Pakistan's National Assembly passed a bill that prescribes...

Pakistan's National Assembly passed a bill that prescribes the death penalty for those who kill women in the name of family honour.
The bill, passed by the lower house of parliament on a voice vote, proposed the death sentence for the most extreme cases and prison terms from seven years to life.
"We have framed a law which should be a source of pride for women," Nilofar Bakhtiar, adviser to the prime minister on women's affairs, told the house after the passage of the bill.
"We must have the confidence and courage to redefine the word honour," she said.
Human rights activists have long demanded that the government take stringent measures to curb honour killings. Government officials say there were more than 1,200 such killings in 2003.
In many cases, the killers go free because some police and prosecutors do not consider them to be criminals.
The private Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the bill allowed murderers the chance to settle their crime out of court by paying off relatives of the victim.
Under Islamic laws introduced in the late 1970s known as the Hudood Ordinances, relatives of a murder victim can set free a killer who meets their compensation demands.
"While the room for out of court settlements remains, women will continue to be killed and murderers will go free," said Kamila Hyat, a director at the human rights commission.
The bill on honour killings will now go to the Senate, parliament's upper house, for approval before it becomes law.
Opposition politicians, who include Islamists in favour of hardline religious laws, did not vote as they and their allies staged a walk-out protest from parliament against President Pervez Musharraf's dual role as army chief.