Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi on Tuesday promulgated the anti-rape ordinance 2020 which aims to give strict punishments to sex offenders. The ordinance was finalized by the government’s legal time following the instruction of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
As per the ordinance, special courts would be constituted for speedy trial of the rape cases across the country. The courts will be bound to wind up the sexual abuse cases within four months.
The identity of the rape victim would be kept secret as per the ordinance.
Last month, it emerged that the federal government had decided to bring an ordinance for pronouncing strict punishments to the rape convicts. The decision had been taken in a session of the government’s legal team which was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan where he was given a briefing over the legal procedures to pronounce penalties to the rapists and regulations for the protection of witnesses.
While addressing the session, PM Imran Khan had said that the authorities will have to bring up a plan for curbing rape incidents and any delay in its legislation would be disastrous for the country.
Meanwhile, President Dr Arif Alvi Tuesday said that Indian society was actually falling apart due to the extremist ideology propagated by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founders and frantically pursued by the Bharatiya Janata Party through its Hindutva policies.
In an exclusive interview with the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI), a renowned think tank and telecast by PTV, the president said what was happening in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) was a continuous momentum built up for long by whipping up anti-Muslims and anti-minorities policies including forced conversion of Christians by the RSS zealots inside India.
All was done with objectives to rewrite history of India by isolating Muslims and excluding the Muslim era and their contributions by labelling them as something bad for Hindus or India, he added. “What we do when we talk about Kashmir, it is not Kashmir alone, it is the momentum of whatever has been happening in India, which has been anti Muslim, which has been anti-minorities, not only Muslims, but all minorities,” he added.
The president further said there was an Arya Samaj situation created by one of the Hindu Mahasbahi in the late 19th century who talked about it by taking pride in the fact that the Arya Samaj, the religious Hindu culture was important, but then came some writings from Savarkar , in 1923 in which he talked about Hindutva.
In his writings he specifically pointed out to three or four things over which he wanted the commitment of Hindus to a fatherland of India, the motherland of India and the religion of India, the president said while tracing back history of RSS.
He said from there, the Hindutva momentum started and then different people led this in different manner, but ultimately, the RSS which came into being, in two or three years later after Savarkar, the organization had very important members like Modi and Advani. RSS was a violent organization, and the founders of RSS were those like Gowalkar and those who appreciated Hitler’s role rather than depreciated it, the president observed.
“Ultimately, the continuous push towards a Hinduisation of India led to what has happened in India, against the Muslims and against all minorities,” he added.
In response to a question, the president referred to a book of Khushwant Singh ‘End of India’ written during 2002, in which the author said “India is going to dogs”….“And unless a miracle saves us, the country will break up, but not broken up by Pakistan or any other foreign power, which will destroy us we will commit harakiri, we will destroy India ourselves.” The president said that secular story about India had been changed. The countries which had made progress, had inclusive institutions which were neither extractive or exploitative whereas, India was going in the reverse direction with persistent economic haunting of Dalits, the Muslims and other minorities.
The president to a query replied that all commissions, which were formed in India to look at the minorities class, found that there was a bias against them institutionally and within Indian society. “So, you have a Muslim population, which according to Indian estimates, maybe about 13 to 15%, but you have almost only one or two per cent representation in the parliament. So, there is no reflection in the economy, they are further poor,” he observed.
About demolition of Babri Mosque, the president said it had alarmed the Muslims and all people even within India with the rising religious bigotry in India.
He said contrary to it, in Pakistan, the minorities religious historical sites had been preserved like those of greatest number of artifacts of Buddhism which were considered as heritage structures throughout the world.
“We preserve the sites of Mohen Jo Daro, not because of any religious intent, but just the fact that these are preservable sites,” he added.
The president expressed his wonder as to how could on the basis of religious prejudice, the fanatics in India were endangering the religious cites of minorities.
About role of Indian Supreme Court, he said the minorities in India had no hopes with their superior judiciary.
“The Supreme Court of India has had a very bad history. The faith placed in the Supreme Court of India when article 370 was being changed as far as Kashmir was concerned there was an appeal in the Indian Supreme Court, they delayed it until it became law. That’s what they did on Babri Masjid, they gave a very bad statement on the riots which happened in Gujarat,” he added.
The president elaborated that in the verdict over Babri Masjid, “it gives an indicator to the Muslims of India that you cannot, you have no place for example, in India.
