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Hindus still tied in knots over marriage registration
Minister for national harmony says proposed bill is a priority.
Hindus say denial of legal matrimonial recognition leads to the denial of other basic rights.
ISLAMABAD: The largest minority in Pakistan is struggling to register marriages due to chronic delays in the passage of the Hindu Marriage Act. The draft bill, proposed in 2008 but yet to be tabled before parliament, seeks to address the decades-old problem faced by the Hindu community in Pakistan, which numbers approximately four million.
In Pakistan there is no system for the registration of marriages of certain minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs and Baha’is. There is, however, marriage registration for Christians.
(Read: Legislation underway – Minorities to have their own marriage laws)
“These are not the best of times for us as we face stiff resistance from the government on the issue,” said MNA Dr Araish Kumar. The government and some Hindus do not see eye-to-eye over the controversial divorce clause. “How can we allow the inclusion of a divorce clause as there is no concept of divorce in our religion?” Kumar said. “Hindus will get Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC) if the bill gets passed,” he said, adding that Pakistani Hindus often face difficulties when travelling abroad due to a lack of a marriage certificate.
Clause 13, the controversial passage of the proposed 16-page bill, states that any Hindu can divorce his wife or her husband at any time and in any court.
Various conditions have been proposed for divorce proceedings. The new draft empowers any court to entertain any petition for the legal dissolution of a marriage. Various other rules have also been mentioned in the bill, such as when divorcees may marry again, the legal rights of children, void and voidable marriages, the punishment of bigamy and punishments for other contraventions of Hindu marriage laws.
The draft also described practical ramifications of divorce cases, such as the content and verification of petitions, custody of children, ownership of property and savings, and repeals.
Minister pushes for bill
“Our first priority is to get the Hindu Marriage Act passed at all cost,” said Minister for National Harmony Akram Masih Gill in an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune.
He admitted that the divorce clause remains a bone of contention between the government and Hindu community. However, the minister is optimistic a consensus can be reached on the issue after taking all stakeholders into confidence. “I will go to every extent for rights of minorities,” he said. “Marriage Registration Acts will be prepared for all minorities.”
(Read: Love hurts – Hindu couple marries outside press club as a sign of protest)
He added that the government had sought the opinion of Hindu community leaders from Hindu Panchayat (Karachi Division), Nagarparkar in Tharparkar and Rahim Yar Khan, who drafted the bill for marriage registration based on the Indian model.
Sikh concerns
Sikh community leaders have dispelled the impression that this bill can also be applied to marriage registrations of Sikhs based on the Indian model. “We will introduce separate bills for marriage registration of Hindus, Sikhs and Bahai’s,” said Gill, who has decided to summon a meeting of all lawmakers and representatives who represent minorities to pave the way to table the bill in parliament.
“How can this proposed act be applicable for us as our customs are totally different for performing marriages,” said Swaran Singh, a senior member of Pakistan Sikhs Gurdwara Parbandak Committee.
Pointing out differences, he said: “Hindus take seven lavans (name of hymns) while we take five lavans for performing marriages. Hindus also take fire or pitcher [matka] while Sikhs recite from Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh Holy Book). The male leads in the Sikh religion but a woman in the Hindu religion.”
(edited by imran yusuf)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2011.
Read more:
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Reader Comments (18)
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63 years of existence of Pakistan and 2 to 3 generations born.married/died and Hindus can’t register their marriage? Wow!!! Can’t believe this???
All Hindus and Sikhs should migrate to India.
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I really hope that our country starts giving minorities its rights and respect. Giving respect is the only way to get respect. May Allah guides us all in doing the right things, so we can be a peaceful and prosperous country again. Recommend
This is such an awesomely great legal model! Create a completely separate set of laws for every community, and then every sub-community within that community. And then, give each family within the sub-community the right to create their own set of laws.
I urge all Pakistani Hindus to petition for the return of Sati. I can easily see how not being able to burn widows can hurt Hindu religious feelings.
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Gandhi fought for marriage registration for Indian Hindus and Muslims in S. Africa and which eventually brought him to fight the British rule. His statements in paraphrased form: “the proposed marriage registration act (of S. Africa) does not recognize the Hindu and Muslim marriages.”
Get the marriage registration act pass immediately. Union of man and woman is the basic fundamental right of nature that defines us as humans. Recommend
If Pakistani Hindus do not accept the contractual nature of “marriage” by not recognising the provision for dissolution of such a contract, then why would they want such a marriage to be registered at all? For registering appropriate law is necessary. Such a law has to consider provisions of divorce, inheritance, adoption etc. It appears that on these issues Hindus of Pakistan do not have a consensus. Till they reach that and demand a proper law they may have to wait. It needed stalwarts like Nehru/Ambedkar to push through the Hindu Code Bill in India of 1950s. Obviously Pak-Hindus are bereft of such a leadership despite having an eminent jurist like Rana Bhagwandas among them.
