Rejecting the Hudood Bill
Syed Munawar Hasan

The Hudood amendment Bill presented by the PML(Q) government in the National Assembly, with mollified intention for creating wedge in the ranks of opposition ahead of no confidence movement against the Prime Minister, has nothing to do with the ‘aims’ and ‘objectives’ envisioned in the Bill.

Upholding the practice of bulldozing important laws or going for legislation through the Ordinances, the government presented the amendment Bill pertaining to Hudood without due home work to gain political mileage out of it as against the publicized objectives.

An august House, which blossoms with the first kalmia atop its building entrance gate, can not legislate on the issues repugnant to Quran and Sunnah. The proposed Bill, in nutshell, was sheer violation of the Hudood punishments enshrined in the Quran and Sunnah.

The fully alive opposition, which did never remain oblivious of its legislation duty in the elected house, timely reacted in this situation and offered tough resistance forcing the treasury benches to set up a select committee to review the “cherished” Bill put forward by the government for which unprecedented hype was created in the media to deceive the people.

Scenes of emotional commitment manifested in the form of ripping off copies of the Bill were witnessed in the National Assembly when the government committed the folly of presenting it for approval despite strong opposition and rejection by the people of Pakistan. The imprudent treasury benches tried to play the natural reaction of opposition about the Bill out of proportion in media.

The civilian batman[MQM] of Musharraf regime was “ordered” to show their street muscles on this occasion. People of Pakistan can vividly recall that these ‘lovers’ of Holy Prophet (PBUH) maintained tactful mum when the European papers were misusing the freedom of expression and publishing sacrilegious cartoons of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) to hurt the feelings of world’s Muslims.

The self-proclaimed progressive, moderate and enlightened MQM did not dare to issue a single statement to condemn the custodial martyrdom of Amir Cheema at the hands of German authorities. But their ‘furor’ to condemn the “sacrilege” of word Quran, Hudood and Sunnah hit the headlines as their uniformed mentors were literally embarrassed after opposition strong protest in the NA.

This situation warrants that other side of the story should also be told to the people enabling them to decide what the Bill has to offer the oppressed women folk of Pakistan. The certain loopholes pointed out in the Bill do not relate to the flaws in the Ordinance itself. The misuse of Hudood ordinance results from the Anglo-Saxon laws upon which our current legal and procedural system is based. The rotten legal system of the country is the root cause of the extra judicial settlement of “scores” by the people. Hudood cases were no more exception in this regard.

If the treasury benches were sincere in ameliorating the sufferings of people they should have orchestrated media trial of the British laws but to the utter dismay they used the media tool to scrap the Islamic laws which ensure the sanctity of our society and protect its deterioration on the same lines which had taken heavy tool of family life in the west.

As far as the repression against women in the form of rape (zina biljabr) is concerned, it is not the fault of Ordinance rather it is the ignorance of police and the judges about the requirements of Hudood in letter and spirit. Justice Wahiduddin and Justice Hafiz Lakh have conceded the demands of Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman and Maulana Abdul Malik vis-à-vis appointment of competent Shariah judges to try the Hudood cases.

The Islamic punishments did not come in vogue after the promulgation of 1979 Hudood Ordinance rather their history dates back to 14 hundred centuries in the past. Criminals liable to Hudood were not imprisoned in the past unlike the present judicial system therefore no cruel action ever took place against the violators of Hudood.

Legal actions were taken against them under the Islamic laws wherein cardinal principle of “benefit of doubt goes to accused” was amply applied to defer the Hadd in maximum cases. Those who oppose Hudood laws are doing so because of the severe nature of the punishments envisioned in it. They forget the philosophy behind the severe Hadd that it is meant to “prevent the perpetrator from committing the same sin and deter the others to have recourse such crime”.

Divine religions like Christianity and Judaism were changes by their followers to suit their mood but it is the hallmark of Islam that its commandments remain unchanged until today. Anyone drawing their political strength from the military uniform should not think that they will be allowed safe sailing against the Islamic laws in the parliament of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Those who ripped off the Bill’s copies in the NA actually manifested their disgust against the condemned intentions of rulers who were trying to misguide the people in the name of amendments in the law.

The nation is fully aware of the backdoor initiates which are being brought to lime light through media. The introducers of amendment Bill have committed the sin of introducing the culture of waywardness in the country. They are turning blind eye towards what is happening in the Western societies due to legalization of Zina with consent. Load of single parent children on the shoulders of Western women speaks of the empowerment which the west had ‘bestowed’ upon their women to satisfy the lust of men.

The proposed enactment is nothing but a tool to open the doors of similar culture here in Pakistan under the slogan of women empowerment. The MMA’s legislators did not commit any wrong when they ripped off the Bills and expressed their anger on it. No sane person can allow the disrepute of women folk by making them easy prey to waywardness.

This is not women’s empowerment rather enmity with the delicate creature of this world. The media managers of the military regime should know that historically speaking once a mosque was demolished because the enemy used it to ambush the Islamic army. Now, the political partners of uniformed Musharraf were trying he repeat the history and use the slogan of women empowerment.

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The writer is secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. He can be contacted at: info@jamaat.org

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