Sada-e-Watan Sydney ™
sadaewatan@gmail.com
By Shakira Hussein (Canberra)
Shakira Hussein is a PHD Student in the
School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra.
June 13, 2005
WHEN Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf visits Australia tomorrow, he is
expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on counter-terrorism.The signs
are encouraging. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said that Australia is
"very impressed" with Musharraf's stand against terrorism, and has praised his
personal courage, Musharraf having survived multiple assassination attempts. But
his political courage is another question. In his personal values, he is no
religious extremist. He has spoken out against intolerance and in favour of a
liberal interpretation of Islam he describes as "enlightened moderation". But
while such words have earned him respect in the West, Musharraf has not
undertaken the urgent social and legal reforms that enlightened moderation would
seem to demand. Time and time again, Musharraf has pulled back from measures
that would make a real difference to the lives of Pakistan's most vulnerable
citizens – its women and its religious minorities. These are the people whose
rights were most eroded by the Islamisation of the legal system during the
1980s. No subsequent government, either military or civilian, has shown the
political will to restore these lost rights. It has well suited Musharraf to
portray himself as the only force in Pakistani politics capable of standing firm
against the religious parties. This claim appeared to be justified by the strong
showing by the alliance of Islamic parties, the Muttahida Majlis-I-Amal (MMA),
in the parliamentary elections of 2002. The Islamist parties, which until that
point had relied on their close relationship with the military to counter their
modest electoral support, won a quarter of the seats in the national assembly,
benefiting from both a tide of anti-American feeling and from Musharraf's
marginalisation of other political forces. Musharraf relied on the MMA's support
to gain parliamentary approval for constitutional amendments that consolidate
presidential power. And despite the removal of Islamists from senior military
positions, the nexus between the military and the religious Right is still
strong enough for cynical Pakistanis to refer to the MMA as the "military-mullah
alliance". It is this nexus, rather than the Islamists' street power, that leads
Musharraf to be so cautious in implementing legal reform. The consequences of
this failure are apparent in the survival of the blasphemy laws. Blasphemy,
often in the form of defiling the Koran, is a popular accusation made not only
against Pakistani Christians, Hindus and Ahmadiyyas, but also against Muslims
who have fallen victim to neighbourhood feuds or property disputes. Such
accusations can be deadly; those arrested for alleged blasphemy are all too
often murdered, either while in custody or after being acquitted or granted
bail. Procedural changes passed last year are claimed to reduce the potential
for malicious prosecutions, but human rights groups say that the real effect of
this reform is minimal. A hesitancy is evident in attempts to combat Pakistan's
epidemic of honour killings. Musharraf has condemned these murders and
intervened to protect endangered women. But with hundreds of women falling
victim, what is needed is not presidential sympathy for a few, but legal reform
that would protect all women. Legislation passed last year promises to give such
protection by increasing penalties, but it leaves untouched the issue of diyat,
or blood money. Murderers in Pakistan can settle matters out of court by paying
compensation to the victim's family. Since the murderers in honour killings are
themselves family members, such compensation is likely to be accepted. The great
shame of all Pakistani governments since the 1980s are the Hudood Ordinances,
under which thousands of women, including rape victims, have been imprisoned for
the alleged crime of adultery. Under the law of evidence, a woman's testimony is
held to be worth only half that of a man's. In the absence of other witnesses, a
woman's accusation of rape is therefore automatically outweighed by a man's
denial – and the woman is likely to find herself prosecuted for adultery.
Musharraf has thus far dealt with this issue by ordering an inquiry, but then
failing to implement its recommendation to repeal the ordinances. He has
acknowledged the injustices and spoken of the need for reform. But to judge from
past experience, any such reforms are likely to fall well short of the changes
required. Amendments may be made to help distinguish between rape and adultery,
for instance, or to reduce the scope for malicious allegations. But enlightened
moderation requires that the Ordinances be overturned in their entirety. When
Musharraf first assumed power, Pakistani liberals were disillusioned after years
of corrupt and autocratic civilian government. Many were prepared to hope that
an enlightened military leader might be able to instigate reform where civilian
prime ministers had failed. But after so many failures of presidential nerve,
they are running out of patience.