பெண்கள் ஆட்சி செய்வது ஷாரியாவுக்கு எதிரானது- மாலத்தீவு இமாம் அறிக்கை

சென்ற திங்களன்று மஜ்லிஸ் என்னும் மாலத்தீவு பாராளுமன்றம் , பெண்களும் ஜனாதிபதி ஆகலாம் என்ற மாற்றத்தை அங்கீகரித்தது.

பெண்கள் ஆட்சி செய்யலாம் என்றவாறு மாலத்தீவு சட்டத்தை மாற்றும் முயற்சிக்கு இஸ்லாமிய தலைவர்கள் கடும் எதிர்ப்பு தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.


Gender Bar Removal: Adhaalath Say Against Shari'ah
By Minivan News
January 16, 2008

The religious conservative Adhaalath party has said it condemns the move to allow women to be elected as Maldives' President.

The comments follow a Special Majlis vote to remove a gender bar on the Presidency, after an opposition MP proposed a constitutional amendment to retain it.

But the Adhaalath's President told Minivan News today it was "another step away from Sharia law."

The Vote

On Monday, the Special Majlis (constitutional assembly) voted in favour of giving women the right to compete for President.

Clause 34 of the current Maldives constitution, which lists the eligibility criteria for presidential candidates, states a person "shall be qualified to be elected" if "he is a male."

Forty Special Majlis members voted against a constitutional amendment proposed by opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Hussain Ibrahim to ban women from standing.

Twenty-two members voted in favour of his amendment, while twenty-four abstained.

"The Prophet Said Women Should Not Rule The Country"– Adhaalath

Adhaalath President Mohamed Didi told Minivan News today they "condemn" the vote, which the Maldives' Foreign Minister has hailed as a "vital step towards…a modern democracy."

"Islamic Sharia does not allow for women to be head of state of a country," said Didi. "The Prophet said women should not rule the country."

"This is another step away from Shari'ah, which should be the framework for the constitution."

The issue of Shari'ah has recently threatened to derail the passage of the country's draft constitution. The conflict has boiled down to whether it can be codified or not, and if there can be consensus on shari'ah rulings.

The Special Majlis was divided over a recent proposal by a ruling Dhivehi Raiyyithunge Party (DRP) member for the bill of rights to be limited by "any act prohibited by Islamic shari'ah."

Meanwhile, Didi said that denying women the right to become President does not conflict with the pursuit of a liberal democracy.

"Anything forbidden by the creator is not an individual right," he said, adding that just because "we may want something does not make it a right."

"There is a trend towards women's liberation," he added. "An international and local pressure to please a greater proportion of women."

The Maldivian government has made women's participation in politics a plank of their reform agenda. In July, the country's first female judge was appointed, a move also criticised by the Adhaalath.

And the country is party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

But there have been concerns not enough Maldivian women stand for public office.

Aneesa Ahmed, one of only two women elected to the People's Majlis (national parliament), said recently women "carry the domestic burden. And even if they do stand, not many vote for them."

Few women stood for, or won places on the Island Development Committee (IDC) bodies, the only democratic institutions at local level in the Maldives.