LETTER TO EDITOR
March 15th, 2016
Women Bill and the Clergy
Is it not paradoxical that while our constitution empowers the parliament as the supreme body a few clergy men are trying to declare a bill passed its democratically elected members as unIslamic and therefore unconstitutional ?! Who are they to decide what is constitutional or not? Do the parliamentarians who have the mandate of the masses not know what is good or bad for those who have elected them to power? The case in point is enactment of the “Protection of the Women Bill” which was passed by the Punjab assembly and is applicable to the province of the Punjab only. However, a few religious leaders of KPK, Balochistan and Sindh are in the forefront for its immediate withdrawal.
Their protestations now and giving of any deadlines for its withdrawal tantamount to undemocratic measures and the government of the Punjab would do well not to yield to their such demands. There are hundreds of thousands who have appreciated passing of the bill which portends well for the future of a forward looking and progressive Pakistan.
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
30 Westridge 1
Rawalpindi 46000
Pakistan
Tel: (051) 5158033
E.mail: [email protected]
