By Shakil Shaikh & Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have decided to convene sessions of both the Senate and the National Assembly this month to debate the government-prepared draft bill for reviewing or amending the Hudood laws.
The decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by President Musharraf in Rawalpindi on Saturday. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and key government leaders attended the meeting.
The top leadership also decided that the ruling party, along with its allies, should debate the Hudood laws and review the proposed amendments for which a process would begin soon.
Musharraf said 2,000 women, languishing in jails for a long time without being convicted, should be considered for release in a few weeks.
There are around 6,500 women in jails throughout the country. About 1,000 of them have been serving their sentences, while others are in jails due to prolonged trial procedure.
“The president has taken notice of such women and ordered that their release should be considered,” Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Tariq Azim Khan told The News on Saturday.
The key issue of reviewing and discussing the Hudood laws was the focus of the meeting, which took more than four hours, with divergent views on the repeal or review of the existing laws.
Minister of State for Religious Affairs Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain, Law Minister Wasi Zafar and the chairman Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) made presentations on the occasion.
Both senior and junior ministers for religious affairs advocated the “review of Hudood laws” to evolve consensus.
An inside source has confirmed that most of them who attended the meeting favoured the “repeal of the Hudood laws”.
The countrywide debate on Hudood laws is spearheaded by Geo TV, which compelled the government machinery that something should be done to develop a consensus on the issue.
President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz reportedly favoured the suggestion for reviewing/amending the laws and stressed the need for evolving a consensus on the issue.
The president, an insider said, enlisted three steps for evolving consensus. Firstly, the Law Ministry prepare a draft bill which should be debated in the ruling PML parliamentary party meeting, so that they should evolve a consensus, as the ruling party and its allies are also at loggerheads on this issue.
Secondly, the draft, once agreed in the ruling party, be tabled in parliament for which both Houses be summoned and only selected ruling parliamentarians be allowed to take part in the debate. Thirdly, involve or invite opposition parties, Ulema and Mashaikh, in and outside parliament, for discussion on the draft bill in order to seek their opinion.
The three presentations made in the meeting were poles apart from one another, though there were some voices to confront the issue in the light of Islamic laws.
“The president has ordered the review of Hudood laws and adopt a mode acceptable to all,” said a cabinet source after the marathon meeting.
Musharraf said laws should be reviewed in the light of Islam’s eternal teachings and spirit of justice to ensure that these are in conformity with the great religion vis-a-vis dispensation of justice.
He said Islam is a great religion that provides guidance on all aspects of life, while assigning high priority to justice and fair-play.
The prime minister, in his remarks, said the government is committed to ensuring the common man’s access to cheap and speedy justice.
Tariq Azim said all laws dealing with women would be reviewed, as many women are languishing in jails due to lingering trials. “We would try to evolve a consensus so that there should be justice for all,” he said.
The meeting was attended by PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Federal Religious Affairs Minister Ejaz-ul-Haq, Minister of State for Religious Affairs Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain, Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, Minister of State for Information Tariq Azim, Law Minister Wasi Zafar, Minister for Women’s Development Sumaira Malik, Attorney-General for Pakistan Makhdoom Ali Khan, PML secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar, Chairman National Commission on the Status of Women Dr Arifa Syeda, Chairman CII Dr Muhammad Khalid Masood and others.
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