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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sep 9, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Pakistan's government has vowed to pass a bill to help rape victims prosecute their attackers "at all costs."
The Protection of Women's Rights Bill, set to be considered Monday, will dramatically alter the rape laws, which currently require a woman to produce four male witnesses to the rape, making convictions extremely difficult.
A woman who fails to prove she was raped risks being prosecuted for adultery, which is punishable by death.
Pakistani Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan said the protection bill would "get approved by the National Assembly at all costs," Britain's Sky News reported Saturday.
The proposed changes have drawn fierce resistance from some religious parties, who say they would be "un-Islamic."
At least 68 National Assembly members have threatened to vacate their seats if the bill is passed.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch dismissed the changes as "grossly inadequate," saying they fall short of reforms needed to deter violence against women.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
