Islamabad, Sep 8 (TIWN) The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has recommended that the act of triple talaq (or instant divorce) should be deemed a punishable crime.

Replying to a question by Member of National Assembly (MNA) Bashir Virk, CII authorities informed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice that the divorce takes place when the word for it, talaq, is uttered thrice in one breath – even if it has been done in jest.  Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem said that there was precedence in Islamic history of such an act being punished by the state, saying that the second caliph of Islam, Hazrat Umar (RA), had punished those who performed the act of instant divorce. “Therefore, the NA can make laws to make this action a punishable crime,” he said.