Islam

Leave My Sister Alone

By Khalid ⋅ September 14, 2006 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Let’s have a little chat… I am going to break away from the normal polite and professional tone that I maintain on this blog to discuss what should be done about the Hudood Ordinance which continues to plague this great nation. It should be repealed.

Now for those who ask why:

Any law that victimizes women in the name of religion must go.

I have read my Quran and nowhere does it say that women are to be victimized by the rule of man. As a matter of fact, the Quran clearly states that women are equal to men in all ways. It is the crazed, foaming at the mouth mullahs that have turned Pakistan into their own playground with their “interpretations” of the Holy Quran. I do agree that there are references on how rape should be dealt with under Islamic law, but Pakistan has a civil legal system and it should be allowed to function and grow. And honestly, if there are 4 men in the room during a rape, what makes you think that all 4 were not involved? Give me a break.

Women have been tortured, stoned and killed because of this “law.” It still has not changed how this nation behaves. Repeal the Hudood Ordinance.

Any law created by man can be changed by man.

Check your newspapers and evening news reports, every Pakistani politician is calling for democracy. Democracy can not exist without the seperation of mosque and state. You either have a democratic system or you don’t. There is no in-between. Moreover, since it was created by a military dictator, General Zia Ul-Haq, and his ultra screwed up view of what Islam should represent, it should be repealed. If you google Zia, you will find that this same general was the one who supported the Afghan resistance to the Soviet conflict funnelling weapons, money and support from the US through Pakistan into Afghanistan, which lead to the creation of the Taliban. Zia also believed in public punishments for anyone who violated his understanding of Islamic law and traditions, which was very much in the tradition of Saudi Arabia’s justice system. I was lucky not to be in Pakistan during his reign of terror. Any law created by man can be changed by man. Period.

Teaching morality is the responsibility of the parents, not the state.

The religocrats, better known as the MMA, are threatening that if the Hudood Ordinance is changed along the lines of the original amendments, it would lead to a moral decay of the nation. I simply don’t agree. If parents would spend more time taking responsibility for the creations they call their children, then this would be a moot point. Instead, in Pakistan, most parents are more interested in showing off and pretending to be forward thinkers, while their children are having sex, using drugs and drinking. The Hudood Ordinance has not changed their behavior, what makes you think that it will change with its repeal or amendment?

The sad fact of the matter is that the “religocrats,” as I like to call them, get great benefit from holding the country hostage with the phrase “un-Islamic.” The riots that you saw in response to the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were the handy work of these same religocrats; the continuation of honor killings is the handy work of the religocrats; and most of all the stalled development in the country on a social, economic and intellectual level is the handy work of the religocrats. Now, the National Assembly is again threatened with mass resignations, riots on the streets and a basic call to vigilante justice; it is obvious that this law needs to go and the religocrats need to go with it. In my opinion, they should go over to Afghanistan and be with the Taliban since they share so many of the same ideals.

How do you recognize a religocrat? He is the one with the beard.

Secular parties need to grow up.

I am inflamed by the comments of that muppet Nawaz Sharif. How dare you say that any change to the Hudood Ordinance is un-Islamic? While Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif took great pains to violate everything the Quran stands for, from extrajudicial killings to robbing the national exchequer and raiding the Supreme Court to influence a decision. And now while he sits exiled in London, this muppet wants to tell Pakistan that any change to the Hudood Ordinance is un-Islamic, to the point that he has collected the resignations of every elected member of his “political party” to submit to the government.

It should also be noted that if it wasn’t for General Zia ul-Haq, Nawaz Sharif would not be in politics today. While Zia was in power, Nawaz was “elected” as the Finance Minister for the Punjab (1981) and was then promoted to Chief Minister of the Punjab. It would be completely “un-Islamic” for him to forget his loyalties to General Zia.

Religious scholars?

The number of religious scholars that have spoken out on television for the repeal and amendment of the Hudood Ordinance is outstanding; but the quasi-religocrats will never allow it. I don’t recall any of them putting forth a logical argument to why the Hudood Ordinance should not be repealed or amended other than it would cause a decay in the moral fabric of the country. Are you serious?

I have lived in Pakistan since 1997 and no law is going to decay the moral fabric of this country any more than it is today. Pakistan is a nation of rule breakers: 9 year olds drive cars because their parents don’t care, teenagers are doing what everyone does in the Western world (including drugs, drinking and sex) because their parents don’t have the time to teach them right from wrong, adults are having affairs even in spite of the Hudood Ordinance because they don’t care. Enough of the moral fiber story, Pakistan is Pakistan. It will still be Pakistan without the Hudood Ordinance. We don’t need a religious police. They tried that in Afghanistan and it didn’t work. They do that in Saudi Arabia and it doesn’t work.

How do you recognize a religious scholar? He is the one with the beard.

Leave my sister alone.

I would like for each one of you to visit Pakistan and see how women are treated here every day. They are ogled, harassed, belittled and insulted because they are women. Pakistani men are caged animals. They have no sense of understanding that if they are justified in doing this to another woman, then any man is justified in doing it to their sisters. For a Pakistani male, HIS family honor is a matter of respect and should be protected at all costs, anyone else is fair game.

Finally….

The Hudood Ordinance needs to be repealed, not amended. Every women that is in jail or prison should be released immediately. Otherwise, we as a nation need to forget about this word “democracy,” for democracy can not exist with a religious police that outlaws anything that would take power away from them.

Tags: hudood, hudood ordinance, inhuman, Pakistan, religion, religious parties, unfair, womens rights