Pakistan's proposed rape law reform inadequate: ACHR

New Delhi, Sep 13 (UNI) Slamming the Pakistan Government for giving in to religious conservatives opposed to the amendment of Islamic laws dealing with rape and adultery, the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) today said the revised draft of the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill falls short of Islamabad's obligations under international human rights law.

The laws, known as the Hudood Ordinances, make a rape victim liable to prosecution for adultery if she can not produce four male witnesses.

''This is nothing but an attempt to silence Mukthar Mais from speaking before the press. This itself reflects the lack of commitment of the government to protect the women in Pakistan,'' Asian Centre for Human Rights Director Suhas Chakma said.

About 80 per cent of the 6,500 women prisoners of Pakistan are victims of the Hudood Ordinances, the human rights watchdog said.

The proposed bill seeks to amend the four male witness requirements under the Hudood Ordinance to prove rape and allow bail for women arrested.

An opposition alliance of religious parties, including the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), objected to the changes, saying they were a danger to society, and threatened to withdraw from the national and provincial parliaments if they were passed.

In the face of the protests, the government said it was accepting three of the conservatives' demands, including one keeping rape under the Islamic law, although it will also be a crime under the penal code.

The government also accepted adultery being made a crime under the penal code, subject to up to five years in prison.

Under the Hudood Ordinance, if a woman who claims to have been raped fails to prove, she can be convicted of adultery, which is punishable by death in the most stringent circumstances.

A rape victim is required to produce at least four adult male Muslim eyewitnesses, who have physically seen the act of rape against the victim, in order to prove her claims. Because of social taboos, discriminatory laws and victimisation of victims by police, most rape cases are not reported in Pakistan.

The ACHR also condemned the proposed new offence under Section 502 B of the Pakistan Penal Code which provides that ''Whoever publicises any case of zina or rape whereby the identity of any woman or her family member is disclosed shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to six months or fine or with both''.

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