Recent amendments to Pakistan’s Hudood ordinance which virtually makes rape a forgiveable crime under Sharia Law, seem to go at least some way towards women of that Islamic country attaining some measure of protection under law.
Reading through this article on the Times Online, I can’t help but feel that while Pervez Musharraf is clearly making good political ground with western observers, this latest accession to women’s rights is a carefully measured adjustment of Pakistan’s social scales, and little else. Any program of continual advancement of women’s rights will have to be supported from without Pakistan, I feel, as the will in that tribal, male-dominated society – which still urges adoption of Sharia Law under most circumstances – simply isn’t strong enough for progressive change to continue from within on its own.
At least now women who cry rape, do have somewhere, in law, to stand.