Finally, seven years into his rule, General
Musharraf has changed one of the most repulsive
laws enacted by Ziaul Haq. Women no longer need
to produce four witnesses when filing rape
charges or fear they might in turn be convicted
of adultery. However, the Women’s Protection Bill
(WPB) has been accompanied by an anti-lewdness
clause and there is the small matter of the
Hudood Ordinance operating alongside the civil
procedure.
Despite the minimal changes, the MMA has been
enraged by the immorality of the whole procedure,
with Maulana Fazlur Rehman asserting that
Pakistan will now be turned into a ’free-sex
zone’. What a shame that we can no longer rape
women and accuse them of adultery. Not in
Pakistan! Don’t worry, the MMA is here to
safeguard our morality. They will tell us what to
do, how to wear our trousers, trim our beards,
and go after the infidels.
The Bill that was passed by the Senate on
November 24 is no more than a symbol of the lost
freedoms that might be achieved and regained.
Everything Pakistan lost in 1977 is still buried
deep beneath the sand. Voices muted for over a
decade have lost the ability to speak out, to
reason, and are still recovering after being
mentally crippled by General Ziaul Haq and his
equally hegemonic legacy.
It is obvious that people should not be subjected
to religious law — as it is civil law does not
treat us equally. But when religion is
interpreted by manipulative bigots such as the
MMA and laws are enacted under regimes such as
that of Ziaul Haq, his eerie chuckle still
resonating throughout the corridors of power in
this country, then the result will most certainly
be the suppression of freedom and our private
rights as human beings. The MMA want to enforce,
not promote morality, there is a difference. As
it is, universal judgements of morality are
problematic. Who is to judge what version is
correct. By enacting morality, we are subjecting
ourselves to constant policing and scrutiny.
This is why the WPB is little more than a farce.
Musharraf could have repealed the Hudood
Ordinance once and for all. But instead, through
the anti-lewdness and remaining Hudood clauses,
the law, alongside the military, will still
govern our private lives. The question that needs
to be asked if that why does the ruling party
seem to be so earnest in wanting to meet the
demands of the MMA? Is it because not doing so
would further erode the government’s write in
Balochistan and the NWFP?
We all know that this law was not passed to
protect the women of Pakistan. Instead, it was a
convenient way of propping up the country’s
international image. Nations are judged by the
way they treat their women and Pakistan has long
found itself at the bottom of the barrel. This
scale has been produced through history and every
eastern society has been hypocritically subjected
to it. If the establishment really cared about
the plight of Pakistan’s women, or the people in
general, symbolic laws such as these would not be
the way to correct past mistakes. It is obvious
that women are regarded as no more than property
by the religious zealots that comprise the MMA
and as political mileage by the military
establishment.
For its part, the MMA has succeeded in ensuring
that it passed the Hasba Bill in the NWFP, which
allows it to unleash the moral police on the
residents of that province. How long before that
moral police comes knocking on your door? Who
needs freedom anyway, at least our GDP is rising.