plans also fell by the wayside.

It’s been the same with every inquiry commission that was established to pinpoint the problems concerning women. In each case, the findings have come from in depth analysis, and the recommendations are admirable, but the political will needed to implement the recommendations has remained missing.

Why this unending debate on the Hudood laws? Surely it can be said that this debate has gone on ad nauseam, with no positive outcome in sight. Having said that, if these laws are here to stay, then the authorities should say so clearly and unambiguously.

They should also give us the total number of women who have since these laws were first introduced, suffered, died, been incarcerated in prison although they were innocent victims, and have given birth to children who know of no other life than the one they have within the jail walls.

It should equally be stressed that this grotesque parody of justice will continue; that women will continue to be brutalized, that they will continue to be viewed primarily as procreators and little else. Certainly, the educated, well-dressed urban women will continue to be there as well, to be shown to the modern world to indicate how very enlightened and progressive Pakistan is — even as it relentlessly slips back, and while its laws become increasingly tribal in their orientation.

In these circumstances, traditional discrimination against women is likely to continue and be encouraged. Is this going to be the final answer for this country’s ‘progress’? We have more than enough political and social problems to grapple with rather than raise more bogies in the form of discriminatory laws.

To brush women aside, as if they don’t matter at all, is bound to be seriously detrimental for Pakistan in the long run. Is this the way we want our country to go?

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)