‘As Nearly as May be’: Debating Women’s Human Rights in Pakistan
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663905054908 |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
‘ASNEARLY AS MAY BE’:
DEBATING WOMEN’SHUMAN
RIGHTS IN PAKISTAN
SIOBHÁN MULLALLY
University College Cork, Ireland
ABSTRACT
Tensions between the constitutional commitment to equality and the politicization of
Islam create conflicting claims for Pakistan’s legal system. These claims have focused,
in particular, on the sphere of intimate domestic and sexual relationships. Although
the fundamental rights chapter of the Constitution guarantees equality before the law,
the pursuit of gender equality has frequently been sacrificed to religious-cultural
claims defining and limiting women’s status. Yielding to such claims has served the
interests of nation-building while at the same time guarding against any serious threat
to the modernizing agendas of Pakistan’s political élite. Lost within such compro-
mises is the recognition of women as bearers of rights, with equal rights to partici-
pate in the definition of religious-cultural norms. Lost also is a recognition of
difference. Feminists, Islamic reformists and secularists have all been marginalized
and excluded from a state that claims to guarantee equality to all. This article examines
the strategies pursued by feminist movements within Pakistan and within the legal
profession in attempting to resist the demands of conservative Islamist movements.
KEY WORDS
cultural relativism; feminism; Islam; Pakistan; religion; women
INTRODUCTION
PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION Order No. 1, proclaimed in the immedi-
ate aftermath of the 1999 military coup, provided that Pakistan would
be governed ‘as nearly as may be’, in accordance with the Consti-
tution.1Fundamental rights were, yet again, to lose out to the requirements
of nation-building. For women in Pakistan, such compromises have become
SOCIAL &LEGAL STUDIES Copyright © 2005 SAGE Publications
London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi, www.sagepublications.com
0964 6639, Vol. 14(3), 341–358
DOI: 10.1177/0964663905054908
02 054908 Mullally (bc-s) 12/7/05 3:20 pm Page 341
commonplace. The demarcation of gender roles in Pakistan has always been
intertwined with debates on national identity (Chatterjee, 1989). In a strug-
gling nation state, scarred by the trauma of partition and civil war, ‘gender
trouble’ could not be countenanced. Although the fundamental rights
chapter of the Constitution guarantees equality before the law, the pursuit of
gender equality has frequently been sacrificed to religious-cultural claims
defining and limiting women’s status. Yielding to such claims has served the
interests of nation-building while at the same time guarding against any
serious threat to the modernizing agendas of Pakistan’s political élite. Lost
within such compromises is the recognition of women as bearers of rights
with equal rights to participate in the definition of religious-cultural norms.
Lost also is a recognition of difference. Feminists, Islamic reformists and
secularists have all been marginalized and excluded from a state that claims
to guarantee equality to all.
Tensions between the constitutional commitment to equality and the
‘Islamization’ of the state continue to fragment Pakistan’s constitutional
framework. These tensions suggest a conflict between the requirements of
Islam and the egalitarian values enshrined in the fundamental rights provisions
of the constitutional text. Many conflicts have arisen, in particular, within the
sphere of intimate relationships. These conflicts were particularly visible
during General Zia-ul-Haq’s programme of Islamization, which sought to
restore the sanctity of the chador aur chardiwari (women veiled and within
the confines of the home). They are due less, however, to the requirements
of Islam per se, than to the politicization of Islam in Pakistan and the particu-
lar interpretations of the Shari’ah that have been promoted by conservative
forces. These forces, often to be heard in the judgements of the Shariat courts,
have sought to silence the more egalitarian interpretations of Islam put
forward by feminist scholars such as Fatima Mernissi, Shaheen Sardar Ali,
Asma Jehangir and Hina Jilani, and networks such as Women Living Under
Muslim Laws (Shahid et al., 1998). Following the downfall of the Taleban in
neighbouring Afghanistan and the subsequent rise of religious political
parties in Pakistan, these forces have gained a new momentum, particularly
in the Northern and Western regions of Pakistan, where attempts to enforce
a rigid Shari’ah through formal and informal justice systems continue.
Feminist movements in Pakistan have drawn on a wide range of strategies
in seeking legislative and policy reforms for women. Some have adopted
‘insider methodologies’, appealing to an egalitarian Islam. Others have
adopted secularist strategies, refusing to limit their claims to the confines of
religious discourse. Opposition to feminist claims has taken many forms.
Attempts to reform discriminatory laws have been labelled un-Islamic,
unfaithful to and out of touch with Pakistan’s inherited traditions. Feminism
has been portrayed as a threat to Pakistan’s sovereignty, and with it a threat
to Pakistan’s distinct religious-cultural traditions. Today, as in the early stages
of nation-building, the challenges raised by feminism have been perceived,
not only as hostile to religious-cultural beliefs and practices, but to the very
ties that bind the nation state. The ‘othering’ of feminist discourse has been
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