Differences persist in PTI over child marriage age

Fawad Chaudhry regrets ministers’ vote for underage marriage; Ali Mohammad Khan wants CII opinion

ISLAMABAD: The ministers of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were at loggerheads over the bill pertaining to marriage of persons below the age of 18.

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday expressed his displeasure at some “elected representatives and ministers’ opposition” of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018 in the National Assembly.

He tweeted: “What hopes can one really attribute to a society whose fifty elected representatives and even ministers actually voted for underage marriage?”

The lawmakers who opposed the bill also included MNAs from Chaudhry’s own political party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), most prominent of who were Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri and State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Mohammad Khan.

Chaudhry regretted that elected representatives had voted in favour of the bill, adding that the fact alone “should be enough to give sleepless nights to the world and intelligentsia of our own… really a scary moment”.



He had also tweeted in favour of the bill the other day, saying: “Quad-i-Azam was the first person who presented legislation against child marriages. Unless we decide whether this country is to be governed by mullahs or rationality, we should forget even the idea of progress.”

Talking to Express News, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said the bill has been sent to committee concerned. He said that the committee instead of giving its advice on the bill will seek the advice from the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), which advises the legislature whether or not a certain law is repugnant to Sharia. All scholars belonging to different schools of thought are part of the Council, he said adding that the approval of the bill without the advice of the Council will be against the Constitution.

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA)’s Senator and religious scholar Maulana Faiz Muhammad Khan said that how could those who have no knowledge of the religion talk on Sharia matters.

He said that according to the Constitution of 1973, “no law can be made against the Quran and Sunnah”. The senator added that despite clear instructions, criminalising underage marriage is a violation of the country’s constitution.

The bill — that has already been passed by the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights as well as the upper house itself — was presented in the National Assembly on Tuesday, and it polarised parties during the debate. Even though the bill was tabled by Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani of the PTI, several of his fellow party leaders strongly opposed it.

The bill had been unanimously endorsed by the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights and was tabled in the Senate by Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday. PTI’s Qadri and Khan had opposed the bill in the Senate as well but it had received the majority needed to be passed.