That police in Bahawalpur stepped in to prevent a forced marriage on April 19, is a faint ray of hope in an otherwise bleak landscape of human rights in the country. According to a news report, a 12-year-old girl was allegedly being married off to her cousin in order to settle a debt her father owed. The marriage was against her wishes and also against the laws governing the minimum age of marriage in Pakistan. The Muslim Family Law Ordinance of 1961 stipulates that a girl under the age of 16 is a child whose marriage is illegal.
However, the facts on the ground are that child marriages are distressingly common in Pakistan. Children are often betrothed at birth and marriages of pre-teen girls with men thrice their age barely raise an eyebrow. A few months ago in Sargodha, two other marriages — a watta satta — were prevented by the police: a 14-year-old girl was being married to a 30-year-old man, while a 12-year-old girl was being married to a 50-year-old. The Rahnuma-Family Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP) estimates that about 30 per cent of marriages in Pakistan fall under the category of childhood marriages. It is not just girls who are married off young, but often both the bride and the groom are barely in their teens when they are forced into marriage by family.
One of the causes of such marriages is poverty, as illustrated in this particular instance. Children are looked upon by their parents as property and in the absence of money to settle debts, they can easily be traded instead. Not only do these marriages constitute a gross violation of human rights, they also contribute to Pakistan’s lamentably high fertility rate. Unfortunately, these practices have become deeply ingrained in our culture and it is the parallel justice system — the panchayats which are called upon to settle various disputes — that often decides that such marriages are the way to resolve conflicts.
Also culpable are the clerics who willingly solemnise the marriages of children, though it violates the conditions of a nikah and flies in the face of Islamic edicts. To uproot this malaise, it is these clerics and panchayats that need to be convinced and co-opted.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (5)
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@Cynical
So in your view the good lady who gave birth to you is just a member of the so called herd. For heaven's sake stand in front of a mirror and look straight into your eyes.You just might feel a hint of shame. I hope.
'Forced marriage' is a misnomer. Men are the guardian and protector of women which basically make them defacto owner of the herd and the herd should follow the lead.Putting liberal spin won't change the rules on the ground.
Nothing would change in Pakistan unless under age marriages otherwise called child molestation in civilized world is completely banned. Even a country like S. Arabia now has to debate against child marriages and determine a min age for that. If we do not have a min age for marriages then the child molestation would continue without any fear. There is the old English law in Pakistan but what is practiced is just the contrary. Unless the rightwing parties and Islamic scholars come out against child marriages nothing can change this behavior.
We do not support child marriages and they should stopped. Mostly illeterate and poor people do child marriages on the base of some economy benefit. Not sure why this paper only give news which shows only paksitans negativity. India also have high rate of child marriages but those news never show on the papers. India even have child prostitution as well published in CNN.