Pakistan – North-West Frontier Province – Vice & Virtue Bill Presented – Gender
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: November 6, 2006
moral policing has been presented in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province.
The bill would see the introduction of a moral police force to ensure strict
adherence to Islamic injunctions.
It was tabled amid deafening shouts of disapproval from opposition parties
who have vowed to resist it.
However, hardline religious parties have enough seats in the provincial house
to pass the bill.
Calling the proposed law “Taleban-style extremism”, angry opposition
politicians threw copies of the proposed legislation in the air to register
their protest.
The proposed law calls for the establishment of a new department to
“discourage vice and encourage virtue.”
Adherence
The BBC’s Aamer Ahmed Khan in Karachi says that in effect, a new office will
be set up along the lines of the office of the ombudsman, at provincial as well
as district level.
It will be headed by a cleric called “mohtasib” – one who holds others
accountable – to be nominated by the government.
The principal duty of the cleric will be to “ensure adherence to Islamic
values in public places”.
According to a draft of the bill, the mohtasib will be required to ensure
people pay adequate respect to azan (call to prayers), pray on time and do not
engage in commerce at the time of Friday prayers.
The mohtasib will also stop unrelated men and women from appearing in public
places together and discourage singing and dancing.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Pakistan’s six-party religious alliance
which is in power in North-West Frontier Province, says it was mandated by the
people in the 2002 elections to bring in such laws.
However, the president of Pakistan’s ruling party, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain,
called it “unconstitutional”.
He warned that it would lead to confrontation between Islamabad and the
provincial governments.
The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party called it an “obscurantist pipedream”
and an attempt to “Talebanise” Pakistan.
Afghanistan’s former ruling Taleban initiated a “vice and virtue” department
in Kabul which became the focus of criticism from human rights organisations.
It is not yet clear when the North-West Frontier Province assembly will vote
on the bill.
Observers believe that, barring direct intervention from Islamabad, the bill
is highly likely to pass into law.
Legal experts say it is not clear what options are available to the federal
government for stopping the bill.
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