Raising girls' marriage age unIslamic, says Pakistan
The proposed amendment to increase the age was not only opposed by the Muslim lawmakers but also Hindu and Christian parliamentarians.
Pakistani lawmakers have unanimously rejected a bill aimed at increasing the minimum age for marriage of a girl from 16 to 18 years, terming the proposed amendment as “un-Islamic”.
The National Assembly’s standing committee on religious affairs met on Thursday and discussed the ‘The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2016’ moved by lawmakers Kishwer Zehra.
The proposed amendment to increase the age was not only opposed by the Muslim lawmakers but also Hindu and Christian parliamentarians, The Express Tribune reported.
The committee called the proposed amendment “un-Islamic”. The committee members also discussed ‘The National Commission for Minority Rights Act, 2015’ at the request of lawmaker Lal Chand Malhi.
Christian lawmaker Tariq Christopher Qaiser recommended the number of commission members be increased to give representation to all the minorities.
He also called for allowing the minorities to directly elect their representatives. The committee also constituted a sub-committee to further discuss it.