This was stated today by PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar while addressing a function held in Islamabad to mark the launching of a book titled " Hudood Ordinances- Kitab aur Sunnat ki Roshni mei " by an Islamic scholar and consultant Federal Shariat Court Dr Muhammad Tufail Hashmi.

The Senate resolution states, "This House is of the view that while Islam prescribes Hadd punishments for certain offences, the punishments prescribed under the Enforcement of Hudood (Punishment for Zina) Ordinance 1979, are unIslamic ".

He said that during the second PPP government of Mohtarma Bhutto a Commission was set up to examine the laws, which were discriminatory against the women and make recommendations.

The Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice Aslam Nasir Zahid finalized its report in 1997 after three years of deliberations and consultation with cross section of the people and minute examination of the hudood ordinance, he said.

The Commission recommended that hudood ordinance be repealed as they were neither Islamic nor in accordance with the Constitution. The PPP Senator said that the hudood ordinance were man made and not based on Quranic injunctions about hadd. But whenever objections were raised against the Ordinance promulgated by General Zia the extremist religious elements immediately accused its critics as western inspired waywards and as against Islam and Quran.

He said that some time back when Justice Aslam Nasir Zahid and some religious scholars criticized the ordinances at a similar seminar in Islamabad a religious party head warned the sponsoring
NGO of dire consequences of tinkering with Islam and Islamic laws. The religious Party's head also warned that if any changes were made in the law it would amount to striking down the Constitution.

He said that it was a good omen that a religious scholar of repute had now come out with a scholarly study to prove that the ordinances were in violation of the Holy Quran and Sunnah. He said that such studies by renowned scholars were needed to belie that opposing the hudood ordinances tantamount to opposing the religion.

He referred to the book "From Jinnah to Zia " by former Chief Justice Muhammad Munir in which he had said that chopping off the hand of a thief was not mandatory as the Quran stated in the same verse that God may forgive those who repented. Munir had thus argued that the right of forgiveness belonged to Allah and no man made law could abridge that right.

When General Zia was told about this he asked the people to burn the copies of the book, he said and added "I hope followers of Zia would not threaten to burn Dr. Hashmi's book ".

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