Our last post for our #DoosreAsnaafKiTareekh is the the Ordinance of Zina from the Hudood Ordinance: 
Enacted in 1979 under General Zia’s Islamisation process, the Hudood ordinances were a series of laws that replaced British-era laws in the Pakistan Penal Code. One of the ordinances was the ‘Offence of Zina’ which refers to fornication, adultery and rape.
Under the ordinance, several punishments were highlighted for the offenses, starting from the most severe or hadd such as public whipping of 100 lashes, and stoning to death of the adulterer, to lesser severe ones or tazir such as imprisonment up to ten years.
Under the hadd punishments, for someone to be found guilty, the law required eyewitness testimony of FOUR adult Muslim men that the court deemed righteous and to have seen “the act of penetration”. -
This standard made it incredibly difficult for convictions, obviously, and the only punishments rolled out were thus under tazir. -
For 25 YEARS the law remained INTACT, which was opposed by various commissions such as the National Commission for the Status of Women (NCSW) in 2003 as well as Commission of Inquiry for Women among others! -
The opposition was on the grounds of the ordinance having made it “difficult and dangerous to report rape” around 80% of those who reported to have been raped were consequently SENT TO PRISON (!!!) for adultery.
Moreover, the ordinance also annulled Pakistan’s statutory rape law, which resulted in girls as young as 12 being prosecuted for having extra-marital intercourse. (????)
There are many women who were sent to jail for having been raped.
One of the most discussed cases was that of Safia Bibi, a young unmarried, blind woman who was left with child. -
One of the most discussed cases was that of Safia Bibi, a young unmarried, blind woman who was left with child. -
As a result of which, she was to spend 3 years in jail and endure 15 lashes while her rapists were never charged. It was only through protests both nationally and internationally that she was acquitted by the Federal Shariat Court on appeal.
However, many were not successful with their appeals. In 1979, before the ordinances went into effect there were 70 women held in Pakistani prisons. By 1988, there were 6000!!
In cases where the survivors were left with child, their pregnancy was used as evidence against them to suggest that they had in fact committed Zina, especially in cases against men in positions of power and influence.
The Zina Ordinance is proof that rape culture is systemic has historically been supported, enabled and ENCOURAGED by law. #AuratMarch2020 #WhyIMarch
