Why underage marriages are still prevalent in Pakistan
According to UNICEF, Pakistan has nearly 19 million child brides. The UN children's agency estimates that around 4.6 million were married before the age of 15 and 18.9 million before they turned 18.
Pakistani lawmaker Kishwar Zehra said that the religious right was the biggest opposition to a law stipulating a minimum marriage age.
"When a bill setting an age limit was presented in the national assembly's committee, it was strongly opposed by religious-minded lawmakers," she told DW.
Maulana Sherani, a former chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, has publicly opposed any law setting the minimum age of marriage for girls. The council advises the government on the compatibility of legislation with Islam.
In 2014, the council declared child marriage restraint laws "un-Islamic," triggering outrage from civil society and media.
When a bill establishing a minimum age was presented in the Balochistan assembly, religious parties also opposed it, said former lawyer Lehri.
https://www.dw.com/en/why-underage-marri...a-63860202
According to UNICEF, Pakistan has nearly 19 million child brides. The UN children's agency estimates that around 4.6 million were married before the age of 15 and 18.9 million before they turned 18.
Pakistani lawmaker Kishwar Zehra said that the religious right was the biggest opposition to a law stipulating a minimum marriage age.
"When a bill setting an age limit was presented in the national assembly's committee, it was strongly opposed by religious-minded lawmakers," she told DW.
Maulana Sherani, a former chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, has publicly opposed any law setting the minimum age of marriage for girls. The council advises the government on the compatibility of legislation with Islam.
In 2014, the council declared child marriage restraint laws "un-Islamic," triggering outrage from civil society and media.
When a bill establishing a minimum age was presented in the Balochistan assembly, religious parties also opposed it, said former lawyer Lehri.
https://www.dw.com/en/why-underage-marri...a-63860202
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"