JUST days before some 50-odd senators are to bow out at the completion of their terms the upper house on Monday passed a bill seeking to change laws about ‘honour’ killings and another about improvement in the legal clauses on custodial torture and custodial rape.

The bills were moved by members belonging to the PPP, which is striving to stay relevant in the fast-changing political landscape by occasionally, even if sporadically, striking a forward-looking chord.

Know more: Senate passes bills against rape, honour killing

The Senate unanimously passed the proposed changes, which have to be debated in the National Assembly before being sent for a presidential nod.

If the bills are a sign of a common cause pursued above partisanship, it could have been even more uplifting if the initiative had come from the treasury.

Clear commitment shown by the government members at this stage could have inspired greater hope about a smooth passage through the lower house where the PML-N has a majority.

Even more importantly, it could have provided a bigger assurance that the new laws will be smoothly implemented.

Nevertheless, this is some kind of an achievement, given how divided the legislators have remained over these clauses, especially the most controversial Qanoon-i-Shahadat or the law of evidence introduced by the martial law regime of Gen Ziaul Haq in 1984.

This can be taken as a sign that the country’s process towards political maturity continues despite the routine maligning of Pakistani politicians. Only these politicians have to frequently intervene and assert themselves in other areas in favour of progress and a just society.

The Senate, with its continued multiparty composition, needs to build upon this momentum. Rather than these bills being remembered as the upper house’s farewell gift to some of its parting members this must mark the beginning of a new era of rigorous, dispassionate and fair review of laws.

There is, there will always be, much that needs to be corrected. The case of Pakistan requires even greater urgency given that revisions have been delayed and denied here for so long under one pretext or another.

Published in Dawn March 4th , 2015

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