Women’s Protection Law against Constitution,Shariah: CII chief

Says Article 6 of Constitution should be invoked against Punjab Assembly

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani has declared the Women’s Protection Law against Islamic Sharia.

During a CII meeting here on Wednesday, Maulana Sherani said there was no need to legislate for women’s protection when they already had all rights secured under Sharia laws according to the Quran and Sunnah.

Apart from today’s agenda, the Women’s Protection Bill that was recently passed by the Punjab Assembly was also discussed during the meeting. Members of the Council stated that this bill is ‘against the Constitution and the two-nation theory’. The CII will present its recommendations after reviewing the issue in detail in the next session. 

The Punjab Assembly gave unprecedented protection to female victims of violence, in a bid to stem a rising tide of gender-related abuse in a country ranked as the world‘s third most dangerous place for women. The new law criminalises all forms of violence against women, whether domestic, psychological or sexual, and calls for the creation of a toll-free abuse reporting hotline and the establishment of shelters.

However, Sherani termed it a violation of Islamic laws and said it could not be accepted. “The CII is a constitutional body, therefore, every bill should be brought to parliament in the light of its recommendations.” But the present government, he said, avoided doing so in violation of the provisions of the Constitution.  —NNI

Muhammad Anis adds: CII  Chairman Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani said Article 6 of the Constitution should be invoked where a law against the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah is passed.

“Passage of any law against the Holy Quran and Sunnah is a violation of constitutions of 1973, 1962 and 1956 and the violator should be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution,” Maulana Sherani said while talking informally to newsmen after the first round of the 202nd meeting of the CCI.

Commenting on the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, the CII chairman said the Council had received copies of the law cleared by the Punjab Assembly and could give its opinion on it after going through it on Thursday (today).

However, he said the assemblies were bound to take the opinion of the CII before passing any law which involved the Holy Quran and Sunnah.

However, he said passing any law against Islamic teachings was also a negation of the speech of the founder of the nation Muhammad Ali Jinnah when he said, “the Prophet of Islam has given us a Constitution 1300 years back”. 

Maulana Sherani said on the first day of the meeting on Monday, the CII discussed the Domestic Violence Bill forwarded to it by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

He informed the newsmen that the meeting started the reading of the draft of the bill and some clauses were found against the Constitution of Pakistan and Shariah. “We will decide tomorrow whether to reject the draft of the bill or propose amendments in it,” he said.

Another member Professor Noor Muhammad Shahtaz said it seemed that the Punjab Assembly passed the bill in haste. “ The bill should have been referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology first,” he said.