Legal Take: Losing my religion, embracing PWDVA
Religious dogmas in Pakistan and Afghanistan have led to the misinterpretation of Islam.
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The common belief most shockingly is that Allah confers superiority upon men over woman and most shockingly, the Koran states that if a woman is disobedient, the man has the right to beat and admonish her. The Koran even dictates gender roles, where men are to bring money and power and woman are to look after the household.
And who best to interpret the Koran other than Big Brother Taliban?
1. Suraya Pakzad teaches at various Taliban controlled area of Afghanistan and as a result she has received repeated threats indicating a constant danger to her life (11th March,2009)
2. Swat Valley, a region dominated by Taliban witnessed a horrific incident on April 5,2009. A 17 year old girl was flogged 37 times as she was seen with some man other than her husband or father. Later, she denied the incident claiming that the video taken was ‘fake’.
3. A couple was recently killed at the hands of Afghan militants for committing the ‘crime’ of eloping. The couple’s family members left them to the Taliban’s supposedly seeking justice. (15th April, 2009, Page 22, Times of India).
The Pakistani government on 29th April, 2007 were considering the enactment of a new law – The Protection Against Domestic Violence of Women and Children (PADVWC) Act. The PADVWC is a replica of the PWDVA in many ways. Firstly a complaint has to be filed with a protection committee, there after the application is forwarded to the court. The parties are called to the court via a notice to carry out the trial proceedings where the magistrate hears the case and pronounces the judgement.
Visit www.hg.org to seek aid from NGO’s and law firms in Pakistan.
On the one hand the Pakistani government passes the PWDVWC and on the other, gets coerced by the Taliban accept the draconian Shariat law. – which legalises marital rape and denies girl children basic fundamental rights such as the access to education – taking the country back by a few many centuries. What good will the PWDVWC do if the Shariat law they’ve entered into uses religion as an excuse to violate women?
Isn’t this one step forward and two steps backwards? Shouldn’t the law and basic Human Rights for women be above religious mores?
Photo Courtesy: www.rickmcginnis.com
Tagged domestic violence, gender, Law
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