Irony just jumped off the cliff. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) recommended to Pakistan Punjab Assembly that Pakistani husbands can ‘lightly’ beat their wives if they disobey them for the formation of the state’s new women protection bill. The CII is a state body which gives non binding proposals to the parliament to make laws according to Islam. The new bill to be drafted soon is the result of CII rejecting Punjab’s Protection of Women Against Violence Act (PPWA), 2015 by deeming it as un-Islamic.

PPWA earlier passed by Punjab Assembly gives legal protection to women from domestic violence, sexual and psychological violence and calls for the creation of a toll-free abuse reporting hot line and establishment of women’s shelters.

But CII vehemently opposed the bill and called it against Islam. And now the prestigious body on Islam will forward its proposed bill to the Punjab assembly.

According to the Express Tribune, the 163-page draft bill proposed several bans on women.

The bill says that Pakistani husbands should be allowed to 'lightly' beat their wives if they disobey, refuse to dress up as per their wishes and turn down demand of physical contact.

According to the bill, the light beating clause also applies when the wife talks to a stranger, speaks loud, provides monetary support to someone with husband’s consent, or even if she doesn’t wear Hijab.

The bill recommended by CII also asks for ban on co-education after primary education, ban on welcoming foreign delegation and even taking part in military combat. The bill is unlikely to spare the health care sector as it seeks a ban on female nurses taking care of male patients.

It also recommended that an abortion after 120 days of conceiving should be declared 'murder'. However, it says that a woman can join politics and contract a Nikah without permission of parents.