THIS is apropos Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’’s congratulatory message on the nomination of Shareem Obaid Chinoy’s documentary — ‘A girl in the river: The price of forgiveness’— for an Academy award. As expected on such occasions, he also vowed to eliminate the evil of honour killing while expressing his government’ commitment to bring an appropriate legislation against this evil practice.

I wish someone in the PM’s secretariat who drafted this statement should have advised him that an anti-honour crime bill has been gathering dust on the National Assembly agenda for years. In fact, that bill has long lapsed, thanks to his parliamentarians’ indifference to the very concept of accepting honour killing as a crime. What these artists can do — make a noise, create awareness and, finally, get a certificate for washing the dirty linen in public.

Is the prime minister really so uninformed? Doesn’t he know what the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has been doing on all these male chauvinistic issues? The other day the National Assembly Standing Committee on Religious Affairs shot down PML-N MNA Marvi Memon’s proposed amendment to the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2014, to raise the minimum age of girls’ marriage to 18. The committee hid behind a ruling issued by the CII in the recent past wherein any such legislation could be considered blasphemous. We all know what this term ‘blasphemy’ could bring in terms of violence and bloodletting. That’s why the committee thought it better not TO get into any controversy.

I wonder why the fixing of a minimum age for girls’ marriage could be declared unIslamic. What has this to do with religion? Yes, all these evils — honour killings, Karo-kari, Swara and marriages at a young age — are part of traditions prevalent in tribal societies. We need to offload these traditions which find their acceptance in society under the smokescreen of faith.

Masood Khan
Jubail

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IT was shocking to hear that the Council of Islamic Ideology has rejected the bill banning child marriages. I always wonder why the CII interferes in matters of parliament and whether it has the mandate to make laws and introduce amendments. As parliamentarians are people’s representatives, a bill tabled by them should not be approved or rejected by those who have not been elected by the people.

Child marriage, i.e. before 18 years, not only violates the child’s rights but also negatively affects physical and psychological well-being of the child. Before the CII rejected the bill, it should have carefully read the literature highlighting negative consequences of such marriages. Girls aged under 18 are more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth compared to those aged above 20 years. Maternal mortality is also higher among child brides than those aged 20 years.

Malnutrition among children under five years is more prevalent in children born to child brides than who got married after 20 years. Child brides are also more likely to be victims of physical abuse. A girl marrying at a younger age is more likely to leave school and take household responsibilities for which she is not yet prepared.

According to the CII, a girl can be married off even at the age of nine, if she shows signs of puberty. But research shows that girls aged 10-14 are five times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than women aged 20-24, whereas girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die.

The CII rejected the bill declaring it ‘anti-Islamic’ and ‘blasphemous’. I don’t know how pushing daughters into the claws of death would be Islamic.

M. Sajjad
Jamshoro

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2016