PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar on Friday asked the provincial government to table the proposed law on child marriage in the assembly without delay to ensure halt to the illegal early marriages in the province.

The seminar on the Child Marriage Restraints Amendment Bill 2013 was organised by the Sungi Development Foundation (SDF) in collaboration with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection Commission (KP-CPC) at a local hotel.

Noted among those, who spoke on the occasion, were gynecologist Dr Lubna Hassan, Islamic scholar Dr Saeed Abdullah, chief coordinator of the provincial child commission Dr Murad Ali, adviser to the chief minister on social welfare Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, MPAs Mehmood Jan, Ziaullah Bangash and Zareen Taj of PTI and Rashida Iffat of Jamaat-i-Islami, and Deena Naz, Neelum Turo, Ijaz Khan of the social welfare department.

The speakers highlighted the issue of child marriages, especially their harms for married girls and said early marriages had not only become a menace for mothers but for newborns as well.

“It is impossible for a girl to raise her baby when she herself is teenage,” Dr Lubna Hassan said.

She said prevention of early marriages was very important.

“Only a physically and mentally grown-up girl could give birth to a healthy child, which is better both for mother and child,” she said.

The speakers said major factor of maternal mortality was marriages at early age, which caused postpartum hemorrhage and increased the chances of women’s death during childbirth.

They said on one hand, there was commitment about millennium development goals and on the other, there were traditions and cultural barriers in the way of achieving them.

The speakers stressed the need for creating public awareness of child rights, especially access to healthcare and education.

They said various customs and traditions promoted child marriages in the remote areas of the country and that they would have to give up outdated traditions and care about the children’s best health and education.

Religious scholars highlighted Islamic viewpoint on early marriages and said Islam had neither forbidden early marriages nor had it declared them obligatory.

They said early marriages were often made with the evil intention of grabbing the children’s property.

Ziaullah Bangash and Dr Mehr Taj Roghani said there was consensus on the Child Marriage Restraint Amendment Bill, which would be approved by the assembly soon.

They said the new law on early marriages would be in strict compliance with Islamic laws and Constitutional provisions.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2015

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