In a move long advocated for by Pakistan’s Christians, the country’s parliament on July 9 unanimously approved amendments to a law passed under British rule in 1872, raising the minimum age for marriage to 18 from 13 for girls and 16 for boys. The bill was introduced by Naveed Aamir Jeeva, a Christian from Punjab who belongs to the ruling Pakistan People’s Party. The Senate had already adopted the amendments on February 26.
Local religious leaders hope the new law will help eradicate forced marriages, abductions and child abuse that are rampant in the conservative Islamic republic, where 97 percent of the population is Muslim and fewer than 2 percent is Christian (about 3 million people). Christian and Hindu girls are often abducted, forced to convert to Islam and married off to older Muslim men.
Key Role
The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a human rights group of the Catholic Church in Pakistan, hailed the amendment as “historic” and that it will curb early marriage, especially among rural Christian girls, in a statement on July 10. “This law will play a vital role in protecting our young girls, and we hope that the government will take further steps to criminalize forced religious conversions,” the Catholic human rights group added.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan also expressed their gratitude for the unanimous passage of the bill.The new Christian marriage law stipulates that in case of a dispute over the age of one party, the court will determine the age based on official documents such as computerized identity cards, birth certificates and school certificates.In the absence of these, a medical examination report may be required to estimate the fiancé’s year of birth.
Shocking numbers
In a report released on January 16, 2023, 12 independent experts commissioned by the United Nations sounded the alarm about a recent surge in forced marriages in Pakistan. According to the Lahore-based Centre for Social Justice, at least 136 Hindu and Christian girls were abducted, forcibly converted and married in 2023 alone.
Despite constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, Christians in Pakistan are often treated as second-class citizens, occupying the lowest rungs of society and facing various forms of violence and discrimination. The issue of blasphemy remains highly inflammatory, with numerous cases of individuals being killed or lynched after being accused, sometimes without evidence, of insulting Islam.
