ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: A government bill to amend the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) to curb 'honour killing' has been approved by the house committee on law and is ready for tabling in the current session of the National Assembly.

The government had refused to entertain a draft bill presented by a PPP Parliamentarian MNA on the subject, saying it was itself bringing a bill. The government draft bill met serious criticism even from some influential treasury members. However, President Gen Pervez Musharraf took personal interest and ensured that the piece of law was thoroughly discussed and framed.

Sources said that at one time the president even volunteered to meet and talk with the members of the house committee to put across arguments in favour of the proposed amendment to the PPC. After hectic efforts the bill has finally been given the present shape which the government feels should be acceptable to a majority of stakeholders, the sources said.

When asked for comments, Adviser to Prime Minister on Women Development Neelofar Bakhtiar told Dawn on Sunday that some political and social groups were still not satisfied with the final text.

For one, they wanted to do away with the compounding of agreement between the affected parties, she said. She, however, added that doing that would have made the law controversial since it would have been against the Islamic injunctions which provide for the payment of 'diyat and qisas' as a result of conciliation in a murder case.

She said that the honour killing crime had been subjected to state intervention through the court in case the heirs of a victim decided not to register an FIR.

Moreover, Ms Bakhtiar said, all the accused in an FIR would not be admitted as party to the reconciliation and would be considered as party to crime. She said the provincial governments would not be able, under the law to give remission to those sentenced under it.