Reading Time: 4 minutes The patriarchal system in most rural (or even most urban) areas does not allow women to take control of the property they inherit. And even though there have been exclusive bills passed to guarantee that this does not happen, this practice has not come to an end.
As living beings, us humans have a short list of objectives. Though we shroud our purpose in life with reasonings and complex mechanizations of explanation, we still all have similar goals we want to achieve by the time our lives on this plane come to a close.
Whether you are a day-labourer or the head of a successful corporation, you still share the same kinds of aspirations when you break them down to their core. We want to spend our childhoods setting up our adulthoods. We study into our adulthoods then begin our journey into adult lives with jobs and businesses. The lucky amongst us, anyways. And then the next question is starting our own families with marriage and then children. The latter is the most important part of most of our lives.
We want to leave a part of ourselves behind either as a way of achieving immortality or because we believe this to be essential for our religion. For example, marrying and having children are mandatory in Islam and serves as the main argument against not having kids in the country. Even when inflation is at an all time high and raising a family is more difficult than ever, we still do it. Then we strive to provide for our children until they can stand on their own feet and so the wheel goes, round and round.
In anycase, one of the main aspects of a person’s latter life is preparing their family for their departure. Though most of this is something that is more sentimental and spiritual in nature, there is a material aspect to this that has been causing problems since the beginning of time-inheritence.
According to the research carried out by the National Commission on the Status of Women under United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) revealed that “the concept of inheritance was evolved centuries ago as a deviation from the custom of burying wealth, widows, and slaves along with the deceased and continued to persist strictly under the patriarchal domain”.
A person’s inheritance is what they leave behind for the world upon shaking their mortal coil. To make it more accurate, an inheritance is what their children or family is left with when their loved one passes on. The normal trope is that they leave a will that dictates how their material wealth will be distributed among the family so they dont fight amongst themselves about who gets what.
Unfortunately, not everyone knows when they will die and make arrangements prior. Or they might be old and not in the proper state to perform such a duty. Even if they do so, the matter of inheritance is one that causes a lot of problems for everyone involved throughout history.
And in a country like Pakistan where material wealth is so difficult to acquire and keep, and where the law is not as omnipresent, these matters tend to spiral out of control and even escalate into violence. Family property disputes and those regarding other worldly possessions of the dead lead to a lot more death.
Or, the ones more deserving of their inheritance are deprived of it and are left to fend for themselves by their own relatives.
In this article we will look at the issue of inheritance and the legal processes and laws relating to this issue in Pakistan.
The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance (1961), gives effect to certain recommendations of the commission on marriage and family laws. The West Pakistan Muslim Personal Law (1962), which consolidates and amends the provisions of the application of Muslim Personal Law (Shariat).
“Notwithstanding any custom or usage, in all questions regarding succession (whether testate or intestate), special property of females, betrothal, marriage, divorce, dower, adoption, guardianship, minority, legitimacy or bastardy, family relations, wills, legacies, gifts, religious usages or institutions, including waqfs, trusts and trust properties, the rule of decision, subject to the provisions of any enactment for the time being in force, shall be the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) in case where the parties are Muslims.”-The West Pakistan Muslim Personal Law (1962).
The first and foremost rule of the Inheritance Law in Pakistan is that there is no taxation on Inhheritance in the country. That is, the government can not and does not take a share of the money that the inheritor receives from the deceased.
The second is that the Inheritence Law (specifically this law) will be based in its entirety on the Islamic Law of Jurisprudence AKA Shariah Law. Since Shariah is based upon the teachings of the Holy Quran it is pertinent to mention some that have been included in the constitution of Pakistan itself.
Also, the inheritor can not distribute assets unless and until all the debts of the deceased have been paid off in full.
Furthermore, if the deceased had decided upon gifting their property to someone during their lifetime, then this can not be challenged after their death.
In most cases, sons receive twice the share received by daughters.
However, this formula is not constant as the distribution of wealth depends on religious affinities and other conditions. These include the total number of children the deceased had along with their genders as well as the number of brothers, sisters, mother, father and other blood relatives.
Still, even this way, the patriarchal system in most rural (or even most urban) areas does not allow women to take control of the property they inherit. And even though there have been exclusive bills passed to guarantee that this does not happen, this practice has not come to an end.
According to Section 498A of the Pakistan Penal Code, if someone forces a woman to surrender her claim in the property ‘shall be punished with imprisonment for ten years or minimum five years or with a fine of one million rupees or both.’ This was added in 2011, yet the existence of a law and the execution of it are two separate matters altogether. .
According to a survey conducted in January 2017, released during a press release by a non-governmental organisation, AGHS Legal Aid Cell, revealed that 80 per cent women reported not getting their legal share in inheritance
Even last year, in 2021, there were attempts to rectify this situation: According to the newly introduced Article 24A, “No woman shall be deprived her share from inheritance in Pakistan.” But if any of the previous data is to go by, there is no hope that there will be any solution to the problem.
The inheritance law of Pakistan clearly sets out the rights of both men and women. However, the lack of awareness amongst women leaves them vulnerable to getting deprived of their rights. It is important to raise awareness amongst women so that they are no longer vulnerable to exploitation in matters such as these.
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