ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: Leading ulema of the country have said that six clauses of the newly-introduced women’s protection bill are in violation of the Quran and Sunnah.

A 16-member team of ulema met PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain here on Sunday and handed him a memorandum, containing the objections.

Led by Justice (retd) Mufti Mohammed Taqi Usmani, the ulema team included Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman, Maulana Muhammad Hasan Jan, Hanif Jalandhri, Dr Sarfaraz Naimi, Sayed Qazi Niaz Hussain Naqvi and Maulana Abdu Razaq

Sikandar.

Chaudhry Shujaat was assisted by Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Leader of the House in Senate Wasim Sajjad and PML secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Sayed.

The two sides agreed to continue consultations on the issue and meet again on December 9.

Talking to newsmen after the meeting, Qari Hanif Jalandhri of the Tahaffuz-i-Hudoodullah Committee said that they had pinpointed six clauses of the new law which were in violation of the Quran and Sunnah.

“To some extent, Chaudhry Shujaat agreed that the new act contains a few un-Islamic clauses,” he claimed.

He said the government side proposed that the legislation be referred to the Federal Shariat Court and all parties should accept the court’s decision.

The government side also promised to address the concerns of the ulema by amending the bill, he added.

Qari Jalandhri said the ulema team told the PML president that since the government got the Hudood laws amended through parliament, it must follow the same procedure regarding the new act.

He said the ulema had no political agenda and they only wanted to fulfil their religious and social obligation.Chaudhry Shujaat said the meeting was in line with the government decision to consult ulema lest any clauses of the new law were in violation of the Quran and Sunnah.

He reiterated that no law against the Quran and Sunnah could be framed in the country.

He said it was a purely religious issue “which needs to be de-politicised”.

The recommendations of the ulema delegation would be analysed in order to see whether they should be accommodated in the new bill already submitted in the National Assembly, he said.

He said the government would take all its allies into confidence on the issue.

The six objections raised by the ulema delegation are:

1) Rape (zina bil jabar) has been excluded from hadd, giving powers to the provincial government to reduce punishment in cases of adultery. Section 5 of the clause 20 of the Hudood Ordinance has been abolished in this case.

2) Amendment has been made to qazaf ordinance which exempts male accused from taking part in proceedings of false accusation (liaan).

3) Under another amendment to qazaf, a woman stands absolved of punishment even if she admits her offence voluntarily.

4) Under the new act, powers of the court to take up zina cases have been clipped unless complainant produces four witnesses.

5) An accused absolved in a Hadd case is also exempted from punishment under Taazir.