Domestic Violence Bill
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In recent news, the Senate passed a bill that did not sit well with a certain group. It was the Domestic Violence Bill; set in place for the protection of women, children, and citizens who cannot protect themselves. They could have included the physically disabled, the elderly, and the mentally challenged. However, this human rights bill got major opposition not from the government or the party in opposition but the people who pride themselves on upholding Islamic values.

Rejecting the Domestic Violence Bill

Taking their argument further and making sure it was heard were Analyst Ansar Abbasi, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) member Mushtaq Ahmed, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) member Atta-ur-Rehman, and PML-N member Rana Maqbool.

Ansar Abbasi even took to Twitter initiating the trending hashtag, “We_Reject_Domestic_Violence_Bill_2021”.

Azhar Siddique also tweeted, documenting his support to Ansar abbasi. Being a human rights lawyer, people were infuriated at it. They said that as a human rights lawyer, he clearly cares less and less about human rights. This argument has weight considering when women were marching for their basic rights, he was going to courts to have it banned. And now, when the people, mostly women, children and elderly will be getting their right to exist safely in their own houses, he is getting the bill rejected.

Some Pakistanis were rallying behind these influential personalities as well. Taking pictures of the clauses from the bill they were twisting the essence of the bill. So for instance, a right that Islam also upholds was in the bill; woman not being forced to live with in-laws or any one else besides her husband. Here, since it suited men, they put religion behind and brought culture forward. Apparently, giving women this right would mean destroying our society, our culture.

Twitter rejects the rejection

The rest of Twitter was angry at what had happened. They were not only angry at how influential Pakistanis like celebrated journalists and human rights lawyers were rejecting the bill but also how PM Imran Khan gave way under pressure.

The PM asked Mr. Babar Awan to ensure that the ‘approved’ bill was referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII). When CII clears the bill, then they will enforce it. However, the issue Twitter is raising is that the CII is comprised of 12 men and they will be bringing a biased point of view. A better way would have been to formulate a team that represents all parties equally.

The fight with the bill protestors continued as the other group continued to throw shade at them. According to them, only those directly affected by the bills, the abusers, would find the bill problematic.

Ooph.

Pakistanis gave excuses as to why they believed the bill was facing this level of protest.

Long story short, something that would have been a major achievement for our society was hindered. While Twitteratis can list down reasons why that happened, it still did. And we are not sure how long it will take for our society to recover from this setback.

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