ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: President of Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain created a stir in the National Assembly on Wednesday by handing his resignation to Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, asking him to keep it pending until it was proved that the women's rights bill was contrary to the Quran and Sunnah.

But the Speaker returned the resignation to the PML chief before the house passed the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, promising to consider it later.

Chaudhry Shujaat's bizarre move came in response to highly critical speeches by members of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) against the bill seeking to protect women from the misuse of Hudood laws about zina (adultery and rape) and qazf (false accusation of zina), with opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman calling the draft a move to turn Pakistan into a ‘sex-free zone’.

Some members asked the PML president why the government had not included all amendments recommended in an agreement he signed with a committee of religious scholars in September.

"I have been assured that there is nothing against the Quran and Sunnah in the bill," the PML president said. But he said he would relinquish his lower house seat "if it comes out after its passage" that the bill was contrary to the Quran and Sunnah.