Pakistan to ban forced marriages: Musharraf

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf (L) salutes after delivering his speech as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz (R) looks on at the Women Convention 2006 in Islamabad yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

The laws would also ensure women's right to their inheritance, ban the sale of women in the name of marriage and end the age-old practice of marrying women to Koran to deprive them of their share in property, he said.

Musharraf's pledge comes a week after he defied protests by religious fundamentalists and signed into law a "Protection of Women" bill amending the country's Islamic rape legislation.