DIVORCE IN PAKISTAN: Pakistani Law and Violence against Women
The
Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) of Pakistan ruled on March 31, 2007
that a woman who is raped should not be considered guilty of adultery
and should be viewed under the law as a victim of rape.
The
ruling may reduce the impact of the Hudood Ordinances adopted in
Pakistan in 1979 under which in order to prove her case, a woman has to
produce four adult Muslim men as witnesses to testify before an Islamic
court that they saw the forced sexual act. If the victim fails to
produce the witnesses she will be accused of adultery and sent to
prison or lapidated. The same rules provide that evidence provided by
non Muslims is not admissible before a court. However, the CII is
merely an advisory body.
But in an article entitled Violence Against Women and International Law, New York International Law Review, Vol. 20, p.57 (Winter 2007), Rebecca Adams states that in Pakistan:
- The
subordination of women is effectively written into the law. Women have
limited or no recourse when they are victimized by domestic violence.
- Men
view their wives as property and in fact, certain interpretations of
Islamic law allow husbands to control and physically discipline their
wives as necessary.
- Evidence suggests that somewhere between 70 and 90% of Pakistani women are victims of domestic violence.
- The
Pakistani legal system is comprised of tribal codes, Islamic law,
Indo-British judicial traditions and customary traditions that have
created an atmosphere of oppression around women, where any advantage
or opportunity offered to women by one law, is cancelled out by one or
more of the others.
- Pakistan does not have any specific legislation against domestic violence.
- Even
egregious crimes such as honor killings, where a mane murders his wife
for apparent or suspected infidelity, almost always receive minimal
punishment.
- Women who bring claims of assault often face bias
within the justice system from police officers, prosecutors and judges
who are more likely to believe that a woman is trying to "frame" a man
or that domestic violence is a private matter that is sanctioned by the
law and culture.
- A woman claiming sexual assault is more likely to be jailed for fornication or adultery than to be successful in her suit.
- Marriage is a complete defense to a charge of rape.
