On July 9th in Pakistan over 300 people, including a majority of women, demonstrated in front of the Karachi press club - one of the high places of resistance - against the discriminations suffered by Pakistani women. Through the impetus given by the feminine branch of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), led by Tahira Ali Shah, the demonstrators asked the Government to abolish the “Hudood Ordinances” which are totally unfair to women. Many women who have been raped find themselves in prison because they have been unable to provide, as imposed by law, four men ready to bear witness to the truth of their allegations.

The Hudood Ordinances promulgated and enforced in 1970 by General Zia-ul-Haq’s military government, strengthen the sentences in case of theft, rape and adultery and criminalize extra-marital relationships. As they involve unequal treatment between men and women, they are contested and refused by many Pakistani women’s rights associations, including the Aurat Foundation, Women Action Forum [1] or Lyari Development Organization in Khaipur. In order to have the law abolished, these organizations multiply initiatives.

After the demonstrations of July 9th for instance, the PFF theatre group acted a play “Violence against women in the workplace” showing one of the situations of discrimination and marginalization met by women in Pakistan today because of the “Hudood Ordinances”. More than 300 people attended the performance, 250 of them women.

A few days later, on July 11th, in the tradition of a more than 20-year-old struggle against that law, the Green Rural Development Organization organized a march in Hyderabad, south west of the country. The march took place, between Gari Khata – a neighbourhood often chosen for demonstrations - and the press-club. It gathered around 200 human rights activists and political representatives - among which the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and trade-unions such as Bhandar Hari Sangat and Azad Hari Tahreek. It was followed by a debate during which some hundred people discussed the economical, political and social consequences of the “Hudood Ordinances” on the life of Pakistani women.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani government of President Musharraf, in office since June 2001, is working on an amendment of the law, aiming at releasing on bail all the women-prisoners - 1300 today – who have been arrested for motives other than theft, murder or terrorism. But for those against the “Hudood Ordinances” it is not enough. The law, which is supposedly inspired by the Islam tradition, is wrongly interpreted and unfairly and unrestrainedly used, notably against women. It must be abolished to allow Pakistani women, discriminated against thus far, to earn their emancipation and assert their right to equality facing their husbands and Pakistani men in general.

Through these events, then, women’s rights associations and movements and Pakistani women in general, not only demand the abolition of the “Hudood Ordinances”, but claim the part they know they can play economically, politically and socially in Pakistan, today and tomorrow.

FDH

Notes :

[1] Women Action Forum, WAF