Pakistan's Islamic council should be abolished for encouraging violence against women, opposition says

BY M ZUBAIR KHAN & ANDREW MARSZAL

The Pakistan government’s official religious council is fuelling violence against women with its misogynistic recommendations and must be immediately abolished, senators warned on Friday.

The unprecedented high-level attack on the influential Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) by opposition leaders came as the husband ofZeenat Rafiq, victim of the country’s latest gruesome “honour killing” in Lahore this week, vowed to bring his wife’s attackers to justice.

Zeenat, 18, was burnt alive after she married Hasan Khan, a motorcycle mechanic, against the wishes of her family. Her mother has been arrested over her death. 

Hasan Khan at his home in Lahore earlier this week  CREDIT: AP

She is one of hundreds of women killed every year in Pakistan - often by their own family members - for violating the country's conservative norms regarding love and marriage.

Mr Khan told the Telegraph that he would devote the rest of his life fighting for justice for his late wife, whom he had loved since they were both children.

“I demand justice for my wife. This is the aim of my life,” he said.

The CII, a constitutional body which advises on religious law andwomen’s role in society, has been accused of encouraging violence against women with its frequently controversial legal recommendations.

For instance, it has suggested that husbands should be allowed to "lightly" beat their wives if they turn down sex, and that the minimum marriage age be lowered to nine for girls if there are “visible signs of puberty”.

Although non-binding, the CII’s advice remains influential in fiercely conservative Pakistan.

Schoolteacher Maria Sadaqat Abbasi was drenched in petrol and set alight after refusing a marriage proposal

Senate opposition leader Aitzaz Ahsan said on Friday that recommendations made by the CII allowing violence against women had “contributed to crimes against women with impunity”.

Farhatullah Babar, another opposition leader, called for the validity of the council’s continued existence and its submission of annual reports to parliament to be examined.

“The CII is biased against women and has lost its relevance as well as constitutional basis," he said.

Leaders also criticised the government for allocating Rs100 million (£665,000) annually in funding for the CII.

The CII’s role was initially raised on Friday by senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, who linked its influence to Ms Rafiq’s murder.

According to the post-mortem report released on Friday morning, Zeenat, 18, was partially strangled before being burnt alive as she drew her final breaths.

Pakistani teenager survives attempted honour killingPlay!01:56

Zeenat's mother Parveen has stated that she had burnt her daughter to death and shown no remorse for the crime.

But a police official told The Telegraph that was “not possible” that the 50-year-old woman could have committed the act alone. Police on Friday were searching Zeenat Rafique brother, who is believed to have absconded.

Mr Khan said he believed other people must have been involved in her death. “Zeenat's mother is not only the culprit of the heinous crime," he told the Telegraph. 

Zeenat had fled her family after they beat her when she first told them she had fallen in love, he said, but she had later been tricked into returning.

“Her other family members lured her home on the promise of a proper wedding reception. Instead of a reception they killed her brutally.”