This week You! talks to Barrister Shahida Jamil to get her point of view on the legislation done so far and its impact on women...
At the time of partition, there was hardly any legal distinction between the rights of men and women. Founders of Pakistan, after all were enlightened people, fully cognizant of the fact that empowering women was a way for the fledgling state to progress and prosper. In fact, women enjoyed great liberty and personal freedom than they do now, after 67 years of Pakistan’s existence. After all, women power and their votes had been instrumental in the creation of the country we seem hell-bent now to destroy. It was a common sight in Karachi to see girls going to schools and colleges on bicycles without being harassed. Women were not considered the source of every ill that befalls mankind. True, there were fewer working women at that time, but this was remedied as soon as the Pakistani women became educated.
Slowly and gradually, things took a turn for the worse. The very religious groups that had defied the creation of Pakistan started working on the agenda to arrest the country’s progress. Their main target in this nefarious scheme has been, of course, the women. This lobby has opposed all the legislation so far to protect and safeguard the rights of women. In some convoluted way, such men think that the only way to deal with problems is to keep women under men’s thumbs.
Despite this mentality, certain breakthroughs did bring relief to women. Field Marshal Ayub Khan took the initiative of protecting women rights by ratifying the UN Convention on the Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriage. The Field Marshal took this as an opportunity to improve existing laws and promulgated the 1961 Muslim Family Law Ordinance (MFLO). The law afforded many protections to women and the euphoric women activists supposedly showered flower petals on Ayub Khan’s car. The 1973 Constitution further safeguarded women’s legal status, with Article 25 (2) proclaiming all citizens equal under the law. The Article specifically states: “There shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, or caste for government employment.”
Despite these momentous steps, things kept deteriorating for women, especially in rural Pakistan, where women continue to be haunted by the specter of inhuman practices like karokari, wani, sawara and marriage to the Quran.
In this regard, You! has spoken to Barrister Shahida Jamil to get her point of view on the legislation done so far and its impact on women, and the way forward for women. Barrister Shahida is no stranger to talk shows watching public! She is an extremely articulate person and has the knack of stumping the apologists for the political leadership. The granddaughter of Late Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the ex-Prime-Minister of Pakistan (1956-57) she is an outspoken critic of the discriminatory laws against women, and the corrupt system.
Barrister Shahida Jamil obtained her Barrister-at-Law from Grays Inn, London, UK. Her choice of career is understandable; both her maternal and paternal grandfathers had been barristers. She is a well read person who also holds a B.A. in Political Science and English Literature, in addition to other subjects, from St Joseph’s College for Women.She is an Advocate of the High Court of Sindh and a Professor for the Masters of Law Programme in ‘Human Rights’ and in the ‘Comparative Study of World Constitutions - Pakistan, India, UK, US, Turkish, Swiss and Chinese Constitutions’ at Pakistan’s leading legal educational institution, the Sindh Muslim Law College, Karachi.
Barrister Shahida Jamil also enjoys the distinction of having been the first lady to be appointed as a Provincial Law Minister in November, 1999 in Sindh and then as the Federal Minister for Law, Justice & Human Rights in November 2000. She has also held other ministerial posts in addition to these responsibilities.
At present, besides being a Professor at the S. M. Law College, Karachi, she is also a Guest Lecturer at the National Institute of Management (NIM) both in Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar, in the subject of ‘Administrative Law’ for the Mid-Career Management and Advanced Courses and the Senior Management Course.
She is married to Barrister Muhammad Jamil, former Vice-President Supreme Court Bar Association, and has two sons, Barrister Zahid U. Jamil and Barrister Shahid I. Jamil.
In conversation with You! about the state of women rights in the country, Barrister Shahida Jamil observed that despite some advances made in the law, women continue to suffer in Pakistan. “It’s a fact that more rights were given to women under men in uniform - barring the Zia-ul-Haq era, of course - and under some recent Supreme Court decisions than by the elected legislators.
