we can some rights and freedoms being accorded to women
The host of this thread addresses the need for rights to be accorded to women in Muslim nations and exalts the efforts by Musharraf to address this issue. Can we start with rights and freedoms being granted to women in Pakistan before we solve the problems of the rest of the Muslim world?
Once again, Musharraf does his double-speak on this issue. He has called for another review and re-examination of the degrading treatment of women in Pakistan – which equates to another commission being set up to study the issue. Never mind that a commission that he appointed in September 2000 came out with some specific recommendations that Musharraf did not bother to implement.
Ardeshir Cowasjee, a highly regarded journalist who writes for Dawn which is the premier English language daily in Pakistan published an article “Don’t Mock the People” which exposed the hypocrisy that permeates this Musharraf move.
Here are some excerpts from the article. If you read these excerpts and the full article it will be apparent that far from womens' rights being address in Pakistan - as implied by the host of this thread - what one is seeing is more foot-dragging and lip service from Musharraf.
The violation of human and of women's rights, Hudood Ordinances, blasphemy laws, jirga justice and many other bad discriminatory laws, rules and regulations concerning all this fill our statute book.
Over the years, men have met and met again and again, commission after commission has sat and recommended repeals and amendments, but the bullies and bigots have forever held sway. And now, what does our all-powerful president-general do?
We must assume that some sort of popular demand, surely that of all the national human rights groups and possibly of many such international groups, and of our various bodies that protect the rights of women, prompted President General Pervez Musharraf to call for yet another review of the Hudood Ordinances while speaking on May 15 at a convention on the "Sensitization and Adoption of Human Rights Standards".
By a review and re-examination he obviously means the setting up of yet another commission. Now, we know he is a busy man, we know he has myriad problems that beset him, but surely he has not forgotten that in September 2000 he himself established a National Commission on the Status of Women, nominating as its chairperson the retired high court judge, Majida Rizvi. Her mission, and that of her fellow members, was to "review" the laws and policies that undermine the status of the women in Pakistan and to eliminate "all forms of discrimination against women."
In September 2003, the report of Musharraf's own commission was made public. These were later explained in public in October 2003 by Musharraf's chosen commission chairperson. Whilst addressing a seminar on the Hudood Ordinances in Lahore, Ms Rizvi clearly stated that these pernicious ordinances must be repealed because they are "unIslamic on the one hand and make a mockery of Islamic justice on the other." Her commission recommended the repeal of the ordinances as they are "against the injunctions of Islam and discriminatory against women and minorities." The laws promulgated by General Ziaul Haq had "promoted injustice instead of justice and denied women the rights given to them by the Holy Quran."
As clear as daylight. How can the general ignore the recommendations of his own commission? Reportedly, of the 15 members appointed to this commission, 12 recommended the repeal of the ordinances, two wished them to be amended and one asked that the recommendations be "given effect". What does that tell the general? So why on earth is he calling for yet a further "review"?
dawn.com |
