To combat domestic violence, another draft of the bill to introduce effective penal clauses in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) has been prepared by the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW).
The draft is a result of a consultation with civil society and other stakeholders. The commission has been tasked by the Ministry of Human Rights to introduce the proposed legislation in the Parliament as a government bill.
The NCSW has taken a leap recently by submitting four drafts of the bill concerning women’s issues and the personal laws of the minorities to the Ministry of Human Rights.
Earlier, the commission arranged a focus group discussion on the personal laws of Hindu and Christian minorities on marriage and divorce. As an outcome of the discussion, a draft bill for the Hindu community was prepared by the Law Committee of NCSW.
Similarly, a number of amendments have also been proposed for legislation to make Christian Personal Laws on Marriage and Divorce more effective. The prepared drafts have been named as Hindu Marriages Act 2011, (ii) Christian Marriages Amendment Act 2011, (iii) Christian Divorce Amendment Act 2011 and (iv) Domestic Violence (Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2011).
The commission has also written a separate letter to President Asif Ali Zardari, urging him to extend the scope of women-friendly legislation to FATA, while invoking his sole power under Article 247 of the Constitution. “The landmark legislations passed by the present government on “The Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment) Act2011”, “The Acid Control and The Acid Crimes Prevention (Criminal Law Amendment) Act 2011” and “The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010” should be extended to FATA region,” the letter said. Through a letter the role of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto in the struggle for women’s rights has also been appreciated. The letter especially commended the move made by the President to provide relief to FATA through amendments in Frontier Crimes Regulation.
