Articles > English > Lies & Distortions By The Media About Hudood Ordinance
October 21st, 2006 by Abdul Rehman
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In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful & Most Graceful
In this article, we will try to expose the immense rumors and hollow propaganda being spread by the media about the hudood ordinance. The media has repeated certain lies over & over again, so much so that even educated people have been induced to accept them as true. In this article, we will shed off fiction from facts to present a true & clear picture of the issue.
Lies and misinformation have been spread by a diverse range of channels & news sources. But amongst them, Geo TV tops the list—thanks to Zara Sochieye, a very active campaign started by the channel against the hudood ordinance. Geo TV, inter alia, used several fallacious facts to make the public against the ordinance, which makes them an ideal case to study for the purpose of our article. For this purpose, we shall focus mainly on Zara Sochieye, while, at the same time, we shall give references to other news sources too.
Please note that throughout this article, we refer to the text of the hudood ordinances as they were before the passing of the Protection of Women (C.L.A.) Act, 2006.[1] We shall refer to this act henceforth as “WPB”. Furthermore, by the term ‘hudood ordinance’, we refer to the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance (VII of 1979), whereas, the word ‘hudood ordinances’ refer to the following four ordinances:-
· Prohibition (Enforcement of Hudood) Order (IV of 1979)
· Offences Against Property (E.O.H.) Ordinance (VI of 1979)
· Offence of Zina (E.O.H.) Ordinance (VII of 1979)
· Offence of Qazf (E.O.H.) Ordinance (VIII of 1979)