Hadood Ordinance May Be History

The Pakistani parliament will consider and likely approve a bill that would ease overly strict restrictions applied under Islamic law that make it nearly impossible to prove a woman has been raped. Under the Hadood Ordinance, developed by the former dictator Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1979, rape victims are convicted of adultery unless they have four male witnesses, which human rights groups say makes a rape conviction impossible.

Moral charges for women, cause they are dirty animals.

The amendment, if passed, will erase that onerous requirement and require instead that anyone who accuses a woman of adultery produce four witnesses. In addition, forced marriage and kidnapping, as well as trafficking women for prostitution, will be more thoroughly addressed. Those convicted of gang-rape will be sentenced to death and it will be a crime to publish the address of a rape victim, reports Reuters.

All of the above are serious issues faced by Pakistani women. If a woman defies a marriage wanted by the family, "honor killings" are utilized to return the so-called honor that was lost. If a woman defies a marraige proposal, the future groom can kidnap her against her will and force her anyway. If she is "proven" to not be a virign...honor killing. A woman who is raped is seen as a dirty adulteress and yep, you guessed it...honor killing. Or, if the family does not kill her, she is tried under Sharia Law and is sentenced to death by being buried up to her neck in sand and stoned to death.

Mahnaz Rafi, chairwoman of the Pakistani Parliament’s special committee for women's development, said, “This will be a historic change and it will end decades of miseries for women,” reports the Associated Press. Naeem Mizra, director of the non-profit Aurat Foundation, added, “The amendments proposed by the government shatter a myth held for 27 years that Hudood laws are divine laws,” according to Reuters.