Islamic forum resents being bypassed over Bill

Islamabad: The Islamic Ideology Council (CII), a constitutional advisory forum on legal issues, said yesterday it would formally protest to the government against its failure to consult it on the Women's Protection Bill.

Dr Mohammad Khalid Masood, chairman of the 12-member body, said the CII resented being "bypassed" regarding changes to the Hudood laws.

In an interview to a newspaper, he said the CII would seek a meeting with President General Pervez Musharraf on his return home from his current visit to the United States in order to register its protest against the sidelining of the constitutional body.

Javed Ahmad Al Ghamdi, a member of the CII, resigned on Wednesday in protest in this regard.

Dr Masood said almost everybody in the CII appreciated the stance taken by Ghamdi, whose resignation would be forwarded to the president.

The government early last week indefinitely deferred presentation of the Bill to the parliament for debate and approval in the wake of a deadlock in its efforts to achieve a parliamentary consensus on the draft.

The Hudood Ordinances concerning rape and adultery were introduced in 1979 by military ruler Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq.

The proposed changes to the Women's Protection Bill are aimed at protecting women against abuse of the ordinances under which a rape victim is liable to prosecution for adultery if she fails to produce four male witnesses.

Consensus

The government has denied speculation that the Bill would be abandoned and said it would be brought up in the parliament after achieving a broad consensus, probably in the first week of October after the return of President Musharraf from the US visit.