PESHAWAR, July 12: Speakers at a seminar on Wednesday urged the civil society organisations to suggest amendments to the Hudood ordinances, instated of pressing for their early repeal.

The seminar on ‘Repeal of Hudood ordinances’ was organised by Actionaid Pakistan, an NGO, at the Peshawar Press Club to seek early repeal of the five ordinances promulgated during the then Zia regime.

Dr Qibla Ayaz, dean Faculty of Islamic Studies at University of Peshawar, Senator Prof Mohammad Ibrahim of Jamaat-i-Islami, Dr Sohail Shahzad of Actionaid and Aurat Foundation resident director Rakhshanda Naz spoke.

Dr Ayaz said there was nothing wrong in highlighting ‘procedural weaknesses’ of the Hudood laws. He called upon heads of the NGOs and social and liberal activists to take up the Hudood ordinances with religious scholars to discuss their merits and demerits.

He said that only an Islamic society based on piety and justice could satisfy its members.

He was of the view that the Council of Islamic Ideology had failed to make an impact on society because it lacked people’s trust and added: “We should work to establish an Islamic society rather than Islamic Shariat.”

Prof Ibrahim asked NGOs to seek positive changes in the ordinances instead of demanding their early removal, because this stance would widen the gulf between the religious forces and the liberal forces.

The senator pointed out that fornication was also a crime which fell under Hudood, but some of the NGOs wanted it to be omitted from the Hudood laws.

He opposed the replacement of the Hudood with certain clauses of the Pakistan Penal Code as suggested by some experts.

Dr Sohail said some of the Hudood clauses were technical which could only be interpreted in particular circumstances.

Rakhshanda Naz said they were not opposed to Allah’s will but were opponent of quarters wanting to impose discriminatory and politically-motivated laws on society. She accused rulers of plundering the exchequer and said they had tried to exploit the women prisoners’ issue to get cheap popularity.

She criticised extension in duty hours till 10pm for women workers and said that no political party had raised this issue to get the change reversed.

The AF official said Hudood ordinances were a legacy of the retrogressive tenure of Gen Zia when women were whipped to terrorise people struggling against the military dictatorship.

She called for a detailed debate on the issue.