CHILD marriages are widespread and occur in all parts of Pakistan, with a high prevalence in Sindh. Children are married against their feelings and against their wishes. Child marriage is a misdeed. It is injustice and robs a child of educational opportunities. It is a type of abuse of children’s human rights. It particularly affects the girl child.

Several surveys have shown over a period of time that a greater number of girls are married at a young age. Twenty-four per cent of women in the country were married before they attained the age of 18 between 2000 and 2010, with the seven per cent married before they attained the age of 15 years.

According to other approximates, about 30pc of the marriages in Pakistan fall under its child marriage category. The trend of child marriages has been a major cause of girls illiteracy or lower level education.

The concept of the girl child as ‘other’s property’, i.e. she has eventually to move to her husband’s home, stops parents from investing in their daughter’s education. Hence they are married off an at early age to relieve parents of their ‘burden’.

Also, parents are often tempted to sell off their young girls in exchange for the high price offered by grooms, usually many times the age if their daughters.

Do the poor parents have a choice? Families facing critical economical hardships have stated that they have no choice but to sell off their girls to older men.

There is a lack of awareness in the public about harmful effects of child marriages. People need to show documentaries to the government about how many girls suffer in child marriages, which need to stop immediately.

Sarah Ali Bhutto.

Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2015

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