Pakistani Islamists protest against pro-women law

Yahoo! News reported Thousands of Islamist protesters demonstrated in southern Pakistan on Sunday against a new law that reduces the burden of proof on rape victims by allowing them to seek justice without the need for four male witnesses. The Women Protection Bill, signed into law last month, was seen as a key test for President Pervez Musharraf's philosophy of "enlightened moderation" for his predominantly Muslim country. The protest in the country's biggest city of Karachi came a day after Musharraf ruled out any changes to the law despite calls from the Islamists. Some 10,000 supporters of the Islamist parties, most of them bearded, chanted slogans of "Down with Musharraf" and "Down with the Women Protection Law" at the rally and demanded the government scrap the law. The law takes the crime of rape out of the sphere of the religious laws, known as the Hudood Ordinances, and puts it under the penal code. Under the Hudood Ordinances, which were introduced by a military ruler in 1979, a rape victim had to produce four male witnesses to prove the crime, or face the possibility of prosecution for adultery.

The military ruler must have had a lot of trouble getting the ladies to sleep with him, to in effect make rape legal.

"We reject this law because it is unIslamic and also against women rights,"

It may be unislamic, since the men don't want to give women any power, but against women's rights? How does a woman profit from being able to be raped without the rapist worrying about being held responsible?

Fazal-ur-Rehman, a senior leader of the main Islamist alliance and opposition leader in the National Assembly, parliament's lower house, told the rally.