“Field Marshal Ayub Khan was responsible for the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, 1961, but it was in the time of President Musharraf that great progress was made. The number of elected women representatives (on reserved seats) increased in the Assemblies and in Local Bodies, 33 per cent quota for women was fixed, which was a great achievement.
“Unfortunately, this quota was revoked under the 18th Amendment when the civilian government assumed power. The real leadership comes from the grassroots level, and that’s why they targeted the local bodies. The ruling elite did not want strong voices to oppose them, so this quota fell victim to their designs,” she explains.
Barrister Shahida feels that women have to fight for their rights, instead of banking on others. Unless they do so, their lot will remain unchanged.
However, she refused to comment on the fact that discriminatory laws against women were not repealed during Benazir’s reign. She simply stated that she would let the facts speak for themselves. But, she defended the current women lawmakers when asked why they were not doing enough to safeguard women rights. “Women in the Assemblies have no power. And the same goes for men. The reason is that the 18th Amendment has crippled them. Legislators no longer can exercise their right to vote according to their conscience. The elective representatives have two responsibilities; one, to their constituents and secondly to their party, as they contest elections on party tickets. As far as Finance Bills are concerned, they have to go along with their party’s policies, but for all other matters they should vote according to the dictates of their conscience. Not anymore; they have to kowtow to their respective party whips. The parliamentary process is defeated in this way. It’s a joke played on the nation! So, obviously women cannot vote as they wish on issues they want to. And the men don’t want to raise those issues,” informs Barrister Shahida.
In recent years, Pakistan has done a lot of legislation to protect women rights. Barrister Shahida agrees to this but says that we already had laws to secure the rights of women. “The problem is with the implementations of the laws. We have a system where the police do not register complaints by women. According to them, it’s their domestic problems that have to be settled at home. We need to have good governance. We cannot have FIR’s registered against unknown people all the time! The system is so bad that a woman finds it difficult to approach the police. Her complaints are made public, which is very embarrassing both for the woman and her family. So we need to improve the system to facilitate women.”
It is true that Karokari has been announced a crime. But despite that there has been no respite for the women in rural areas of the country. Explaining why it is so, Barrister Shahida says, “Karokari is murder. Murder is murder whether it is called honour killing or something else. Karokari is not a new phenomenon. It was very much in existence during the British Raj, but why was its incidence under control? Because the British treated it as murder! It has gone wild now, because it has been legitimised as culture versus modernity. People say it’s just because previously such cases were not reported but nowadays the media highlights all Karokari cases. I say, that is not right! First of all, the police are supposed to register the murder which they fail to do. Judges are also responsible because they accept provocation as the defence. Provocation cannot be accepted as defence when the murder is committed hours and days after the allegation.It is the total failure of the law enforcement!”
When asked to comment on the role of judges in safeguarding women rights, Barrister Shahida opines that judiciary needs a lot of investment. “Judiciary is hampered. They are understaffed and lack security. Security is a big issue and it must be provided to judges. Still, judges have given many decisions upholding women rights.”
You! could not help pointing out to Barrister Shahida, that in such an august body as the judiciary, women seem to be discriminated against, as the number of female judges in the higher judiciary is not even in double figures. “I don’t believe there is discrimination at all. It’s just that women have to work harder and perform better. They have to be selected on merit, and there is no quota system. Merit and quota system don’t go hand in hand. However, there is a need to screen and monitor the process of the selection of judges. The selection should be based purely on merit, and not because of nepotism or political considerations.”
It is sad that we have new laws in place, but the crimes against women remain rampant. What is the point in making more laws when the government is not willing to do anything about their implementation? Barrister Shahida caustically points out that the new legislation has been a ‘cosmetic exercise’. “What laws they have passed, do not protect. The legislation is merely lip service rendered to appease the international community!”
So what is the way forward for women ... or are they doomed forever to exist without rights? “Well, women have only one recourse: to stand up for their rights. They have to start moving if they want to get anywhere, or else they will remain the handmaidens to Pakistani politics,” concludes Barrister Shahida.
