Islamabad: Amid other controversial bills, the government in Wednesday’s joint sitting of the parliament passed a bill which has amended the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961 making physical presence of at least two witnesses mandatory for divorce for the people belonging to the Shia sect in Pakistan.
The joint sitting of the Parliament passed a very important bill which amended the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961 for Fiqah-e-Jafria.
After amendment to the law, men belonging to Fiqah-e-Jafria may voluntarily and with their free will pronounce themselves or through duly authorised attorney Talaq in the physical presence of at least two witnesses.
Read more: Parliament approves use of EVMs, voting rights to overseas Pakistanis amid ruckus
Under this bill, which has already been approved by the joint sitting of the Parliament, the pronouncement of Talaq shall be ineffective if is done in humour or under anger, intoxication, insanity, duress or coercion of any kind.
Earlier, this bill was passed by the National Assembly but could not get through Senate within 90 days but the joint sitting of the House passed it with majority votes.
Under this bill, in case of dispute arising due to difference of opinion the parties may have recourse to a court of competent jurisdiction or by approaching the ‘Mujtahid-e-Alim’. Decision of Mujtahid-e-Alam shall have a status of an award and the same shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Arbitration Act 1940.
The expression Mujtahid-e-Alam (Faqih-e-Azam) means a juris-consultant, religious scholar or doctor of Shia school of thought well versed in Shariah having international repute and of such recognition. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) shall maintain a panel of Mujtahid-e-Alam having aforesaid qualification.
Currently, the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 deals with the family matters including the Talaq for the followers of all fiqah in the country. There has been demand from the followers of Shia sect for legislation on Talaq as per their interpretation of Quran and Sunnah.
Read more: Mystic escape to Damascus
The bill was also shared with the CII which endorsed it. This legislation will allow the followers of Shia sect to settle their matters of Talaq according to their own interpretation.
Chairman Pakistan Shia Council Allama Zohari Abidi, when contacted by Bol News, lauded the government for passing this bill which according to him will provide legal cover to divorce related matters especially in cases of Khula as per the interpretation of Shia sect.
He said he has been personally pursuing this matter on a number of forums for the past year-and-a-half.
Allama Abidi said it has been the demand of the Shia sect that in cases of khula, the seegha in Arabic words would be pronounced by a scholar.
He said the sect does not recognise a divorce which doesn’t have witnesses to it but it had no legal cover in khula cases in Pakistan. He said now the amendments would provide a legal cover in khula cases.
