Women's Non-Rights Bill, Contd.

I'd like to preface anything I say with the fact that I have a lot of respect for Asma Jahangir, and believe she's done more for Pakistani women, and Pakistan in general, than most people can dream of. But there's something seriously wrong with her logic here. She essentially says that the MMA can't be blamed for this fiasco because their position has always been "clear" and "consistent" and that we should not have expected anything different. Uh, ok. By that logic, 9/11 shouldn't be blamed on Al-Qaeda because they too have been clear and consistent, and nobody should have expected any different from them. I have a feeling Ms. Jahangir's position is more than slightly influenced by her, shall we say, distaste for the government in general and Musharraf in particular.

Either way, this issue has created quite a bit of buzz both nationally and internationally. Dawn, in its typically understated way, sets the record straight here. The BBC website has a nice summary here, without really telling us anything we don't already know. And somehow I missed this piece from the NYT a couple of days ago, in which the eminent information minister said about getting the bill through parliament, "We are not under pressure. We have the majority. We can take it through any day." Alrighty, then.