Hudood Ordinance
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The Hudood Ordinance is a law in Pakistan, which enforces punishments mentioned in the Quran and sunnah for crimes such as adultery, rape and theft. It was enacted in 1979 as part of then military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization process. It is based on Muslim Shari'a law.
The Hudood Ordinance criminalizes all extra-marital sex. Even when the woman claims that she was raped and not involved in adultery, she must have four pious male witnesses to prove rape, but only Muslim men can testify in cases involving Muslim women (non-Muslim rape victims require four non-Muslim male witnesses). But if four witnesses are not provided by the woman but rape is proved by other means (e.g medical evidence) then the jury can punish the accused according to the Pakistani penal court. For married couples, the punishment for adultery is death by stoning but this has never been carried out. Unmarried people receive 100 lashes.
This ordinance is has sometimes been misused against rape victims if they are not able to provide four male witnesses, however the extent to which this occurs is currently disputed. In certain situations, the alleged rapist accuses the raped woman of confessing to consensual intercourse.
The Hudood Ordinance also criminalises drinking alcohol and punishes it along with theft. Drinking is punished with 80 lashes; the punishment for theft is physical mutilation: the right hand is amputated.
A number of international and Pakistani human rights organizations are making an effort to get the law repealed however are driven by ideological considerations rather than on-the-ground considerations.
The governments of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif both set up commissions to investigate the Hudood Ordinance. Both commissions recommended amending certain aspects of the law, but neither government followed through.
External links
- [Rape and Hudood Ordinance: Perversions of Justice in the Name of Islam] by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
- [ABT] - information on Hudood Ordinance and Women's Rights in Pakistan
- [The Offence of Zina]: English text of the law.
- [Musharraf seeks amendment in Hudood Laws]
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