ISLAMABAD - Terming the killings in the name of honour un-Islamic, Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) yesterday held that the country’s laws to handle such cases were in place and needed no further amendments.

In a statement issued in response to the mounting demand of legislation in case of burning of women, CII stated that the laws were already in place in the country and these were also in line with the Islamic injunctions, so there was no need of fresh enactment of law.

“There are laws in the country to deal with the obscenity and other moral crimes so one can’t kill someone in the name of honour,” said the CII statement.

The council, however, maintained that being provoked after witnessing a moral sin by a close relative is an element of human nature.

The CII added there was no room for anyone to kill an individual after being provoked by a moral sin, as punishments for the same existed in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Sharia.

“Every accused should be brought before the court,” the council’s statement said adding it was up to the court to declare an individual guilty or innocent.

The CII also declared that “extra judicial killing is simply an offence,” and it was the prerogative of the court to excuse an accused’s behaviour in honour killing cases.

“The executive needs to implement laws instead of amending them or making new ones,” added the CII statement.

It was further stated that CII had declared honour killing un-Islamic some 16 years back in 1999 and it was also made loud and clear that no one could take law in hand as per the Islamic injunctions and let such issues decided by the state.

A month earlier, CII had rejected the bills of both Punjab government and Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa for the protection of women rights terming both these bills repugnant to Islamic injunctions and offered to prepare the law for the protection of women rights in accordance with Islamic injunctions.

The CII had later proposed a ‘model’ women’s protection bill, which allowed a husband to ‘lightly’ beat his wife 'if needed' and prohibited mixing of the genders in schools, hospitals and offices.

The CII’s proposed bill claimed women will have all the rights given to them under Shariah, prohibited interaction between na-mehrams at recreational spots and offices, and banned ‘dance, music, and sculptures created in the name of art’.

The proposed bill remained in the news for quite some time and invited criticism from liberal elements, especially the women rights activists.