YASMIN, a teenage Afghan girl, was married off to a 20-year-old man when she was barely 12 years of age by her father, who lived in Bara, Khyber Agency. Yasmin, now 16, is divorced and has taken refuge in Daarul Amaan, an orphanage in Peshawar, as her marital life proved quite a nightmare for her.
She, like many other girls in the rural areas of the NWFP, was the victim of a an age-old custom called ‘child marriage’ or ‘underage marriage’. Yasmin’s hand was given in marriage to Younus, an Afghan man, as part of a deal in which Younus’s sister was to get married to Yasmin’s father.
“I had not reached puberty when I was married off to Younus,” Yasmin laments.
She says that despite performing all the daily chores, her in-laws would beat her up for reasons that could be best described as trivial.
“One night when I was still at my husband’s house, I overheard my husband and mother-in-law talking about selling me to a man for Rs100,000 who was to visit us after two days. I ran away the next afternoon before the arrival of that man,” Yasmin says.
After getting out of her husband’s clutches Yasmin entered Daarul Amaan since she couldn’t go back to her father’s place.
Her husband, who worked at a hotel earning Rs50 per day, also wanted to get married to another girl, but couldn’t afford it. Later on, he divorced her.
“Early marriage for girls brings an abrupt end to their childhood and pushes them into motherhood long before their bodies and minds are ready for it,”says Sabina, a child psychologist.
Marriage is a legal contract between man and woman who are adults. But unfortunately child marriage is the legacy of an orthodox society and is often justified on social and religious grounds.
It is a fact that many countries have placed restrictions on child marriage. For example, in Algeria and Bangladesh the minimum age for marriage is 21 years for boys and 18 for girls. In Iraq, it is 18 for both. In Turkey, 17 and 15, and under Indonesian law, 19 and 16.
Other Muslim countries have also fixed minimum ages.
In Pakistan, the law prescribes 16 years as the minimum age for marriage for girls and 18 for boys.
According to the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, if the girl’s age is less than 16, her guardians and husband (if adult) and the person solemnizing this kind of marriage can be punished for contravention of the law, but the marriage itself is recognized as valid.
Rakshinda Naz, the resident director of Aurat Foundation criticizes the practice of child marriage and says that the punishment prescribed is so minimal (one month imprisonment and Rs1,000 fine) that it does not act as a deterrent, and usually no prosecution takes place against the violators because no girl or any guardian of the child complains about the act.
“How can the violators of the law themselves report about the violation?” Rakhshinda says.
Many child marriages still take place in a number of areas, especially in the rural regions of Pakistan, and most commonly in Afghanistan.
In the rural areas of the NWFP and Afghanistan it is a common perception that a girl should have her first period at her husband’s house and not father’s.
The legal age for marriage in Afghanistan for boys is 18 years and for girls is 16. Clear data on actual marriage age is lacking as provisions for registering marriages and births are absent in many regions and many people do not know their exact age.
The limit to marriageable age also varies in urban and rural areas and according to ethnic background and economic circumstances.
However, a clear pattern of widespread underage marriage of girls emerges, particularly in the rural areas in Afghanistan. According to the latest Amnesty International report about forced or child marriages, it is relatively rare for girls to remain unmarried by the time they turn 16.
Amnesty International recently asked focus groups of women about the age of marriage in their communities. All groups said the age at which girls usually got married was between 12 and 16 years.
Girls are forced into marriage before they reach puberty, sometimes at an extremely young age. Such cases include that of Fariba, aged eight, who was given in marriage to a 48-year-old man. The father of the girl reportedly received an amount of 600,000 Afghans for marrying off his daughter.
According to reports, Fariba was sexually abused by her husband. One of her relatives approached government officials and only then Fariba was removed from her husband’s home and placed in an orphanage. However, at the time this case was brought to the attention of Amnesty International, no criminal charges had been brought against either the girl’s father or her husband, and divorce was not granted by the judge who heard the case.
According to Amnesty International, women in focus groups speak about marriages that deny them the right to choose a spouse. A husband is chosen by the father or another close male relative, and marriage is imposed upon girls. A girl or woman usually faces great difficulty in refusing the nuptial bond due to family pressure.
This oppressive process at the time of marriage ceremony reflects the fact that womenfolk are treated as an economic asset, with families receiving a price from the groom’s family in many communities.
The process is reflective of the total control exercised by husbands and male relatives on women’s lives too.
YASMIN, a teenage Afghan girl, was married off to a 20-year-old man when she was barely 12 years of age by her father, who lived in Bara, Khyber Agency. Yasmin, now 16, is divorced and has taken refuge in Daarul Amaan, an orphanage in Peshawar, as her marital life proved quite a nightmare for her.
