Clergy’s absurd demands
Reports about heinous crimes committed against women continue to appear in the national media. Yesterday’s papers carried the story of a newly married woman whose in-laws shaved her head before sending her back to her parents because she had brought insufficient dowry. The atrocities have however failed to change the clerics’ misogynistic outlook. Out of sync with times and out of touch with ground realities, they continue to issue edicts rejecting the admissibility of DNA tests as primary evidence in rape cases, demanding removal of legal restrictions on second marriage, supporting child marriage and demanding abolition of co-education.
JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman has rejected the Protection of Women Against Violence Bill which was passed by Punjab Assembly through due process of law. Declaring the law to be in violation of the teachings of Islam, he demands its repeal. Fazlur Rehman has convened a meeting of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of religious parties which many had given up as dead, to formulate an action plan.
Fazlur Rehman is challenging the most basic tenet of democracy i.e., the exclusive authority of the elected legislature to frame laws for the country. What he is demanding is a veto power for the clergy in matters of legislation, thus subjugating the will of the masses exercised through their elected representatives to the whims of an unelected and self-opinionated body of clerics who have already divided the Muslim community into scores of sects. Knowing that they cannot impose their distorted version of Islam on the people through democratic means, the TTP and IS take recourse to terrorist attacks to subjugate governments. What Fazlur Rehman is trying to do is no different. He wants to enforce a narrow version of Islam unacceptable to the vast majority by whipping up mass hysteria leading to anarchy and social unrest. What the government needs to do is to take a firm stand against the reactionary clerics. Any attempt at appeasement would only whet their appetite for power, leading to more unacceptable demands.