Religious parties devise strategy against Punjab's 'un-Islamic' law

Various religious parties and groups gathered at the Jamaat-e-Islami's headquarter in Lahore on Tuesday to chalk out plans for countrywide protest campaign against the Women's Protection Bill passed by Punjab Assembly.
Earlier on Monday night, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore and discussed the issue with him.
Later addressing a new conference Fazl said the prime minister has promised to address the reservations of religious parties on the law recently promulgated by the Punjab government.
The Council of Islamic Ideology, the top constitutional body that advises the government on the compatibility of laws with Islam, has already declared Punjab's women protection law 'un-Islamic'.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of his faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said: "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif heard our reservations against the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016. He promised to amend the law so that it doesn't contravene the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah." Punjab Chief minister Shahbaz Sharif was also present in the meeting. The law criminalises "any offence committed against a woman, including domestic violence, emotional, psychological and verbal abuse, economic abuse, and stalking or a cyber crime".
Fazl said the prime minister has promised to constitute a committee that would look into the reservations of the religious parties, including that of JUI-F's. Rights crusaders have welcomed the women protection law, but religious groups call it an 'invasion on the privacy of the house'.
The JUI-F chief said all religious parties would announce their future strategy after a meeting at the Jamaat-e-Islami headquarters in Mansoora, Lahore.
"We never asked the Punjab government to withdraw the bill, we only asked for our reservations on certain clauses to be addressed," he said.
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