CII urges for awareness campaign to end child marriages than legislation

ISLAMABAD: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Friday urged that a “better way” to curb the practice of underage marriages is to start awareness campaigns among the public instead of passing legislation.

A CII spokesperson said that the council in its 212th meeting had discussed the matter and had drawn a conclusion that “legislation against child marriage and setting an age limit will lead to many complications”.

The meeting on the matter comes on the heels of passage of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018 by the Senate, which proposes that the minimum age for marriage be set at 18.

The CII research department presented a 10-page “comprehensive report” detailing various religious scholars’ arguments on the new law while also mentioning the age limits set for marriage by 12 Muslim countries.

The council agreed that underage marriage does lead to “various negative consequences and problems” and that the practice “should not be encouraged”. It also called the government for taking “effective steps eliminating the reasons due to which some families in Pakistan are forced to marry off children at a young age”.