ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: President of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Tuesday introduced in the National Assembly another women's rights bill -- the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment) Bill, 2006 -- on a private members' day, seeking an end to "social, political and religious excesses against women".

Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain allowed Chaudhry Shujaat, who is also PML’s parliamentary leader, to introduce the bill, although it was the eighth item on the 70-point agenda, amid mild opposition from the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP), which objected only to it having been moved as a private member’s bill instead of a government bill.

Moving the bill in the presence of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the PML president said that over the past 50 years, governments never gave importance to women's rights and treated them as their `mistresses’.

Highlighting the salient features of the draft, he said it would bring an end to certain practices that led to exploitation of and discrimination against women -– deprived them of the right to inherit property, allowed sale and purchase of women, marriage with the Holy Quran and traditions of 'Vani' and matters relating to divorce.

The statement of objectives and reasons of the bill states: "There are several practices and customs in vogue in the country which are not only against human dignity but are also violative of human rights. Such customary norms are likewise contrary to the Islamic injunctions. It is, therefore, necessary that such inhuman practices and customs are done away forthwith and the persons insisting on their continuance be dealt with severely by providing penal liabilities."

The bill suggests punishment of jail terms, ranging from three to seven years, and fines on culprits found involved in forcing women to perform or indulge in these practices.

Chaudhry Shujaat praised opposition parties, mainly the PPP, which supported the previous Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, passed by the parliament in November, and expressed the hope that the opposition would cooperate in getting this bill passed. "To end all wrong customs, let us create a new tradition and pass this bill jointly," he appealed to the opposition.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was not present because of its boycott of the house in protest against the passage of the previous bill.

The PML president said the present bill too was not against Islamic teachings and challenged Islamic scholars to find anything un-Islamic in the draft.

No opposition member opposed the introduction of the bill. However, Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada of the PPP surprisingly opposed a motion moved by federal Law Minister Wasi Zafar to refer the bill to a select committee.

The speaker put the motion to vote and no other PPP member supported Mr Pirzada's move. The speaker then referred the bill to a select committee whose members he would nominate later.

At the outset of the session, an interesting situation developed when a ruling party MNA from Toba Tek Singh, Amjad Warraich, pointed out lack of quorum, leaving no option for the speaker but to adjourn the proceedings as the 342-member house was well short of the required strength of 86. The proceedings remained suspended for about 40 minutes.

The treasury benches raised the quorum issue came when PPP MNA Raja Pervez Ashraf was pressing for admission of his adjournment motion, tabled on Monday, for a debate on the murder of six PPP activists in Attock on February 9, terming the killings in the constituency of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz a very serious matter.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan opposed the motion, claiming that it was a non-political incident and that six accused had already been arrested. After listening to the two sides, the speaker reserved his ruling on the motion's admissibility.

The speaker referred a privilege motion of PPP MNA Nafisa Raja to the privileges committee after the government did not oppose it.

Ms Raja had complained of her manhandling during the February 10 by-election for a National Assembly seat in Karachi. She accused the MQM of forcing the polling staff to rig the election and threatening PPP MPs and workers.

MQM legislator Abdul Qadir Khanzada termed the allegation fabricated and said it was beyond perception why only PPP women came under fire.

Later, the speaker dropped nine different bills, four of them from MMA members, due to absence of the movers, and referred four bills to the standing committee. The bills referred to the standing committee were the Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs Bill, 2006; Marriage Functions (Prohibition of Ostentatious Displays and Wasteful Expenses) (Amendment) Bill, 2006; Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2006 (insertion of Article 2-B); and the Privatisation Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2006.

The National Assembly will meet again on Wednesday.

APP adds: Talking to a group of parliamentarians in his Parliament House chamber, Prime Minister Aziz said the government would not introduce any legislation contrary to the teachings of Quran and Sunnah.