PESHAWAR, Dec 7: The NWFP chapter of the Women’s Commission on Sunday warned the government against setting aside of the Hudood Ordinance and said the law guaranteed protection of the women and strengthening of the family system in line with the injunctions of the Quran.

Participants of a seminar on “Hudood law and women” arranged by the provincial chapter of the Women’s Commission at the Senate Hall, University of Peshawar, said any attempt to repeal the law would be opposed.

The speakers said the law had been framed after discussions by famed scholars and jurists of the Muslim countries in line with the injunctions of the Quran and Sunnah.

A resolution criticized the human rights groups and non-government organizations that were demanding the law’s abolition. It said Islamic laws should be implemented to protect the weak segments of the society and the lives, honour and property of the people.

NWFP Women’s Commission Chairperson Rashida Zafar said the Hudood laws had been passed by parliament in 1985 and no parliament had so far raised objection against them. She said the law was in accordance with Islam and suited the local culture and traditions.

Former minister Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi said the Islamic laws had been derived from the Quran and Sunnah and there was no deficiency it them. “Punishments in Islam are meant to teach a lesson to other people and not to hurt the offenders severely,” he said.

He said Hudood laws had been implemented in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran, Somalia and other Muslim countries. He said the Whipping Act drafted by the British in 1909 was in place in the country till it was replaced by the Hudood law in 1979, but no one opposed it despite the fact that it was more stern.

He said the demand for scrapping of the law was baseless but amendments could be incorporated into it in line with the changing circumstances. He said Islam had identified crimes that existed in every society and fixed punishments in accordance with the existing social, cultural, economic and political scenarios. Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MNA Dr Attaur Rehman praised the NWFP  government for implementing the Shariat law and said it would leave far reaching implications on the society.

He said the MMA would not allow the abolition of the Hudood law, because it ensured the protection of women.