–Top Islamic body keeps triple talaq issue pending till next meeting
ISLAMABAD: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Thursday urged the government to enhance punishments for those misusing their authority to issue religious edicts (fatwas).
During the CII meeting chaired by its chief Dr Qibla Ayaz, senior scholars of all four mainstream schools of thought in the country acknowledged the Paigham-e-Pakistan, a comprehensive document that was prepared by the council earlier this year.
The landmark document from the religious body signed by 1,829 religious scholars across the country, declared several actions as un-Islamic including suicide attacks, spreading sectarianism and anarchy in the name of religion.
Dr Ayaz said that it was the government’s duty to enforce the CII’s recommendations.
He said, “We want severe punishments for those clerics who misuse their powers and issue decrees declaring a Muslim non-believer and pronounce him liable to be killed as per Sharia,” adding that “all such decrees have been rejected by the CII”.
Earlier, the council suspended its agenda regarding triple talaq [divorce] in one sitting. The issue was on the agenda of the meeting, however, the council will take up the matter in its next meeting.
The issue of triple talaq had arisen from neighbouring country India earlier this year when Muslim women in the country had petitioned the court, arguing the practice of husbands divorcing them through “triple talaq”, including by Skype and WhatsApp, not only violated their rights but left many women destitute.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, popularly known as the triple talaq bill, was moved in the Indian Parliament to make the act of divorcing a wife by uttering the words thrice, a criminal offence proposing a sentence that could extend up to three years.
