News; Men can ''lightly beat'' their wife ''if needed''- Pakistan's Council of Islamic Ideology. (Must Read)

Pakistan's Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a constitutional body responsible for ensuring no legislature in the country is repugnant to Islam, has drawn up a 163-point bill listing women's rights as well as actions it deems non-permissible for women.

The group recently declared it is permissible for a man to "lightly beat" his wife "if needed".

The bill was presented last month in response to the Protection of Women Against Violence bill (PWAV) 2016, which was passed in the Punjab Assembly earlier this year and is aimed at providing relief to women facing domestic abuse.

Mehnaz Rahman, resident director of women's rights NGO Aurat Foundation, believes that the CII's recommendations hold no legal value.

"The existence of this council cannot be justified," Rahman said

"When the country's constitution says no law shall be made against Islam, that should be enough. Besides, lawmaking and bill-passing are tasks entrusted with people sitting in the assemblies, who have been voted in, who are representatives of the public, whose main duty is legislation."

The CII, in turn, argues that by passing the bill without its consent, the Punjab Assembly has  committed an act of treason .

Of late, Pakistani legislators have also  been vocal in their opposition  to the CII. Opposition senators last Friday blamed "the anti-women bias of the CII" for the recent rise in incidents of violence against women.

While legislators, religious scholars and rights activists battle it out for influence, women in Pakistan continue to be victims of what a group of men or a family consider as their "honour".

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), there were 470 cases of honour killing against women last year.

Of those, 145 were categorised under "marriage choice" and 254 under "illicit relations".

Both subsets are based on the constitutional right of citizens of Pakistan to carry out their lives according to their own will, but both are culturally and traditionally controlled by men or elders of the family.

"Laws are not the only way to resolve all issues," said Rahman.

"We need to improve our social structures and our ancient customs and traditions in order to move forward."

Meanwhile, police officials act as the first point of contact and, according to a senior official, they try to side with women while dealing with cases involving domestic abuse or violence against women.

"Our first call of action is to arrest the accused and file a First Information Report (FIR)," Superintendent of Police Faisal Mukhtar said’’.

"We treat accusations of violence between two unrelated parties differently than those of domestic violence between husband and wife. We pay more attention to ground realities and try to help them bridge their differences by counselling."