ISLAMABAD, July 18: Some serious difference of opinion has emerged between the members of the special committee constituted under the National Commission on Status of Women, a statutory body, to review the Hudood Ordinance, sources in the Pakistan Law Commission said.
A 13-member committee, comprising distinguished jurists, religious scholars, representatives of the civil society organizations and human right activists, was given six weeks time to come up with final recommendation whether to repeal or amend Hudood Ordinance.
The issues which had surfaced during the special committee meetings were so confusing that the committee was taking some extra time, as given by the commission, but it also expired on June 15, 2002.
The first issue which the committee took up was to evaluate whether the law could do justice and if not, then why it (Hudood Ordinance) should stay on statute book, the sources said.
Another issue that came across during the meetings was whether sections five and six that dealt with Zina or Zina-bl-Jabr were confusing and, if so, the same should be made more elaborative.
Under the Hudood Ordinance, victim became an accused and it was against the spirit of Islam, besides it also encouraged rape in an Islamic country like Pakistan, sources quoted a member as saying.
They said one of the committee members had criticized the condition of four witnesses to prove that a women was raped, which was not possible.
Another senior member of the committee, the sources said, pointed out that the opinion of an expert in Islamic law was needed to make sure that Hudood laws in the current form were according to Islamic injunctions.
In this regard, he gave reference to the Federal Shariat Court judgment in Hazoor Bux case, wherein two different benches had given opposite judgments — one holding (PLD 1981) that Rijam was not according to Islamic tenets and the other (PLD 1983 FSC 145) confirming it.
A woman member of the special committee said in view of exclusion of non-Muslims as witnesses, the application of the Hudood laws to them was unjustifiable.
One of the major apprehensions expressed by a few members of the special committee was that in case Hudood laws were repealed, new laws would not be legislated/enacted.
When contacted, National Commission on Status of Women chairperson Justice Majida Rizvi (retired) confirmed difference of opinion among the members and added that it would take some time to decide whether Hudood Ordinance should be repealed or partially amended.
She was hopeful that the special committee’s recommendation regarding the ordinance would be finalized by the time of its third meeting scheduled for August 9.
It may be added here that the commission has also recommended the removal of the need for women to be accompanied by Mehram to perform Haj, besides empowering the women judges to deal with cases related to family matters and compulsory filling of all columns of Nikha Nama.