#TryBeatingMeLightly: Pakistani women fight back against Council of Islamic Ideology

Pakistani women have reacted angrily online to a proposed law to allow husbands to "lightly beat" their wives.

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) advises the Pakistani government and has suggested a law to help men keep their wives in line.

"If you want her to mend her ways, you should first advise her. ...If she refuses, stop talking to her...stop sharing a bed with her, and if things do not change, get a bit strict," CII chairman Muhammad Kahn Sherani told the Express-Tribune newpaper.

"A bit strict" was clarified by the group: "A husband should be allowed to lightly beat his wife if she defies his commands and refuses to dress up as per his desires; turns down demand for intercourse without any religious excuse; or does not take bath after intercourse or menstrual periods."

Women across Pakistan have reacted furiously to this suggestion, framed in a bill entitled the Women Protection Bill.

Photographer Fahhad Rajper created a portrait series of women who described what they would do if someone beat them lightly.

Facebook / Fahhad Rajper

The album posted on Facebook started a trend across Pakistan and around the world based around the tag, #TryBeatingMeLightly.

Some mocked the law.

But many others were more aggressive in their backlash.

Some conservative Muslims criticised the trend and said it was un-Islamic but generally people supported the campaign as a stand against the CII.

It was not only social media that reacted strongly to the suggestion. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was "difficult to comprehend why anyone in his right mind would think that any further encouragement or justification is needed to invite violence upon women in Pakistan".

The group estimates that 70 per cent of Pakistani women have suffered domestic violence. A statement read: "As much as the HRCP wanted not to dignify with any comment the ridiculous CII recommendations regarding 'light beating' of women, the commission thinks it is imperative that every right-respecting person must condemn such counsel unreservedly. The irony of calling the measures 'women protection' should not be lost on anyone."

It added: "We hope and expect that...the draft bill will be condemned unreservedly by all segments of society."