Pakistan: Domestic Violence Bill 2009 comes under fire due to punishment provision for false accusations

Submitted by anthony on Sat, 2009-08-22 18:05

Story here. Excerpt:

'A clause of the recently approved Domestic Violence Bill 2009 that allows punishment of six months or a fine of Rs50,000 to those who file false complaints came under severe criticism at a national consultation here on Thursday.
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Demanding complete repeal of this new addition by the government, civil society activists expressed the fear that the clause would transform the bill, formulated to provide relief to women, into another Hadood ordinance. “This would mean that practically no aggrieved party, victim or complainant will ever file a case in fear of reactionary punishment to them,” said Maleeha Zia of Aurat Foundation. She was speaking at the ‘National Consultation on Domestic Violence Bill 2009’ organised by Aurat Foundation.

Aimed at lobbying with senators to raise their voices against the gaps in the final draft, the event was attended by civil society activists and female senators, who agreed with most of the points raised by the participants. Prominent among them were Yasmeen Rehman, Saeeda Iqbal, Farah Aqil, Nilofer Bakhtiar and Shiralla Mallick.'

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Oh Noes, these accusations would actually have to be real and there would be consequences for lying? Uh, isn't that called fairness?

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Submitted by Michael on Sat, 2009-08-22 18:55

Given the cultural and religious differences between Pakistan and western countries, this is an issue with many different facets. Islamic law is vastly different from western law. Islamic religion is vastly different from historical western religions. Pakistani culture is half a world away.

"How will radical feminist influence play in this part of the world," is a good question? It appears to me that two alien ideologies are on a collision course. Given the human rights abuses that have been committed in both camps, they appear to have one facet in common - their inhumanity. Perhaps we should lobby to send America's entire, taxpayer funded, radical feminist, d.v. industry to Pakistan's tribal regions. Everyone in America would instantly be better off.

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Submitted by MR on Sun, 2009-08-23 19:12

manonthestreet

Too many MRAs have this ambivalence of condemning feminism at home yet wanting to be the defenders of women abroad. It's almost like a Hollywood film where the good guy wins the girl by defeating the bad guy.Is that what American MRAs want - to win back their women by kicking the shit out of the bad guys in other countries. Do you expect the women to rush back to you on your return crying My Hero? The Pakistanis are just fine. Anything they do to women is also just fine, and if they are to resit feminism they will need all their strength and a big stick..

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Submitted by trotter on Mon, 2009-08-24 12:07