The law prohibits child marriage but is not being followed by the people
KARACHI: It is very saddening to hear that a 10-year-old girl was to be married to a 40-year-old man in Shikarpur, Sindh. Fortunately, the police were able to foil the ‘wedding’ before the marriage was to be solemnised and the child bride was due to be sent way with the man. This incident shows that our society still does not value girls. The girl’s father had arranged the marriage with the ‘groom’, Muhammad Sarwar. The father reportedly exchanged her for a price of Rs250,000.
There is a law in place in Sindh prohibiting child marriage, but the law is not being followed by the people. Such incidents are indeed shocking. What is worse is that there is hardly any media coverage of this serious case.
This reminds me of an Urdu couplet by Sahir Ludhianvi in which the poet laments the silence of those who praise the Eastern traditions but are nowhere to be found when Eve’s daughter calls for help against injustice.
Nasir Soomro
Published in The Express Tribune, May 9th, 2019.
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