Bari, F. (2002). Pakistan: Woman Rape Victim Sentenced to Death by Stoning – According to Moslem Law. Women’s International Network News, 28(3), 47.

In this short article, Bari explains that the Hudood Ordinances provides a legal basis of gender discrimination. She writes, “Hudood laws are clearly in conflict with the principle of gender equality that is enshrined in article 25 of the constitution that does not permit discrimination on the basis of sex.” When I read this statement, it reminded me of George Orwell’s 1984, where doublethink is the norm among people of Oceania. In Orwell’s words, doublethink is,

The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them… To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary.

Essentially, Bari calls for a reform in the laws; she proposes to eliminate gender discrimination in the legal framework. Although she does not present any other reason for the repeal of strict laws like Hudood Ordinances (such as human rights violation etc.), she underscores that the clash of Sharia and secular laws is a problem because they cannot be upheld at the same time.