Mass wedding: 100 couples tie the knot in Faisalabad

Couples given Rs210,000 each and kitchenware in dowry.

FAISALABAD: As many as 100 couples tied the knot at a mass wedding in Faisalabad on Sunday.

The ceremony arranged at Gattwala Civic Centre was sponsored by Sitara Group of Industries. Chief Executive Officer, Mian Muhammad Idrees, told The Express Tribune that couples were selected over a course of six months by a team set up especially for the task.

He said most of the couples were from villages around Faisalabad.

He said the selection criteria included standard of living and family income. He said orphans and those with no earning members in the family were given priority over others.

He said they were considering arranging mass marriages a regular activity at the group. “We may hold the ceremony once every year,” he said. He said Islam encouraged marriage at an early age but many people lacked the means.

Each couple was provided Rs210,000 in dowry besides kitchenware and allowed to invite up to 50 people to the ceremony.

Shagufta Bibi, one of the brides, said she was an orphan and the sole bread winner in her household.

Muhammad Hafeez, father of another bride, said he had been jobless for three years on account of physical disability. He said he lacked resources to arrange the marriage of his daughter on his own.

He said he had arranged his daughter’s marriage to relative’s son after his application to the Sitara Industries was shortlisted.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2012.