Pakistani Hardliners- New Law Protecting Women Is Un-Islamic

Pakistan isn't like Afghanistan. And it's a tad more progressive than say, Iran or Saudi Arabia when it comes to its women folk. There are no religious police out on the streets making sure women are covered. Unlike Saudi Arabia, they can drive. Universities are not segregated. Heck, they even elected a female Prime Minister. Twice. Although Benazir Bhutto was eventually assassinated she served two terms from 1984 through 1993. Of course, that was back then when Muslims weren't quite so fanatical and hardline as they are today. But although their legal system is rooted in British common law, the Penal Code often adheres to Islamic Shariah law and many of its barbaric practises, including death for apostasy and blasphemy. Any attempts to change the more radical Islamic laws, like Blasphemy and child marriage laws are met with major resistance, and often violence from a slew of religious hardliners.

The latest child marriage law ban never came to fruition because of opposition from the hardliners who actually want girls as young as nine to be eligible to marry, as per Shariah law.  And now, they want a new law protecting women to go bye-bye. There's a lot of domestic abuse within the Islamic nuclear family, so that's not surprising.

More than 35 religious parties and groups in Pakistan have come together to call on the government retract a new law in the country's largest province of Punjab that protects women from abuse. Claiming that the law is unIslamic, they accuse the law of being part of the West's agenda to destroy the family system in Pakistan.

The Women's Protection Act was passed by Punjab in February to protect women from domestic, psychological and sexual violence. It also calls for the setting up of a toll-free abuse reporting hot line, women's shelters and district-level panels to investigate reports of abuse. The new law also mandates the use of GPS bracelets to keep track of offenders.

The law however seems to have fallen foul of the mainly conservative clerics and religious leaders. They have said it is in conflict with both the Koran and the Pakistan constitution.

"This controversial law to protect women was promulgated to accomplish the West's agenda to destroy the family system in Pakistan," reads the joint declaration from the conference comprising the religious parties and groups. "This act ... is redundant and would add to the miseries of women."

[snip]

Pakistan Today said the Council of Islamic Ideology, a Pakistani religious body that advises the government on the compatibility of laws with Islam has declared the Women's Protection Act as un-Islamic. On 14 March, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam, the country's largest religious party, claimed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had promised to address the reservations of the religious parties.

The rest here.

Pakistani Hardliners Want Nine-Year-Olds To Marry

After attempting to institute a child marriage ban, the Pakistan Muslim League Party has caved to pressure from the religious extremists- who just so happen to be mainstream in that country. The proposed law is now off the table after the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) cried 'blasphemy' deeming it un-Islamic. And we know what happens to Muslim blasphemers.

Currently a girl can marry at age 16, and a boy 18. They wanted to raise the age to 18 for girls, and mete out harsher punishments for those who married underage young girls. That's now not going to happen.

CII's Mohammad Khan Sheerani said:

“Parliament cannot create legislation that is against the teachings of the Holy Quran or Sunnah.”

In fact, they want marriage laws to comply with Shariah, which means that girls as young as nine should be allowed to marry, if "the signs of puberty are visible”. In other words, they want to legalize pedophilia.

Disgusting.

Way to go Pakistan.

Source.

Bill To Ban Child Marriage In Pakistan Shot Down As Anti-Islamic

As proof that Pakistan is living in the dark ages, a proposed bill to ban child marriage in that country was shot down after the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) called it anti-Islamic.

The ruling party politician who introduced the bill, Marvi Menon of the Pakistan Muslim League party, withdrew it after the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) dubbed the bill “blasphemous”.

The CII unanimously rejected the proposed Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2014 on "purely religious grounds", reports The Express Tribune.

CII Chairman Mohammad Khan Sheerani said the bill contradicted Islamic teachings.

The proposed legislation recommended giving out harsher punishments to those entering a marriage with a minor, as well as raising the minimum age of marriage for women to 18-years-old.

Legally girls can marry at 16 and men at 18, but the CII believes that's anti-Islamic. According to Islamic law, 9-year-old girls should be allowed to marry.

Of course Ms Menon withdrew the bill after the CII called it  "blasphemous."  She is well aware of what happens to people who try to civilize a society still attached to backward Islamic ideology- people get killed.

More here.

"Women Are Un-Islamic" Claims Pakistan's Council of Islamic Ideology?

Legitimate mainstream news websites, bloggers and readers often mistake articles posted by fake/satire sites like The Onion and The Daily Currant as truth. I know I've almost been suckered into believing some.  But if it's a little too outrageous, I google. Of course, there are plenty of legitimately outrageous stories from the Middle East and environs that, as unbelievable as they are, turn out to be legit, so one never knows.

So, when I saw someone on Facebook post a link to an article on Pakistan Today titled "Council of Islamic Ideology declares women’s existence anti-Islamic" I checked it out and, yes, Pakistan has its very own satire news site. Who would have thought.

Islamabad - Sharia Correspondent: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) concluded their 192nd meeting on Thursday with the ruling that women are un-Islamic and that their mere existence contradicted Sharia and the will of Allah. As the meeting concluded CII Chairman Maulana Muhammad Khan Shirani noted that women by existing defied the laws of nature, and to protect Islam and the Sharia women should be forced to stop existing as soon as possible. The announcement comes a couple of days after CII’s 191st meeting where they dubbed laws related to minimum marriage age to be un-Islamic.

After declaring women to be un-Islamic, Shirani explained that there were actually two kinds of women – haraam and makrooh. “We can divide all women in the world into two distinct categories: those who are haraam and those who are makrooh. Now the difference between haraam and makrooh is that the former is categorically forbidden while the latter is really really disliked,” Shirani said.

The rest here.  It's pretty darn funny.