A while ago, a ‘progressive’ female member of the Punjab Assembly (MPA), belonging to the opposition benches, caused an uproar amongst the members of most of the enlightened public by demanding that the Family Laws be amended to allow men to marry up to four wives without obtaining permission of the first wife. She went on to say she would have no problem if her own husband took another wife without her permission! The ‘progressive’ MPA reportedly stated that if men were allowed to marry more women it would reduce their frustrations, women would be able to salvage their honour and lead secure lives. Needless to say, she was supported by like-minded members who thought her suggestion was ‘ideal’! Polygamy is an offence in Pakistan by virtue of Section Six of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 (MFLO). The MFLO was promulgated to ‘give effect to certain recommendations of the commission of Marriage and Family Laws’, which comprised seven members, three women and four men, headed by Justice Abdur Rasheed. Maulana Thanvi, a cleric member of the commission, dissented from the report. The MFLO codified the provisions of law governing the Muslims of East and West Pakistan with respect to succession, registration of marriage, talaq, other forms of dissolution of marriage, maintenance and dower. Bangladesh has retained this law on its statute books. Section 6 of the MFLO says: “(1) No man, during the subsistence of an existing marriage, shall except with the previous permission in writing of the Arbitration Council, contract another marriage, nor shall any such marriage contracted without such permission be registered under this Ordinance.” If any man is desirous of marrying another woman in the presence of an existing wife/wives he has to apply to the Arbitration Council and give ‘reasons for the proposed marriage and whether consent of existing wife or wives has been obtained. Functioning at the Union Council (UC) level, the Arbitration Council is a body constituted by the Chairman UC, after an application under the MFLO is received and comprises three members: the chairman and a representative of each party to a matter before it. The husband and wife are both required to appoint an ‘arbitrator’ each who functions as a member of the Arbitration Council. The application for permission to marry again in the presence of an existing wife/wives may be granted if the members of the Arbitration Council are satisfied that ‘the proposed marriage is necessary and just.’ Rule 14 of the Muslim Family Law Rules 1961 (MFLR) states: ‘In considering whether another proposed marriage is just and necessary during the continuance of an existing marriage the Arbitration Council may, without prejudice to its general powers to consider what is just and necessary, have regard to such circumstances as: Sterility, physical infirmity, physical unfitness for conjugal relations, wilful avoidance of a decree for restitution of conjugal rights, or insanity on the part of an existing wife.’ If a man contracts another marriage without the permission of the Arbitration Council, he becomes liable to penal consequences; however, the nikah is presumed to be valid. The husband has to pay the entire amount of dower, prompt or deferred, immediately, to his existing wife/wives; if he fails to make the payment, the same is recoverable as arrears of land revenue. In addition to this, the husband is also liable to conviction if a complaint is filed against him with punishment that can extend to one-year imprisonment or a toothless fine of Rs 5,000. The MFLR provides that the complaint in respect of any offence under the MFLO has to be made by the concerned UC in writing, but an amendment in Punjab states that the complaint has to be made by the aggrieved party (the wife/wives). In 2010, a legislator from the Pakistan People’s Party tabled an amendment bill in the National Assembly that proposed that in case of applying for permission to contract another marriage, a husband must provide medical evidence if he alleges that his wife is incapable of conjugal relations. Nothing became of the proposed bill, but is that any wonder in the presence of ‘progressive’ members abounding in our assemblies! The law on polygamy protects the rights of an existing wife/wives: second, third and fourth marriages simultaneously are rampant in our society. A menace that prevails in the more affluent segment is a rush of ‘gold-diggers’ to capture already married men. Without absolving the men of any blame who cheat on their wives and fall prey to temptation, the craftiness of these women lies in their knack of playing the martyr card. Posing as abused wives, daughters, or sisters, they manipulate the oft stupid man into delusions of being the saviour. Putting down exorbitant amounts as dower in the shape of cash and property, these women move to divest the man of his property, leaving the original families in dire straits and recipients of inequitable treatment. The gold-diggers operational in our society affect the cases of women who are genuine victims of concealment by a man posing as ‘single’ and inadvertently become second wives. These poor, unsuspecting women either fall prey as a result of an arranged marriage or are seduced and courted by the man, again as a saviour, the prince charming on the white horse come to rescue them from their miseries and oppressed, mundane lives. In the end many are often left in a lurch. A long awaited, sensible amendment in the nikahnama by which both the parties have to state their marital status, whether single, divorced or widowed and whether they have children from their previous marriages with their names and ages, will go a long way in ensuring that the rights of parties to custody, maintenance and inheritance are not violated. The justification for marrying more than one is often under the garb of Islam in our country, yet the abject refusal to see the word ‘if’ in the Quran is a reflection of our selective interpretation. “…But if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with them then only one, or that which your right hands possess, that will be more suitable to prevent you from doing injustice” (4:3). Every beneficial law passed has decades of struggle and commitment by hundreds of men and women behind it, which should not be allowed to be undermined by self-serving individuals sitting inside and outside our assemblies. Samuel Johnson defines marriage as “the triumph of imagination over intelligence” and second marriage as “the triumph of hope over experience,” while Elbert Hubbard says polygamy is “an endeavour to get more out of life than there is in it!” I have yet to see a happy husband let alone a happy, polygamous husband or a happy first wife or a second, third, fourth one. For the time being, they are all the epitome of the triumph of ‘hopeless imaginations’. The writer is an advocate of the High Court