Making A Difference

Ball and Chain

Things don't look good for women in the country as one of its provinces adopts the controversial Shariat Bill

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Ball and Chain
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For decades, the Islamist in Pakistan was a corked genie the military rulers manipulated to impart legitimacy to their successive regimes. And now the genie has escaped from the bottle to torment its master, throwing in disarray the symbiotic relationship between the two. In addition to the influence of the United States on Pakistan's foreign policy, the Islamists and the military are now embroiled in a contentious debate over the role of women in society.

The military was not particularly amused to find the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of religious parties, ride to power in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) last year. And this turned to dismay as the MMA recently managed to persuade the NWFP assembly to adopt the Shariat Bill unanimously. Essentially a statement of intent, the Bill promises to Islamise society and its law.

It was assumed the MMA and its ilk would invoke the Bill to roll back the rights of Pakistani women. Dr Samina Ahmed, who heads the International Crisis Group in Pakistan, feels Islamists want to portray the Bill as a stellar instance of their intention to Islamise society. This could enable them to convince the disenchanted populace to vote for the MMA in other provinces. Says she, "Today, they are using their success in the NWFP and Balochistan to target the most vulnerable segments of society—women and the minorities."

The Bill might not yet become part of the Statute Book. Under the Pakistani Constitution, the provincial governor is empowered to send the Bill to the federal government. Since President Pervez Musharraf is apparently opposed to the MMA's Islamisation programme, the governor is expected to forward the Bill to the federal government, which could forward it to the Council for Ideology for its recommendations.

The possibility of adopting dilatory tactics to 'kill' the Bill can't allay the fears of women here, nervous at the currency the medieval mindset has suddenly acquired in Pakistan. This was on display as MMA cadres went around paint-brushing women out of billboards, and passing party resolutions banning music, dance and cable channels. They also want girls over 12 years of age to wear a veil, ban pants and shirts (even for men) in offices and ensure total segregation of women in education and health institutions.

Such antediluvian laws, surprisingly, managed to win the endorsement of sections of women. As Samia Raheel Qazi, an MMA legislator and daughter of the alliance leader Qazi Hussain, argues, "Tearing down of hoardings depicting women's pictures is in line with the demand of the international feminist movement that women should not be made a tool for advertisements. Islam does not call for coercing anyone into adopting Islamic injunctions. It wants to create an atmosphere where people would order their lives according to Islamic teachings voluntarily."

But the defacing of billboards has started to worry many here. Argues Rehana Hakim, editor of the monthly Newsline, "The MMA has taken it upon itself to interfere in all aspects of life. Its most magnificent obsession has got to be women. A sinister plan is afoot to enforce all MMA edicts. The Hasba Bill, recently presented in the NWFP assembly by the MMA, proposes the setting up of a Vice-and-Virtue Department to mind the people's morals."

This Bill envisages the creation of a Hasba Force to enforce Islamic morals, bringing back horrific memories of the days the Vice-and-Virtue squads ruled the streets of Kabul. The Bill has now been put in abeyance after Musharraf criticised the MMA's attempts to Talibanise society. The MMA's endeavour to deliver a blow for Islam reminds Samina Ahmed of the dark '80s. Says Hakim: "Then the efforts at Islamisation by the mullah and the military were used to erode the liberty of citizens.We have the beginning of the same process; women are their targets. All this controversy could divide society and enable the mullah to gain more political space."

But 2003 differs from the '80s in a fundamental way: the charge against the mullah has been led by Musharraf, who hasn't dithered from displaying his personal intolerance towards the MMA's brand of politics. Says leading poet Kishwar Naheed, "It is really shameful that it is a general who has taken on the MMA while women groups and NGOs are still preparing to respond to it. The general has snatched our slogan."

Naheed feels the 'holy crisis' of Pakistan is typical of the followers of three religions—Islam, Judaism and Hinduism—who want to return to their roots. This no doubt has important sociological aspects. But the danger, she says, is that the MMA could leave behind an enduring but damaging legacy. "The burqa is still seen in Kabul. Before the advent of the Taliban, it was confined to rural Afghanistan."

The fundamentalist virus could also infect other political parties, and prompt them to indulge in competitive communal politics. The Shariat Bill in the NWFP was in fact adopted unanimously, including by the members of secular parties such as the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

When Outlook pointed to this anomaly to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, she sidestepped the issue to say that the Shariat Bill was a "logical conclusion of the federal government's irrational policies of marginalising the mainstream and popular leadership of the country. The PPP was reluctant to enter into a government with the MMA at the Centre because it knew that sooner or later there would be difference of opinion on the Vice-and-Virtue Bill and gender and other issues."

Women in the NWFP, though nervous at the fate awaiting them, are coming out in the open to criticise the MMA. Says Begum Nasim Wali Khan, provincial president of the Awami National Party (ANP), "The MMA wants to enact such laws because it has failed to give its voters anything concrete. It is diversionary politics. Tell me, was the salwar kameez worn in the days of the Prophet? The Pathans are independent people and we don't fear the MMA. It won't be able to implement all that it says."

For those like Dr Shazia Gul, who teaches at Peshawar University, life hasn't yet changed under the MMA rule. "Most of us at the university are not in favour of Sharia. In the beginning we were very apprehensive. But our chancellor is nominated by the governor and we have nothing to fear," she says. In other words, the MMA can't impose its code here because it doesn't have its man at the helm of the university.

But such devices to counter the MMA can be only temporary. For the MMA, unlike the Taliban, has come to power through elections; it is consequently empowered to change laws. And to repose faith in the military's resolve to counter fundamentalism could prove nothing short of suicidal.

With the political parties insistent that Musharraf should resign as army chief, many fear he could enter into a devil's pact with the MMA—allow it to implement its agenda and in exchange continue to wear the two hats of president and army chief. But for Eve's sake, one can only hope Musharraf and other politicians don't display their customary cynicism in tackling the MMA and the social problems it represents.

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