Pakistan to amend strict rape laws

November 15th, 2006

Pakistan - A Bill to amend the country's strict laws on rape and adultery has been approved by Pakistan's lower house of parliament.

While the government called the legislation "historic", the religious parties are calling it "un-Islamic" and "a secular conspiracy" against an Islamic Pakistan.

Under the controversial Hudood Ordinance, brought in under Gen Zia-ul-Haq from 1979, a rape victim had every chance of being convicted of adultery unless she could produce four male eyewitnesses to the crime.

Today's amendment removes that obligation, enabling cases to be tried under the civil penal code on the basis of forensic and circumstantial evidence, rather than the strict Islamic laws which currently deal with rape and adultery.

The Women's Protection Bill also reduces the punishment for people convicted of having consensual sex outside marriage, dropping the death penalty and flogging so that the crime will now be punishable by five years in jail or a 10,000-rupee ($110) fine.

The Bill will now be sent to the upper house of parliament, where reports predict it will most likely become law.

The Bill is seen as a key indicator of President Musharraf's commitment to his proclaimed vision of "enlightened moderation" and is a marker in the long-standing battle between progressive forces and religious conservatives to set the Muslim nation's course.