Women protection bill will cause divisions within families

KARACHI: Days after the Punjab government passed the women protection bill, religious parties severely criticised it on Sunday, calling it an attempt to destroy the family system in Pakistan, even as the Punjab chief minister defended it.

Addressing party workers who were elected in the recently concluded local body elections in Sindh, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman lashed out at the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for passing the bill. He said it was against human values and will have a negative impact on society since domestic matters would be dragged to the police station. “It will cause divisions within families and the rate of divorce will increase,” he warned.

He contended that the Women’s Protection Bill (WPB) was a violation of the Constitution and Sharia, and announced that he would take the matter to court.

Separately, Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Sirajul Haq told workers in Lahore that the bill had been rejected by women themselves. “The bill is tantamount to undermining our family system and would affect the relationship of respect between mothers, sisters and husbands.” He added that Western countries wanted to destroy our families, and social culture.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif defended the bill, saying, “Punjab government women development initiatives are in line with the vision of the Quaid-e-Azam.”“Role of women is critical for progress of Pakistan,” he went on to add.

HYDERABAD: 

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) will not oppose Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif if he decides to extend the service of General Raheel Sharif, the party’s chief told reporters on Saturday.

“The matter of the army chief’s extension has been made unnecessarily controversial,” Maulana Fazlur Rehman said while talking to the media in Hyderabad.

“The army chief commands great respect in the nation,” Fazl said, emphasising that the federal government should be allowed to make a decision regarding the matter.

Meanwhile, the JUI-F chief lambasted the Punjab Assembly for passing the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Bill. “The bill is contemptible. It has been passed to demonstrate the blind following of American and European cultures. It goes against Sharia and the norms of our society,” he said. “Today we are again being made a colony of the Americans and the British,” he added.

Fazl pointed out that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had opposed a similar law titled the ‘Women Protection Bill’ when Pervez Musharraf’s regime brought it before the assembly. “Men will be made to wear bangles like a tracker,” he said.