CII terms Women’s Protection Law anti-Islamic, anti-Constitution

Maulana Shirani advises Punjab govt to seek council’s opinion and revisit the law; law will break our family system

ISLAMABAD: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Thursday rejected the Women’s Protection Law terming it against the Islamic teachings and articles 31 and 35 of the Constitution.

“The CII meeting has altogether rejected the Women Protection Law,” said the CII Chairman Maulana Muhammad Khan Shirani while addressing a news conference after presiding over the 202nd meeting of the council here.

The meeting also observed that various clauses of the draft of Domestic Violence Bill referred to the council were also against the spirit of the Constitution and Shariat.However, the CII chairman appreciated the KP province for referring the proposed law to the council before its introduction in the provincial assembly.

“This is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that a province referred any law to the CII and other provinces should also follow suit,” he said.Maulana Shirani, who is also a JUI-F parliamentarian, said the council had observed that the Women’s Protection Act passed by the Punjab Assembly would break the family system in Pakistan, displacing women from their homes.

He said the passage of the law conveyed the impression that the government could pass any law against Islam whenever it desired.“The Act approved by the Punjab government will result in creating a gulf between the family members,” he observed.

To a question, the CII chairman said the federal and provincial governments must enact such laws in the light of articles 31 and 35 of the Constitution, verses 189, 1 and 21 of Surah Al Aaraaf, Surah Al Nisa and Surah Rome respectively and after seeking guidance from the council.

He advised the Punjab government to officially refer the Women Protection Act to the council to seek its opinion and re-visit the law.Maulana Shirani said the Islamic family system guaranteed dignity and respect of relations.

He lashed out at the ruling PML-N for getting the Women Protection Act passed by the Punjab Assembly. He said the PML-N will have to re-consider and improve its way of politics and attitude towards the Islamic teachings and Islamic laws.

He regretted that no democratic government sought guidelines of the council while enacting Islamic laws except for six laws passed during the tenure of a dictator in 1983.“The enactment of Islamic laws during democratic tenures, particularly during the tenures of the PML-N, has always been a problem. The PML-N has been acting in negation of its name. The name of the party is Muslim League but it acts speak otherwise,” he said.