The council, also known as the CII and made up of Islamic clerics and scholars who advise Pakistani legislators, said it was “un-Islamic” for women to leave an abusive relationship and seek refuge in a shelter.

[If a husband beats his wife in Pakistan, can she flee? Maybe not.]

Before the bill is expanded from Punjab to other areas of Pakistan, the council said it wanted to weigh in with its own proposal. A draft of the proposal is now complete, and reads like an appalling misprint: Husbands should be allowed to “lightly beat” their wives, the CII recommends. Pakistani husbands can ‘lightly beat’ their wives, Islamic council says – The Washington Post <!–

“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 of intercourse without any religious excuse or does not take bath after intercourse or menstrual periods,” the report states, according to Pakistan’s Express-Tribune newspaper.

Reached by phone, a CII official confirmed the report to The Washington Post, but stressed that some changes could still be made to the document before it is forwarded to lawmakers for review.

Currently, Pakistan’s domestic violence abuse laws are vague, although prosecution even in the most heinous cases has been rare.

The CII, which claims that its recommendations are based on Koranic teachings and Sharia law, also seeks to legalize domestic violence if a woman refuses to cover her head or face in public, “interacts with strangers; speaks loud enough that she can easily be heard by strangers; and provides monetary support to people without taking consent of her spouse,” the Express-Tribune reported.

Pakistani supporters of the Islamic group Ahl-e-Hadith youth forum hold placards reading in Urdu “No to women liberation, like in western culture” during a protest in Lahore, Pakistan, on March 17 against the Protection of Women Against Violence Act recently enacted by the Punjab provincial assembly. (Rahat Dar/European Pressphoto Agency)

Although the recommendations are nonbinding, the 163-page document does provide a window into how the most conservative strains of Islam still view the role of women.

The document would ban women from appearing in television or print advertising and would prohibit female nurses from treating male patients. It also would give a husband permission to forbid his wife from visiting males other than relatives.