Fazal-ur-Rehman, the leader of a hardline Islamic alliance...

Fazal-ur-Rehman, the leader of a hardline Islamic alliance in Pakistan, vowed to resist any attempt by President Pervez Musharraf to amend Islamic laws that discriminate against women and non-Muslims.
One of the most controversial provisions of the so-called Hudood Ordinance states that a woman must have four pious male Muslim witnesses to prove a rape, or face adultery charges. Those convicted of adultery face stoning to death or 100 lashes.
Musharraf told a human rights convention on May 15 that the laws passed under the military dictatorship of late General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 should be studied afresh to ensure they were not misused.
Fazal-ur-Rehman, secretary-general of the opposition Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Islamic alliance, charged that Musharraf's statement on the Hudood Ordinances and laws relating to blasphemy were the result of American and Western pressure.
"We will not allow the American agenda to be imposed on 140 million Muslims," he told a news conference. "Islamic Laws will be protected with full force and in this connection everything will be done to resist the ideology of secularism."