Islamabad: Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology has recommended declaring triple Talaq or instant divorce a punishable offence to discourage impulsive divorce by men.
Dr Qibla Ayaz, chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), said that the body has suggested that the government impose punishment on one-sided divorces. However, the final decision on the issue rests with the government.
The council is preparing a draft recommendation against such instant divorces, which would soon be presented before the Ministry of Law for review, Dr Ayaz said.
The Council will also lobby in parliament to ensure that its recommendations are implemented by the government, he added.
“The way that men use triple talaq should be banned in the country. Anyone who breaks the law should be punished,” Dr Ayaz was quoted as saying by Geo News in an earlier interview. A section of Hanafi school of thought considers the practice legal, but other Islamic followers oppose the practice.
‘Triple talaq’ (divorcing by saying the word talaq three times) is considered illegal across much of the Islamic world including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Indonesia and Malaysia. Egypt was the first Islamic nation to reform its divorce system in 1929. In 2017, India also banned ‘triple talaq’ which was practised by some of the its 170 million Muslims.
Pakistan altered its laws through the Muslim Family Law Ordinance (1961) terming triple talaq illegal.
CII, established in 1962, is a constitutional body of the Pakistan government responsible for offering legal advice on Islamic issues to the government and the parliament.
Dr Qibla Ayaz was appointed the chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), Pakistan’s top Islamic advisory body, in November 2017. Dr Ayaz has served as the vice-chancellor of the University of Peshawar and also as the dean of its Faculty of Islamic and Oriental Studies. Ever since he assumed office, he vowed to transform the Council into a moderate Islamic think tank. “The world has become a global village and there are many challenges both external and internal. Therefore, CII will start future study and it will play a role of think tank,” he had said in his first interaction with media.
