ISLAMABAD - A Senate panel on Monday gave final assent to the controversial Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2017, enhancing the marriage age limit from 16 years to 18 years amid reservations of some lawmakers and the Council of Islamic Ideology (CCI) that said amendment was contrary to the basic provisions of Islam.
The Senate Standing Committee on Interior passed the bill with three votes of two opposition parties including the MQM and the PTI favouring and two votes of the ruling PML-N opposing the bill.
The committee in its last meeting had rejected the bill on the grounds that it was against the basic provisions of Islam as the puberty age of girls is considered 16 years in Islam. But the committee re-considered the (proposed) law moved by PPP Senator Sehar Kamran following criticism from civil society and human rights activists who said that this was a violation of women rights.
The law says that any person, male or female under the age of 18 would be considered as a child and would be restrained from contracting a marriage under the law. The statement of objects and reasons of the bill says that an early marriage leads to early conception, which ultimately affects the health of the teenage girl.
PML-N lawmakers Javed Abbasi and Chaudhry Tanveer Khan opposed the bill saying it was contrary to the basic provisions of Islam. They viewed that Islam describes the age of 16 years as the age of puberty for girls and says that girls could marry at this age. However, Chairman Committee Rehman Malik said that the law was not contrary to the basic provision of Islam as it did not describe the minimum age of marriage for girls.
MQM Senator Barrister Ali Saif viewed that maturity age for marriage of girls was not determined only by “physical symptoms but also with the mental maturity” and a girl was considered mature at the age of 18 years. He said that Islam had not restrained the lower age limit for marriage.
CII Director General Research Ikramul Haq said that a girl, according to an Islamic research, was only considered immature in Islam before attaining 9 years of age. However, he failed to answer the questions of the chairman committee about the source of his research. He said that the committee should frame exact questions to the CII about the bill for its final comments. A representative of Religious Affairs Ministry quoting Islam said that a girl could be married at a time when she reached the age of puberty.
PTI Senator Shibli Faraz came down hard on the CII for its poor performance and said that the body was supposed to do that any proposed law contrary to the provisions of Islam could not be legislated but it had failed to perform its duty. “I am very disappointed with the CII,” he said.
Rehman Malik said that the Organization of Islamic Countries has passed a resolution demanding to enhance the marriage age limit (for girls) from 16 to 18.
Dr Maunir, an academician and scholar, viewed that Pakistan was a signatory to the UN conventions and the age limit should be enhanced under these conventions. He said that there was no bar in an Islamic state not to enhance the age limit from 16 to 18. He said that a girl could not buy her property at the age of 16 and how she could be married at this age. Representatives of civil society also favoured enhancing the lower age limit and cited examples of Islamic countries where the age limit was 18 years.
Interior ministry’s Additional Secretary Law Sher Afgan said that Pakistan was bound to enhance the lower age limit of child marriage as it had signed many international conventions.
The committee also cleared the Prevention of Witchcraft Bill, 2017, moved by Senator Chaudhry Tanveer Khan. The committee pointed out that the propped law would also include the shrines and omitted the word shrine from it.
