Act prohibits marriage of girls and boys under 16 and 18 years of age respectively. PHOTO: FILE
Recent remarks by a religious body about child marriages law may hinder progress on pending bills at the federal and provincial levels about increasing minimum marriageable age for girls, according to The Child Rights Movement (CRM).
In its press statement issued here on Tuesday, the CRM urged the federal and provincial governments to implement the Child Marriages Restraint (CMR) Act 1929 and increase the minimum marriageable age for girls.
Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a constitutional body responsible for giving legal advice to the legislature on Islamic issues, earlier this month said Islam doesn’t prohibit underage marriage.
Meanwhile talking to The Express Tribune, rights activist Dr Farzana Bari said such remarks are very disturbing for all of us.
The Act prohibits marriage of girls and boys under 16 and 18 years of age respectively but it lacks due deterrence mechanism. As a result, incidents of child marriage are alarmingly high.
National Commission on the Status of Women Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz told this correspondent that in Islam marriage is a contract between two consenting adults not between a child and an adult. Referring to the CII statement, she said “they are trying to reopen the settled issues and trying to create confusion among people.”
Every hour in Pakistan, three women die due to birth-related issues and early marriages are a key contributor to high maternal mortality ratio (MMR), the CRM statement said.
In Balochistan, the MMR is as high as 785 per 100,000 live births, which according to the CRM, is alarming. The risk of death for pregnant girls under the age of 15 is five times higher than for women in their twenties.
Mumtaz said child brides’ faces domestic violence and are also at risk of reproductive health complications, HIV/Aids infection and other adverse physiological and social outcomes.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2014.
COMMENTS (22)
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Man is the most evolved life form/animal on planet earth. The more evolved an animal, the more care & nurture that life form /animal has to undergo before reaching adulthood. Infact a human spends nearly 25% of his lifespan under the care/nurture period of his family.
In fishes, the young ones are left to fend for themselves immediately at the time of birth ! . In Africa, lioness takes care of the cubs till they are able to hunt / survive by themselves. The logic of CII that a girl be considered adult as soon as she reaches puberty is wrong. Times have changed. We live in a far more complex & settled society than a bedoin nomadic arabic tribe constantly moving from place to place. The minimum age of marriage should be atleast 21 till the girl completes her graduation.
@Sexton Blake
First time I see you make a sensible comment.
Islam permits non vaccination of infants and absence of schooling but does not prohibit us from making vaccination and child education compulsory. The same approach can be applied to marriage age.
"Marriage" without free informed consent, without the unfettered option to refuse is sexual slavery. Most agree that intercourse with a child (a child is unable to give informed consent) is wrong and should be a crime. The age of consent may be lowered from 18 but not by much. Punishment for pedophilia (whether in aqd nikah or not) should be not just the present mild punishment but a minimum 14 years imprisonment. Adult performers, witnesses and participants at underage aqd should be punished. Ulema claim to be experts in religion and further claim that child "marriages" are permitted by Islam. Whether the Alims are right or wrong most responsible parents would not permit or force their 6 or 9 year or even 15 year old daughters into marriage or into sexual activity. We have to resist these fanatics attempts to tamper with Child Protection laws meant to safeguard our children from sexual predators.
Minimum age to be a high school graduate is at least 16 years.Marriage before that is denying the women the minimum education.Marriage after 18 is the reasonable and rightful policy. CII is a body of mullahs,who are against education of females generally.Such decisions should be expected of them. Society should ignore them for its own good.
Next our learned CII will bless marriage to farm yard animals...
Islam refers to adults when it comes to marriage. The definition of adult is different from reaching puberty. My question to CII to give evidence that achieving punerty means the person should be considered and treated as an adult.
If you do not allow flexibility as required due to changing times, time will stop for you. Followers of Islam in general/ majority do not tolerate any change in matters linked to religion and the decisions of their scholars is final and acceptable.you may have any law restraining the girl's marriage before the age of 16 but nothing can be done if it is solemnised. Child Marriage Restraint Act is an eye wash.
Pakistan probably has the most inept civil society in the world, I'd be surprised if they could get anything worthwhile done.
@ahmed: You need to read up more on this subject, a lot of scholars say she was actually a lot older than 8 years old.
If India pass such a law there will be riots on the streets.
I think everyone is looking at this from a very narrow view. There are a lot of factors to account for and this issue isn't just black and white, it has areas of gray as well. I think too many times issues that should be discussed by people of knowledge and learning are left to the masses who do not have the intellectual capacity to understand the problem and offer any insightful view. All of you are offering biased view supporting your own preconceived notions as right. Stop that and think from all angles of the problem.
Men and women should not get married before they get adult. Agreed.
But how do you define adulthood? Is it just a random number that comes in one's mind? USA - Age 21 Scotland - Age 16 England - Age 18 Etc etc...
Or being adult means an individual (man or woman) has developed certain physical characteristics in body regardless of age? This is because people from different regions get adult at different ages due to different factors like race, climate, food etc... Which makes more sense?
The minimum age of marriage for girls should be 18, which is standard in most civilized countries. At 18 a female body and brain has matured, and more able to handle the vicissitudes of married life, although even then life may not be easy for them. My daughters married at 25 which is a good age.
Let's not make a big deal out of this. If the negotiations with the TTP are successful we will no longer need any laws protecting children, minorities and shaved men.
A child is a young human who has not reached the age of puberty. Refer to any dictionary you like. Why do people refer to girls of age 12,13,14 as a child? Don't they know what the dictionary says?
Please be sincere with your nation ,land and culture.If this was true then obviously west would have been evil free. IslamZindabad
Great news hope it becomes reality. Some mullahs cannot wait one day or one month for a girl to reach puberty and ready to make her their one of the wives. There is a min age for watching certain movies, voting or be a witness but for the most critical decision in life mullah do not want a min age. The continued exploitation of our children cannot be tolerated.
Can anyone tell me how can i be part of this Civil Society?
as per islam, after puberty a girl can be married off, the example is of one our prophet's marriage.