ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Rights activists welcomed on Thursday amendments to Pakistan's Islamic laws that will allow rape victims to seek justice without the need for four male witnesses but said the laws should be scrapped altogether.

Islamist parties opposed the changes pushed through the lower house of parliament on Wednesday, in the latest battle of a long struggle between progressives and religious conservatives to set the course of the predominantly Muslim nation.

The Islamic laws, known as the Hudood Ordinances, were introduced by a military ruler, Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, in 1979, and laid down punishment for crimes such as theft and adultery.

They also made a rape victim liable to prosecution for adultery if she failed to produce four male witnesses to her ordeal.

The main amendment approved on Wednesday takes rape out of the sphere of religious law and puts it under the penal code.

"As an interim measure, the separation of rape from adultery is a welcome step but we don't consider this the end of the road," said veteran women's rights activist Tahira Abdullah.

"Our struggle continues and we will fight until the end of the Hudood Ordinances," she said.

President Pervez Musharraf, who espouses a vision of "enlightened moderation", hailed the amendment that was passed after members of the Islamist alliance walked out of parliament

Reuters