Women's Legislation: Gap between Musharraf regime's promises and Action
September 2, 2006 - Sherry Rehman MNA

Account of Five Bills Moved by the PPPP on Women from 2002 -2006

A means of measuring the government's commitment to issues of gender equality can be gauged through its inaction and reversals on promises made over the past several years. The Hudood Ordinances, the need for laws against Honour Killings, Affirmative Action and Domestic Violence were some of the issues that were brought to the legislative mainstream by the PPPP. While the regime has consistency rejected all bills even in committee, it has used women's legislation as a means to promote its own political agenda without ever making the fundamental changes required by society to provide a back-drop for real reform. The PPPP, despite its bitter experience on short shrift on women's issues with this regime, has not lost sight of its manifesto promises to women, nor the 1973 Constitution, which it introduced in the country as the first consensus constitution.

Even today, in complete parliamentary discord with the PML Q, and while facing brutal political victimisation, the PPPP has kept its commitment to women and contributed constructively and seminally in all the women's committees, especially the Select Committee formed for the Women's Protection bill introduced by the regime in August 2006.The PPP felt that even if the regime is able to introduce any substantial laws that provide even the smallest measure of relief to women, it must support such moves irrespective of the struggle it is engaged in with the regime on a wider political stage to restore civilian democracy in Pakistan.     

[ All PPPP bills can be obtained from the National Assembly Secretariat by providing Title and name of   Member-in Charge, who is the principal mover of the bill, or from an email request to the Central Information Secretariat of the PPP at centralinformationsecretary@gmail.com]

1. The PPP's Prevention of Honour Killings Bill was thrown into committee graveyard for over two years, revived suddenly in the first week of August 2006, and killed without much ado. This bill ensured that justice can no longer be privatised for crimes against women, but it was never even given an honest hearing in the plenary or the Committee. Meanwhile, the government bill on Honour Killings passed amidst opposition and failed to remove the crucial provision for compoundability of "honour killings" cases through compromise and waiver of Qisas. HRCP and Citizens Action Groups Against Honour Killings established a few weeks prior to the campaign against honour killings states that this raised fears ground realities would not change. [Mover: Sherry Rehman ]

2.The PPPP's Protection and Empowerment of Women Bill 2002 ,  which sought a repeal of discriminatory laws, and other mandatory protections for women against stove burnings, met with opposition by the ruling party in March 2004 and could not be passed. The efforts to repeal the Hudood Laws were blocked when the Federal Government, under Chuadry Shujaat, decided in July that they would be sent to the Council on Islamic Ideology for comment. They have mysteriously never returned from there, while the Chairman of CII, has most recently stated that these laws ought to be repealed. [ Mover: Sherry Rehman ]

3.The second Hudood Repeal Bill moved by the PPPP emerged on the National Assembly agenda by 7 Feb, 2006 and was summarily sent to Committee without debate. It is feared that the legislation will sit there gathering dust, or will be summarily disposed with in the Committee on Women's Affairs, or the Human Rights and Law Committee, or even the Interior Committee, where it was sent intitially. To this day this bill has never been discussed by any committee. [ Mover: Sherry Rehman ]

4.The Affirmative Action Bill moved by the PPPP in 2004, was also kept in Committee cold storage for two years and then tossed aside in August 2006. While the regime kept saying in public that it would mainstream women, in the Standing Committee, where such commitment is needed, the Establishment Secretary was told to say that it is not possible to have more than a five percent quota for women reserved in the public sector for various reasons. When he was told that the 5% quota had already existed since the PPP's third government when it was introduced, and that we were only asking for another increment of five to keep it gradual and bring reservations up to 10% as in many other developing countries, we were informed that it is just not possible. So much for the Affirmative Action Bill.  [ Mover: Sherry Rehman]

 5.The Domestic Violence Bill, moved in 2005, came up for discussion in the National Assembly on 8 August 2006. Sherry Rehman was not allowed initially to introduce the bill by Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Sher Afghan Niazi, when he said that women were allowed to be beaten by their husbands as per Islam, and he cannot allow such a bill even to be introduced. When asked if this was the PML Q manifesto that openly took a position on encouraging violence against women, he insisted he was right and refused to budge from his position of even allowing the introduction of the Bill.This resulted in an uproar in the House, and when the PPPP demanded a vote, Mahnaz Rafi and several other back benchers in the Q League said they would vote with the PPPP on this issue, as did Samia Raheel Qazi. In the absence of the Minister of Women's Affairs, who was not present on the day when such important bills for women were on the agenda, the NA made history by voting against the government for PPPP to at least be given leave to introduce this bill. The bill was introduced, and sent to Committee, but Sher Afghan Niazi was reported to have boasted outside in the parliament cafeteria that he is a member of the said Committee and will not allow it to be passed there.  So far there is no action on this bill in Committee, and no-one even knows which committee this belt was sent to.