ABSTRACT
Finally, the Zina Ordinance then specifies the evidence required to prove both zina and zina-bil-jabr:
(a) the accused makes before a Court of competent jurisdiction a confession of the commission of the offence; or
(b) at !east four Muslim adult mate witnesses, about whom the Court is satisfied, having regard to the requirements of tazkiyah alshuhood [credibility of witnesses], that they are truthful persons and abstain from major sins (kabair), give evidence as eyewitnesses of the act of penetration necessary to the offence[.f
When this la w was enacted in 1977, proponents argued that i t codified the Islamic law of illegal sexual relations. The accuracy of that claim is addressed in detail later.8 First, it is important to note that the application of the Zina Ordinance in Pakistan has placed a new twist and a renewed urgency on the question of its validity. The twist is this: when a zina-bil-jabr case fails for lack of four witnesses, the Pakistani legal system has more than once concluded that the intercourse was therefore consensual, and consequently has charged rape victims with zina.
