Protection of Women
By Mohammad Jamil

DURING his address at the Women Convention 2006 in Islamabad, President Pervez Musharraf said that legislations in six more areas have been planned to help remove social injustices against women including manipulation of the law of inheritance, trafficking of women, forced marriages, practice of vani, marriage with the Holy Qur’an and the divorce issue.

The significant feature of the president’s address was his praise for all the moderate political parties, which set aside their differences and supported the WPB in Parliament.

Referring to those who preferred to stay away from the house at the time of passage of the Bill in Parliament, the president said they lacked courage and were hypocrites.

As regards women’s role in the society, President Musharraf quoted the example of Hazrat Khadija who was a trader, and also referred to the role of women during ‘ghazawats’ where they looked after the wounded.

The President has rightly exposed the religious extremists and liberal extremists. The former were against the amendments to the Hudood Ordinance whereas the latter wanted the repeal of the ordinance.

The Government, however, wanted to create a consensus on the issue, as the proposed amendments were aimed at protecting women against discrimination in implementation of laws, and bringing these laws in conformity with true spirit of Islam.

Those opposing the amendments were not willing to understand that Hudood Ordinance was introduced by the Martial Law Administrator and did not reflect the true spirit of Hudood Allah, as it was based on the perception of a particular school of thought.

Furthermore, there was substantial evidence that 95 per cent of women booked under the ordinance suffered, and women that had filed cases for rape were the worst sufferers, as influential persons often got the FIR changed to adultery or prostitution.

There is no denying the fact that a woman is an indispensable and basic unit, which ensures continuation of human race and also guarantees its survival.

Before advent of Islam, the women had no social or economic rights; hence no share in family’s property; and it was in fact Islam that gave them their rightful share in the inheritance also.

Those who oppose the empowerment of women are a tiny minority, and if they believe in democracy they have to accept what majority has decided, as this is the essence of democracy. They should also read Article 25 of the 1973 constitution, which was exhaustively debated and unanimously passed by democratically and directly elected legislature.

The article reads: “All citizens are equal before the law, and are entitled to equal protection by the law.

And there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone”. It is heartening that today women have 33 per cent representation in union councils, district governments, and 22 percent representation in provincial assemblies as well as National Assembly. Still a lot has to be done to restore the status of women in the light of original 1973 constitution.

The Article 34 reads: “Steps shall be taken to ensure the full participation of women in all spheres of national life”. After 59 years of slow and steady progress in the field of women’s rights, their persistent struggle has borne fruit, and today they are playing an important role from Union Council, District Council to Provincial and National Assemblies.

There are, indeed, problems regarding honour killings and karo kari. When a man takes the life of a woman and claims he did so because she was guilty of immoral conduct, it is called an ‘honour killing’, not murder.

The ‘honour killing’ is often accepted by the community as well as the State’s judicial system as an acceptable motive and a legitimate defence for murder. But one has to examine each and every case on merit.

However, the practice of honour killings has a long genealogy, and is linked to the emergence of patriarchal social structures across Europe and Asia within which the honour of the family and the community came to be inextricably bound with the character of its woman.

As a matter of fact, the present world is male-dominated world; and the men manipulate the laws. The degree of domination, however, depends on the backwardness of the society.

According to historical and anthropological studies, the killing of women to restore male honour has been taking place for centuries in the agrarian societies such as China and Indian sub-continent including present day Pakistan, Middle East, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece Morocco, Italy and Spain etc. Once English common Law perceived women as chattel and, therefore, defined adultery as a crime against property.

It is true that in the backward areas of Pakistan, remote villages of Sindh, Punjab and tribal society of Baluchistan, the reality of woman as a piece of property or a commodity is reflected in the ways in which society continues to dispose of her body.

She can be offered as a compensation for damage to life and property; she can be given as blood money to compensate for murder; and in some cases to settle debts.

Under the cover of karo kari men kill innocent women to settle old vendettas, to acquire land, to secure money to pay off debts, to be freed from the obligation of paying back debts, to get rid of an unwanted women and to have a second wife.

Nevertheless, the empowerment of women is directly linked to the greater economic role, which is dependent on increased access to education and skill development.

The fact remains that no society can be considered civilized if women are deprived of their rights, and no nation can progress if half of its working population is denied the opportunity to take part in its productive process on the basis of gender.

The founder of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in his speech at Aligarh University in 1944 had said: “The nation cannot rise to the highest glory unless your women are side by side with you. We are the victims of evil customs. It is crime against humanity that our women are shut up in the four walls of the house as prisoners.”

It was in response to his call that the women had actively participated in the freedom movement and creation of Pakistan; yet they were denied their due role in the nation-building process, let alone sharing the decision-making process of the country.

It has to be acknowledged that the women are equal partners in the development of the nation and have the right to equal opportunities in all walks of life.

They must be provided opportunities that would facilitate the realization of their potential in the intellectual, professional or cultural fields, of course, within the parameters laid down by Islam.●

© 2006 Mohammad Jamil