The continuing sectarian killings, brutalization of women and suppression of enlightened opinion are grim reminders of the havoc that the politicization of religion has wrought in Pakistan since General Zia ul Haq’s enforced Islamisation of the 1980s. Unfortunately, no civilian government since has had the guts to repeal or amend the Hudood, blasphemy, qisas, diyat and other suffocating edicts that masquerade as Islamic injunctions, despite the fact that only a simple parliamentary majority is needed to bury them. In fact, it was Nawaz Sharif who, as prime minister, authored the controversial Shariah bill in 1991 and tried in 1999 to ram through the 15th constitutional amendment bill that would have made him Amirul Momineen with omnipotent powers to decree right and wrong, vice and virtue. But today we discern significant signposts of hope on the horizon.
In a PMLQ meeting last month of women parliamentarians led by Ms Nelofar Bakhtiar, the head of the Women’s Welfare Ministry, the party president Shujaat Hussain was pressed to repeal the Hudood laws. Last week, President Musharraf openly called for “critical thinking” to review prevailing “Islamic” laws. And now the chairman of the Islamic Ideology Council, Dr Khalid Masud, has publicly noted that the Hudood Ordinances are man made laws and not scripture. He argued that the Hudood laws can and should be changed for the better because there are many aspects in them which conflict with Islamic laws, in particular those that relate to the difference between rape and adultery, crime and martyrdom.
The reconstituted Federal Shariat Court under Musharraf has recommended a critical review of the Hudood laws. The Women’s Welfare Ministry under Ms Bakhtiar has said that these laws must be undone and the pre-1979 Pakistan Penal Code be restored. The first Women’s Commission set up in 1985 by General Zia himself and headed by Begum Zari Sarfraz supported a review of these laws in 1985. Benazir Bhutto’s commission under Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid published its report in 1997, recommending a repeal of those Hudood laws that went against women’s rights. In 2000, Musharraf established a third Women’s Commission under Justice (retd) Majida Rizvi to examine such issues. This commission’s 2003 report asked the government to do away with the Hudood laws completely. Among the chorus of voices against these laws were: Justice (retd) M Shaiq Usmani; Syed Afzal Haider, a CII member; Chaudhry Naeem Shakir, the representative of the non-Muslims, Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid; and so on.
Chaudhry Shujaat, the PMLQ president, has often been accused of dragging his feet on repealing the Hudood Ordinances. But President Musharraf, we learn, has now confronted him with “the perception among foreign diplomats and PMLQ parliamentarians that the only hindrance in the repeal of the Hudood Ordinances happens to be the PLM leadership”. Chaudhry Shujaat has also been reminded that when he was briefly PM in 2004 he referred the Justice Rizvi report to the CII for comment and advice. In response, Chaudhry Shujaat has explained that the CII was brought into the equation following the emergence of three points of view: those in favour of a full repeal, those supporting the status quo, and those for a selective amendment. But following the CII’s open criticism of these laws, he has now proposed a two step course of action for Musharraf’s approval and PM Shaukat Aziz’s implementation. In a secret note to the President on May 20, 2005, in response to allegations of obfuscating the issue, Chaudhry Shujaat wrote: “ First, the law ministry may be asked to draft a bill on a consensus between the two perspectives: namely repeal and review, since both viewpoints agree that some replacement of the existing laws is necessary through amendments. Second, the Prime Minister should convene a meeting to decide how and when to table this bill… This meeting should include Justice Rizvi, Ms Bakhtiar, Dr Khalid Masud, Ejaz ul Haq, Mushahid Hussain, PMLQ President (Chaudhry Shujaat himself) and the leaders of the parties allied to the PMLQ.” The note ended with the observation that “hopefully, this process should be completed within 30 days ”.
The deadline expires in two weeks but a committee is nowhere in sight. Meanwhile, the budget will likely occupy us for all of June. We now hear that Chaudhry Shujaat is planning to take long leave abroad for health reasons. Does this mean that the issue is going to be shelved again? Has Musharraf been dealt another “hand” by his advisors, supporters and allies who don’t want to repeal the Hudood laws and lose the support of the mullahs in their coming electoral battles with the mainstream parties?
If the Hudood Ordinances are struck down, it will be a momentous occasion for the moderate and enlightened Pakistan that Musharraf dreams of building. There is greater symbolic value in ridding ourselves of these repressive and divisive laws in terms of turning back the tide of extremist political religion than even in the pragmatic about-turn of 9/11 that has breathed life into Pakistan’s economy.