In addition, the CII suggests that beating is also permissible if a woman does not wear Hijab, interacts with strangers, speaks loud enough that she can easily be heard by strangers and provides monetary support to the people without taking consent of her husband.

The 163-page bill also proposes a ban on co-education after primary education, ban on women from taking part in military combat, ban on welcoming foreign delegations, interacting with males and making recreational visits with ‘Na-Mehram’

It further claims that female nurses should not be allowed to take care of male patients and recommends that women should be banned from working in certain fields.

The council recommends that an abortion after 120 days of conceiving should be declared ‘murder’.

The bill, also states a woman can join politics and marry without permission of parents. It also suggests that anyone who tries to force women to marry with the Holy Quran or facilitate this should be awarded 10-year imprisonment.

Similarly, the proposed bill says if any non-Muslim woman is forced to convert then the oppressor will be awarded 3-year imprisonment while the woman will not be murdered if she reverts to her previous faith.

It was also gathered that this proposed bill is under consideration by the body and further deliberation will continue today when CII chairman Muhammad Khan Sheerani will give final recommendations with the consent of other members.

A 3-member delegation of Justice (Retd.) Manzoor Hussain Gilani, Noor Ahmed Shahtaz and Muhammad Abdullah yesterday raised objections on many clauses of the proposed bill and urged the chairman to moderate the same.

They said the bill was discussed by a panel comprising men as the only female CII member, Sameeha Raheel Qazi, was not around on the day the bill was proposed.

The bill was drafted after the CII rejected Punjab’s controversial Protection of Women against Violence Act (PPWA) 2015, terming it un-Islamic. The CII will now forward its proposed bill to the Punjab Assembly.

The CII will forward its proposed bill to the Punjab Assembly.