November 23, 2006

Politics is the game politicians play. But when others also join this game, it can become deadly for them for it is not their cup of tea. Of course, a wise person is expected to be aware of the nuances of politics and the underlying motives of the politicians. But such a person must learn to distance himself from the clever moves the politicians are past master at making. Just see what is happening to the Protection of Women Bill (PWB) that was adopted by the National Assembly last week.

People, including some women activists, fell into the trap so carefully laid out by the politicians. They failed to study the implications of the bill and how it would affect women favourably, especially the underprivileged ones, who have been falling victim to the injustices inbuilt into the Hudood ordinances since 1979. With the MMA on the warpath – it insists that the new law is un-Islamic – and Chaudhry Shujaat trying to appease the religious Right, one will have to continue to hope that the direction adopted by the Musharraf government on women’s rights will be sustained.

Why does the bill call for a celebration? Many feel that a military government’s action cannot be supported as it would amount to tacitly giving legitimacy to a dictatorship. But that is not how one should interpret support for the PWB. At times even the devil has to be given credit for its good work. Besides, there are so many policies of the Musharraf government that are accepted and implemented without a second thought. Then why should support for the WPB be made the touchstone of political legitimacy of the military government?

The biggest wrong the Hudood ordinances did to women was to equate rape and adultery if a victim could not produce four eyewitnesses. Her allegation was treated as a confession of sex by the victim and she became liable to be punished.

Another loophole it had was the provision that a woman could be jailed if a charge of adultery was brought against her. There were cases of men getting women thrown into prison out of vengeance or spite. True, the Qazf ordinance provided for a man making false charges to be punished but this could be done after another case was filed and it was proved that the charges were false. Strange were the ways of justice –– even if a woman was acquitted and her innocence proved, it did not amount to the man making false charges!

The new bill has provisions to neutralise these wrongs. It would have been best if the Zina and Qazf ordinances had been repealed and the status quo ante 1979 had been restored. This was not done – probably the president didn’t want to irk the maulvis and the misogynist sections in his own PML-Q too much. But under the new law, rape will be treated under the PPC as it was in the days of yore and no eyewitness is needed to prove it. Circumstantial evidence would also work. Nor can a raped woman be charged of adultery.

Changes have also been made in the criminal procedures and now a case against a woman cannot be brought until a court studies the charges and the evidence and then decides whether the case holds water. And if the charges are proved to be false, the man becomes punishable under qazf. With all these changes, one can expect relief for the women charged under these blackest of black laws. Nearly 1,300 women have already been released on bail in July when the president promulgated an ordinance making the offence under the Hudood laws bailable.

Rather than joining the politicking of the political parties, women’s groups should use their strength to ensure that there is no turning back. In fact they should push for more changes in the right direction to take the bite out of all anti-women laws. If the women’s groups become a party to the ongoing political tug-of-war they will lose their credibility. They have to maintain an independent stance as the custodians of women’s rights and not be seen as toeing the line of one political party or another. Let them set the tone for the new phase of the women’s struggle that has now begun.

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