The bill on the controversial Hudood laws being tabled by the government in the National Assembly on Wednesday contains all the three amendments suggested by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, it has emerged.

Two months back, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League allowed itself to be persuaded into rejecting the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill as approved by a parliamentary select committee in favour of a draft bill that incorporated amendments proposed by a nine-member panel of religious scholars.

Opposition parties, notably the Pakistan People’s Party, were incensed when an influential group in the government, led by PML president Chaudhury Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, enabled the MMA to water down the original amendments to the Hudood laws.

The federal Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights, Chaudhry Wasi Zafar, will present the bill in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Copies of the draft bill distributed among legislators and newsmen on Tuesday indicate that the three MMA amendments have been finally accommodated.

However, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, insisted on Tuesday that the bill to be tabled in the Lower House on Wednesday was the one which had been approved by the parliamentary select committee.

Mr Niazi’s assertions cut no ice with MMA deputy parliamentary leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed who said the bill had been amended in accordance with the three proposals put forward by a nine-member panel of religious scholars.

Sources told Dawn that the treasury benches would do their utmost to adopt the bill by Friday. They said that there would be fireworks in the National Assembly when the bill was tabled for discussion.

The draft bill deals with a crime called lewdness under which fornication is punishable with up to five years in prison and a fine of Rs10,000. However, a person making a false accusation of fornication would be subject to the same punishment.

The bill stipulates that only an authorised court could accept signed statements of a person who makes a complaint of fornication as well as of two witnesses. A judge of the authorised court could summon a person against whom fornication complaints have been made.

If the judge believes that there is not enough ground to proceed against the accused, he could drop the charges but he would have to record his reasons for doing so.

The draft bill makes it clear that the lewdness clause does not apply to rape cases. A suspected rapist could be arrested without warrants. However, a person accused of adultery or lewdness could not be arrested without a warrant. In fact, those who bring false charges of adultery or commit perjury cannot be arrested without warrants.

Under the draft bill, an adultery case could be converted into a rape case but not vice versa. Severe punishments, including the death penalty, have been recommended in rape cases.

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