Islamabad, Sep 13 (IANS) Women members of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) assembly want a revised nikahnama, or wedding contract, on the lines of the one introduced in Punjab requiring brides and grooms to declare their previous marriages and children.
Misbah Kokab, a Punjab provincial assembly member, “has said that female parliamentarians from the NWFP have expressed an interest in adopting amendments to (its) Family Ordinance that would allow a revised nikahnama form to be regularised in the province”, Daily Times reported Thursday.
According to Misbah, women legislators in the National Assembly and the NWFP provincial assembly had welcomed the new nikahnama form in the Punjab government’s amended Family Ordinance.
Misbah said a woman legislator from the NWFP, identified only as Farah, contacted her and congratulated her on the new nikahnama and also expressed interest in proposing similar amendments to the NWFP’s Family Ordinance.
Misbah said she had tabled proposals in the Punjab assembly two years ago for amending the Family Laws Ordinance of 1961 “to make it beneficial for both the bride and bridegroom in sustaining harmony in their marriage”.
The Punjab assembly had been divided over the proposed amendments and had forwarded them to the Council of Islamic Ideology for comments.
The council accepted the proposed amendments and had sent a specimen nikahnama to the Punjab assembly, which unanimously approved the amendments and directed the home department to regularise the new marriage certificate, Misbah said.
The home department then sought to shift the onus for implementation on the Lahore city government, which in turn passed the buck to the religious ministry, she pointed out.
The religious ministry was also hesitant in notifying the new certificates and ultimately, Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat said the home department was responsible for this. Thus, after a two-year struggle, the new certificates were being issued, Misbah said.
The home department will now issue directives to the 35 district governments across the Punjab to print the new nikahnama forms and distribute them among the authorities concerned.
Given that it took two years to pass and implement the amendments in Punjab, this process is likely to take even longer in the NFWP – if at all the proposal is ever introduced.
This is because the six-party Muttahida Majlis-e Amal (MMA) religious alliance rules the NWFP, where it has introduced the Shariat form of government.