Kudos to the individuals who bore the responsibility of passage for this necessary legislation: authors Donya Aziz, Marvi Memon and Nilofer Bakhtyar, and several civil society and human rights activists and organisations, specifically those who lobbied for the women’s movement in Pakistan and raised their voice against discriminatory laws and practices against women since 1981.

This new legislation decrees that hate crimes against women and cultural norms to shackle them will be punishable by law. In a unanimous move, Pakistan’s Senate passed two women’s bills: both bills seek to amend Pakistan’s Penal Code of 1860, and the Code of Criminal Procedures, 1898.

The Anti-Women’s Practices Bill (Criminal Amendment Bill) 2008 aims to curb the practice of forced marriage and marriage to compensate for crime (Badl-e-sulah, Vani and Swara), as well as marriage to the Holy Quran, and punish those who deprive women of inherited property via illegal means.

The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention (Amendment) Bill finally recognises acid attacks as a crime punishable by law, with a minimum punishment of 14 years in prison and a maximum of  life imprisonment.

While women’s rights are safeguarded in this new legislation, only its correct implementation will qualify it as valuable for the women of Pakistan. Through its proper implementation, women who have suffered the aforementioned crimes will be adequately recompensed and receive justice. “This law is like an expensive Mercedes that cannot run without petrol,” said Barrister Shahida Jamil, a lawyer and politician, while speaking to the press recently.

Women’s rights activists agree that unless the strong arm of the law becomes active, unless people are punished by the justice system for the crimes that they commit and unless there is a will to enforce the law by the powers that be, even the best legislation will remain just a piece of paper.

It’s a tall order in a male-dominated society, inured in cultural tradition and norms, where religious fanatics and fundamentalists stand with daggers drawn in women-related matters and where the scourge of a corrupt bureaucracy, especially police officers and their ilk, deter the proper implementation of the law. These are the very same men who rage and storm when the likes of Veena Malik bare all, but remain silent when women are given away to the enemy to compensate for a hate crime and when victims of an acid-throwing crime demand justice.

One can only hope that this umbrella of protection endorsed by the law will fortify women against hate crimes, serve as an adequate deterrent and, in case of crimes committed, provide speedy justice to Pakistan’s most vulnerable women in the best way possible.