PAKISTAN: Wasim, 7, Weds Nisha,4December 10th 2008 It was a case that shocked many in Pakistan. The parents of two very young children were 'marrying' them off as part of a pre-meditated settlement. According to local officials, child bride Nisha's father had "sold" her off to her father-in-law for Rs 500,000 Pakistani rupees (US$1-Pak Rs 78) to settle a long-standing dispute between the two families. Local residents informed the police of this ˜marriage" between seven-year-old Mohammad Wasim and Nisha, who is four, and fortunately timely action saved the two children from being sacrificed at the altar of parental greed and archaic tribal custom. Tragically, innumerable others are not as fortunate as Wasim and Nisha. The police arrested Maulana Gul Hussain Kamal, the Islamic cleric presiding over the wedding, and the groom's father. The bride's father is absconding. In an attempt to wriggle himself out of the legal implications of his actions, the cleric told the police that he was, in fact, presiding over an engagement ceremony and not a marriage. But Maulana Gul Hussain Kamal should know that his misleading statement goes against the tenets of Islam. According to Islam, a marriage can only be contracted between two people who have reached puberty. While Islam permits the guardian to choose a suitable partner for his female ward, the girl is free to contest the decision and has the right to decline the proposal. In fact, the guardian must have the girl's consent to the marriage before he can go ahead with it. This clearly indicates that Islam only permits the union of two consenting and sane adults and does not sanction marriages of underage couples. Those using religion to justify such unions are thus only twisting the rules to suit their own cynical ends. Local officials told the media that they had repeatedly tried to persuade local communities from marrying off their children in this manner - since child marriage is illegal in Pakistan - but claim that their words have little impact. According to Pakistani law, the legal age for marriage is 18 years for males and 16, for females. Furthermore, minors are not entitled to enter any contract, including that of marriage. Unfortunately, the subcontinent as a region is still plagued by innumerable instances of underage marriages under the guise of traditional custom and despite various legal deterrents child marriages continue to flourish in the countries of the region, including Pakistan. Those with several children, especially, have no qualms about making some easy money by handing over one of their many progeny for illegal arrangements of this kind. In an attempt to curb child marriages, Pakistan has introduced punitive legislation. The Muslim Family Law Ordinance insists that a girl must attain the age of 16 and the boy 18, and the consent of both should be obtained before a marriage is allowed to take place. Furthermore, the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, states that those found guilty be fined. Ironically, while the objective of this 1929 law is to prevent underage marriages, the lack of enforcement makes a complete mockery of the intention. The more contemporary Sindh Children Act, 1955, which is also hardly ever pressed into service, deems child marriages as a form of cruelty towards children (regardless of the relationship of the perpetrator to the child). Those found guilty under it could be imprisoned for up to two years, according to Section 48. Pakistan had, in 1990, also ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that prohibits child marriages. One of the reasons why laws against child marriage have proved so ineffectual is the fact that tribal practices - which perceive children and, in particular daughters, as family property without any free will - continue to be observed without ever being questioned. Archaic customs that date back over centuries are quietly accepted as the law of the land. If the law is to prove a deterrent, the penalty against culprits should be made both more severe and immediately enforceable, and magistrates should be permitted to cancel the licences of clerics suspected of conducting these marriages. There is, in fact, an urgent need to weed out clerics who, under the pretext of religion, sanction and propagate such illegal customs. Unless the State steps in and addresses the pernicious practice of underage marriage frontally, unless it ensures that the law is implemented, and is seen to be implemented, children like Wasim and Nisha will continue to be denied both their rights and their childhood. Source: News Blaze 10 December 2008 |