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@ Rakib – you may be right, in India, divorce provisions are there in Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 ..however, there is no such clause existing which is as absurd as the above mentioned clause in the proposed bill.
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@from india:
ET report is indicative but it can’t be exhaustive. What is reported about the clause is in language journalistic & not legalese. We do not know under what conditions a husband/wife can divorce the spouse. More needs to be known about Clause 13 of the proposed draft. One can look up a coincidental Sec.13 of The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 of India. If this what is proposed then what can be the grouse of Pak-Hindus? http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/hindumarriageact/s13.htm
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What a Non-sense is this all? Simplest solution should be that gather all groups separately and ask them to submit a draft after getting approval from their religious authorities with in community. Once they agree on that each such proposal from the three separate communities becomes the blueprint for the Bill to be presented and passed. What are these Politcians are doing or had been doing for the alst 63 years? That is rediculous. Those communities are our citizens and state’s function is to fecilitate lives about their basic needs. I don’t know why we are stuck into this act and that. This amendments will take not more than a week at the most. Just do it so these people can live in peace.
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My god!!! This is a real shocker.. How backward a county should be not to have a law for registering marriages of a 4 million strong community? I live in Malaysia and there is an excellent sense of co-existence here and Hindu marriage act has been drafted as proposed by Indian and Nepali govts. What is stopping Pakistan to do it? After all those Hindus are Pakistanis citizens and there should be no partiality.
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Until Pakistani Government arranges Hindu, Sikh and other minorities’ marriage registration, it can be arrange by religious organisations and attested by notary public solicitors. Like Muslim community have this system in some Western Countries? We issue Marriage Certificate according to the Islamic Law.
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Can you imagine the stink that Muslims would make if they were prohibited from marriage in other countries? Shame on you.
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This article seems to be full of innacuracies. Firstly, Sikhs can have ‘Sikh’ marriages and be issued with sikh marriage certificates in Pakistan. Hundreds of British, Canadian and american Sikhs have already taken advantage of this. This is of course a far cry from the situation in India where the nation officially deny the existence of Sikhism as a separate religion. From the article above, I gather Indians are ashamed of their treatment of Sikhs and are trying to hide behind this shame by comparing it to the treatment of hindus in Pakistan.
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Can you imagine the stink that Muslims would make if they were prohibited from marriage in other countries? Shame on you.
^ So does that mean you finally realise and sympathise with the Sikhs in India ? We’re in an even worse situation ; We have to sign to say we are Hindus and have had a Hindu marriage if we want a marriage certificate. Recommend
@Joe Singh. What’s stopping you? Move into Pakistan if you aren’t there already.
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@Joe Singh, Just make sure you consult this gentleman before you plan your move to Pakistan,
http://tribune.com.pk/story/257550/sikh-leader-under-threat-in-lahore/
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@Joe Singh. What’s stopping you? Move into Pakistan if you aren’t there already.
^ Who said anything about “moving” anywhere ? When did that subject enter this discussion ?
I’ll tell you what though….like thousands of other British, Canadian, American and Australian born Sikhs I have had the pleasure of performing yatra in Pakistan. The one abising memory of that yatra is the love and respect that the Pakistani people have for Sikhs and Sikhism. It really is awe-inspiring. As I mentioned before, the Indians are merely trying to hide behind the Pakistani treatment of Hindus in order to detract attention away from Indian treatment of Sikhs.Recommend
@Joe Singh:
sikhs are very nice people i met sikhs in peshawar very hospitable people but sikhs in karachi dont have long beards and turbans is that a sikh sect that says that sikhs should have long beards or something no offence
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sikhs are very nice people i met sikhs in peshawar very hospitable people but sikhs in karachi dont have long beards and turbans is that a sikh sect that says that sikhs should have long beards or something no offence
No offence taken, and your question is very valid. I came across many of those ‘sikhs’ from Sindh promise when I visited Nankhana Sahib gurdwara. Although they sometimes describe themselves as ‘sikhs’ they are in fact what are known as ‘Nanakpanthis’…..that is to say, Hindus who hold Guru Nanak in great esteem. For the most part, around 99% of Pakistani Sikhs live in the pathan tribal mountains in and around Peshawar. Strange as it may sound, very few of them are in Punjab proviince. The reason for this can be traced back to 1947 and partition. The pathan code of honour ; Pakhtunwali…….mean’t that the individual tribes in the mountains were duty bound to protect with their lives the Sikhs that lived among them. Recommend