PESHAWAR, May 22: Aurat Foundation and its sister organizations as well as workers of various political parties staged a demonstration outside the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday to denounce growing violence against women in the NWFP , particularly the May 2 incident of Nowshera.
The protesters underlined the need for strict legislation to punish the perpetrators of such crimes. They demanded the arrest of the culprits of the Nowshera incident in which a young girl was disgraced.
Condemning the murders of newly-wed couples in the name of honour killing, Awami National Party vice-president Haji Mohammad Adeel said such incidents were becoming a routine because of the inaction by the government. During the last five months some 102 women had been subjected to violence, he pointed out.
Haji Adeel criticized the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government for failing to stem the tide of violence against women. He said the women working in offices were maltreated and the difficulties faced by them at police stations while getting the FIRs registered were unspeakable.
The ANP leader also criticized certain political parties for remaining silent on violations of women rights.
He called for a review of the Hudood Ordinance which, he said, had been made by dictator Ziaul Haq in connivance with some biased clerics. He said scores of women were languishing in prisons because of the shortcomings in the Hudood Ordinance as once booked under this law, it became very difficult for the women involved to prove their innocence.
Referring to the Kocha Dheri (Nowshera) incident wherein a teenaged girl was disgraced in public to avenge the alleged molestation of a woman of the accused's family by the girl's father, he said it was a matter of shame that such an incident took place in the constituency of MMA leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani.
The 15-year-old girl was paraded naked in Kocha Dheri by six people. The police registered the FIR on May 8. However, no arrest has been made yet.
PML-Q lawmaker Dr Simeen Mehmood Jan said President Pervez Musharraf had recently suggested a review of the Hudood Ordinance and added that religious scholars and legal community should join hands to review such laws.
An ANP MPA, Farah Aaqil Shah, called upon the government to make adequate legislation and provide protection to women. Otherwise, she warned, incidents like one occurred in Nowshera would continue to take place.
Aurat Foundation resident director Rukshanda Naz said that only tough laws and their implementation in letter and in spirit could bring violence against women to an end.
She recalled that on Feb 25 a woman was insulted publicly at Umar village and maintained that the Nowshera incident might not have happened had the government brought to book the perpetrators of the first incident.