Bail option small plus for Pakistani rape victims

ISLAMABAD, July 10: Hasina and Sumera Mai, aged 16 and 14, were gang-raped by five men in front of their parents in eastern Pakistan.

Unlike most victims, the sisters are fighting for justice, and have threatened to kill themselves if they fail.

''They have ruined us. They have ruined our dignity. We will not let them go,'' Hasina says, tears trickling down her face, as she recounts her ordeal seven months ago, sitting beside her sister and parents in a lawyer's office in Multan.

''We don't want anything less than death to these people.'' Brave, but uneducated, the girls don't realise the law is stacked against them. If the court rejects their version of events they could end up in jail for having sex outside marriage.

But at least, after a reform move by President Pervez Musharraf on only, they could be eligible for bail.

Under Pakistan's Islamic penal code, victims need to call four pious men as witnesses to attest to a rape.

The Hudood Ordinance is a set of laws enforced in the 1980s by the then military dictator, Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, laying down punishments for crimes such as rape, theft and adultery.

In practice, Islamic courts do exercise discretion over rape cases, but not often enough, according to rights activists, who say there are about 6,000 women in prison, most of them on charges under the Hudood Ordinance.

On july, Musharraf, who preaches ''enlightened moderation'', approved legislation allowing women facing minor charges, including adultery, to be freed on bail.

Officials say 1,300 women stood to be freed immediately as a result of the move.

Under the Hudood code, a man and woman found guilty of having sex outside of marriage could be sentenced to death by stoning or 100 lashes while thieves would have their right hands amputated.

PAKISTAN'S FUTURE Although these punishments have rarely, if ever, been carried out, rights groups have long called for abolition of the Hudood laws, saying they are ''discriminatory'' against women.

Their arguments gathered force after Mukhtaran Mai, the victim of a horrific gang rape, also in southern Punjab, four years ago, stood up against Pakistan's male establishment to become an icon for rights groups worldwide.

''We want that Hudood Ordinance to be repealed altogether.

It cannot be reformed or amended,'' said Hina Jilani, vice chairwoman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The debate highlights a long drawn-out battle between conservatives and liberals over the direction of Muslim Pakistan.

The pro-reform findings of a government-appointed panel of religious scholars released earlier this month raised hopes that Musharraf will dare take decisions that past Pakistani leaders have ducked for fear of upsetting an influential Islamist lobby.

''We have to remove inequality. We have to give relief and comfort to the women,'' Musharraf recently told rights activists, saying he would back moves to amend or repeal the laws.

For all Musharraf's intent, further reforms could be hostage to the political situation, with elections due next year and the Islamist parties already drawing battle lines.

After seizing power in a coup almost seven years ago, General Musharraf needed support from Islamist opposition parties to get parliament to vote him in as president in 2003.

''If the government comes to a conclusion that it needs support of the religious groups then this campaign will be stalled,'' Lahore-based analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said.

REUTERS