Pakistan Passes Women's Protection Law

(Islamabad, Pakistan) Good news! Unfortunately, it's a mere baby step towards the goal of equal rights for women.

From PakTribune.com:

Congratulating the whole nation over approval of Women Protection Bill 2006 by the Parliament, President General Pervez Musharraf Wednesday vowed to bring an end to all injustice against women and weaker segments of the society.

The most notable changes concern the crime of rape. Previous to the Women Protection Bill 2006, a woman who claimed she was raped but didn't produce the required four witnesses was put in jail.

Regarding the rape, the president said the trouble with it was that if a woman is raped firstly she is being prosecuted she goes to the police station crying she is asked to bring four witnesses otherwise she is imprisoned and she becomes victim of double injustice. This was a dual injustice with out women. We have amended the Zina Bil Jabr (Rape) we put it in PPC and from now on if a woman is raped and if she had an evidence or she lacks it, only the rapist will be adjudged. There will be no bar for producing four witness and raped woman will not be put behind bars.

So, in a nutshell, a woman can claim she was raped, even when there were no witnesses, and she won't be jailed. Sounds reasonable and simple yet, among the general Pakistani public, it's an earthshaking change. Families, police, judges, courts and tribal leaders will all have to recognize and comply with the change. I suspect that there will be strong reluctance among various segments to enforce the new rape law. The Musharraf government may need to force compliance.

Nonetheless, the Women Protection Bill 2006 should be considered a major step forward. There remains, however, much more work to be done before true equality between the sexes is achieved.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.