The call by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) to legally ban the practice of pronouncing divorce three times at once and make it a punishable offence being against the injunctions of Islam is cautiously and guardedly welcomed. It is too early to make a definitive statement until the fine print of the actual recommendation of the Council is made public, but the call itself is a positive development and a step in the right direction, said PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar in a statement here on Friday.
What is needed now is to take the call to its logical conclusion and there is no dithering or backtracking as was witnessed recently during the Council's discussions on a religion based law. He said that the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961 has already laid down the procedure for dissolution of marriages consistent with the latest pronouncement of the Council. It is natural that since the Council has declared the practice of pronouncing divorce three times at once as against Shariah it will also publicly abandon its opposition to the Family Law Ordinance, he said.
Continued opposition to the Muslim Family Law Ordinance would be inconsistent with the new public stance of the Council and raise serious questions, he said. Babar said that the Council of Islamic Ideology has also unwisely rejected as un-Islamic the clauses of Muslim Marriage Act 1939 allowing women to seek divorce on the grounds of their husbands' contracting another marriage without their consent, adding the Council must now also withdraw its opposition to the Act 1939 so that it is not seen as making confusing and contradictory recommendations. Unfortunately the Council has attracted widespread criticism for opposing the DNA evidence in rape cases for definitively fixing criminal liability.-PR