I appreciate the eloquent argument by Jaafar Ali in his letter entitled Hudud laws will protect Muslim community .

In the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, we watched with awe the fanatiscm and over-zealousness of the religious mullahs in practically controlling every facet of life there. And immediately after the French Revolution, people hoped that life would be better than it was under the monarchy but it ended up as the 'reign of terror'.

It is not about what law society needs to practise or implement. All the ills mentioned in the letter can certainly be addressed by civil laws but it is just that there is a gross negligence in the enforcement of such laws.

I am certainly averse to religious laws replacing civil laws as history has shown that such laws invariably make a few all-powerful and this breeds tyranny. Religious purists are known to have little or no tolerance for alternate views and frequently suppress those against their views with harsh and cruel penalties.

So, it is not the laws per se but about how religious zealots who may take us back to the medieval ages despite present-day economics and reality.

With blatant corruption, it is true that our laws, to a large extent, have become meaningless. Get get the basics right and then you can get people to listen and even believe.