The chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, rejected on Sunday the Child Marriage Restriction Law of Islamabad Islamabad recently promulgated, announcing manifestations of protest throughout the country aimed at “raising awareness” among the public.
The 18 -year project in Islamabad signed the bill, which sought to protect the rights of children and finally eradicated the marriages of children under 18 in Islamabad.
However, the movement attracted a strong opposition of the religious segments of society, with the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a constitutional body responsible for giving legal advice on Islamic matters to the Government and Parliament, ruling that “classifying 18 -year -old marriage as a violation did not comply with Islamic law.”
Going today to a press conference in Peshawar, the Chief of Jui-F rejected the law, claiming that “facilitated fornication while hindering legitimate marriages.”
“Pakistan is a strange country: during the time of General Musharraf, a constitutional amendment was approved on behalf of the rights of women who decriminalized fornication,” Fazl said. “He took it out of the kingdom of sin.
“Now, they are trying to prohibit the marriage of people under 18. The ICI has already rejected this and all the ulemas and their parties have agreed to contradict the Qur’an and the Sunnah,” he added, regretting that despite the constitutional guarantees, the Constitution was “being trampled.”
By announcing that Jui-F “would take action” to protest the legislation, Fazl announced a series of demonstrations and a great conference in the Haza division in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on June 29.
“We will establish manifestations, but they will not focus on an issue, such as the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” explained the head of the party. “Now, we will organize demonstrations to raise awareness about national sovereignty and Islamic governance.”
He added: “God wishes, we will present our position to the world freely. Islam is a faith that moves with the world and can be beneficial.”
Minor marriages are practiced in some parts of the country, more commonly in rural areas, largely driven by poverty and limited access to education. According to a report by the 2019 World Health Organization, about 21 percent of girls in Pakistan married before 18.
The same year, the Senate approved the bill of Child Marriage Restriction (amendment), 2018: a private member bill presented by PPP Sherry Rehman Senator, which proposes that the minimum legal age of marriage in the country is established in 18.
At that time, Jui-F had also opposed the bill, qualifying it as “contradictory to Islamic principles”, and suggesting that the bill should be sent to the ICI before being discussed in the Senate. However, it was not approved by the National Assembly.
Similarly, in 2021, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Marriage Restriction bill, 2021 presented by PPP MPA Nighat Orakzai, aimed at prohibiting marriages of persons under 18, could not become law.
In 2014, the Government of Sindh had promulgated the 2013 Child Marriage Restriction Law.
