President Zardari signs two women’s rights bills into law

pakistantoday.com

On his first working day after suffering from an ailment that took him to Dubai for treatment, President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday gave assent to two bills aimed at provisions for enhanced punishment to several offences against women.
The first bill was the Criminal Law (Third Amendment) Bill of 2011, which was passed by the National Assembly on November 15 and by the Senate on December 12.
Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement that the president signed both bills to coincide with the National Day for Working Women to highlight the government’s commitment to protecting women from abuse by raising the bar for crimes against them.
While signing the bills, the president said that in line with the vision of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the government would continue to empower women and the signing of the bills into law was a manifestation of this policy. He said the signing of the new laws was an auspicious occasion as December 22 marked the National Working Women’s Day.
The new law seeks to punish offences against women such as giving them in marriage in ‘Badal-e-sulah’, wanni or swara, depriving them from inheritance, forced marriage and marriage to the Holy Quran.
A new chapter (XXA) containing three clauses has also been inserted in the code seeking to prohibit three offences against women. The offences punishable with various terms of imprisonment and fine include depriving women from inheriting property, forced marriage and marriage to the Holy Quran.
The presidential spokesman said the other bill that the president assented to was the Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Bill of 2011. This bill, he said, sought to provide punishment of 14 years to life imprisonment for crimes of disfiguring and defacing of human organs or body by a corrosive substance.