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Twitter is rolling its eyes at a bill proposing to make it mandatory for children to get married at 18

Twitter is rolling its eyes at a bill proposing to make it mandatory for children to get married at 18

The bill is likely to receive little to no support but that isn't stopping social media from laughing at it.
27 May, 2021

A draft of the "Sindh Compulsory Marriage Act, 2021" was submitted to the Sindh secretariat on Wednesday, and seeks to address "societal ills, child rapes, immoral activities and crime" by making it mandatory for children over 18 to marry.

Under the proposed bill, parents will be required "submit an undertaking with justified reason of delay before the deputy commissioner of the district" if their children are not married, and upon failing to do so, they would have to pay a fine of Rs500 each. The bill also wants to put a ban on dowry and establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) for weddings. The draft was submitted by MMA MPA Syed Abdul Rasheed, who argued that this would help fight "competition" and motivate people to organise simpler weddings.

Rasheed also announced the submission of the draft on his Twitter account.

In a video, Rasheed claimed that the obstacles in the way of marriages nowadays, like unemployment and high costs, were a direct "result of distancing from Islamic teachings." He spoke about unemployment causing delay in marriages, saying the problem was "society's tendency towards competition", which had "spoiled a lot of legal and correct ways".

As soon as the news of the proposed bill broke on to the social media, users called it "ridiculous" and "disgusting".

Journalist and filmmaker Munizae Jahangir also took note of the news, calling it "amusing."

A user replied to her tweet saying he believes such bills intentionally attempt to undermine the assemblies. Calling it pathetic, he said it exemplified the disconnect between those in the assemblies and those on the streets.

Other users had similar opinions.

Politician and activist Jibran Nasir, who is very actively fighting against forced marriages of minority girls in the province, expressed his disappointment at the sort of things being discussed in our assemblies. He felt the bill was only for Muslims, as Hindu and Christian girls are forced to marry at a younger age.

This user dismissed the bill, saying it does not even effectively address the problem it apparently seeks to solve.

While the internet went into a frenzy, several different recreations of the news went viral. Some claimed the bill was passed, others claiming it was backed by the government. This was all false information — the truth is that only a draft has been submitted and there is little chance of it being passed. Some users felt it was important to highlight this in the midst of all rumours and memes.

Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari also took to Twitter to steer the PPP out of this mess and said the bill will be "bulldozed" by the party.

It is important to highlight at this stage that Rasheed is the only member of his party in the Sindh Assembly. The speaker of the assembly has the right to not even allow the bill to be presented in the assembly. If it is allowed to be presented, it has to be voted and receive a majority vote to be passed and made into a law. Since Rasheed is from the MMA, it is unlikely he will receive the support he needs to pass the bill.

This user used it to mock the reality of being in Pakistan, where 18 year olds are not able to register themselves for Covid-19 vaccines with the government but should apparently be married off immediately.

This user thinks the government should be trying to do the opposite.

Others just couldn't fathom the sort of thought and reasoning that would lead to such a bill being drafted. It is ridiculous to expect teenagers to get married so early.

This user was quick to highlight that the biggest culprit under the bill was PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is well over 18 and not married (good for him).

The province already has laws in place to tackle the problematic phenomenon of child marriages, such as "The Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2013", which makes it illegal for children under the age of 18 to marry. If an adult marries a minor, they are subject to "rigorous imprisonment which may extend to two years, and a fine which may extend to Rs200,000 or both." Those that facilitate child marriages, and the parents/guardians of the children are liable to the same punishment.

So in the colossally unlikely chance that the MMA MPA's bill was passed, Sindh would have a law criminalising marriages under the age of 18 and criminalising people who don't get married over 18. Thankfully, we have enough faith in our assembly members to strike this bill down.

For the respected MPA who drafted the bill, we only have this to say: read the room. Marriage isn't something that should be forced upon people. People should marry when they want to and not due to some arbitrary deadline set by you. There is so much more to life than marriage and shackling a child — because at 18 you are still very much a child — when their foray into adulthood has just begun is cruel. Let children be children and decide for themselves what they want to do and when they want to get married.

We hope the MPA is taking a close look at the reactions to his proposed bill on Twitter and will make better use of his time in the assembly in the future.

Comments

Aamir May 27, 2021 04:37pm
It's a very good suggestion. We can marry our children at the age of 18 and still support them until they finish their education. I think this bill should be coupled with changes to education policy that should allow flexibility of parenting leave for both student parents.
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Masood Abbas May 27, 2021 05:00pm
With the implementation of this proposed plan, the population will go over the roof tops. We must control our population growth by all available means with our dwindling resources
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Fast comment May 27, 2021 05:40pm
Today Pak has younger generation in absolute majority, and they supposedly could be rocking.
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Henna Qahir May 27, 2021 05:43pm
Welcome to the dark ages people! And we wonder why our 'educated' masses leave the country and stay away...thank you GOP for making our decisions easier.
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well-wisher May 27, 2021 06:10pm
This non-sense must be stopped. Wasting precious time of the law makers and cost. Irresponsible officials cannot be elected. This is taking PK to 'stone age'.
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A. Din May 27, 2021 06:23pm
Illiterate , fake degree holders present ignorant ideas.
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Chrís Dăn May 27, 2021 07:07pm
@Aamir 70% of our population is poor. How a poor labourer working on daily wages will support wife& grand children of his 10th or 9th student son while other 9 children would also be in queue of marriage? Do not ignore that Pak8stan is a poor & a bankruot country economically where population is already on increase without any potential of job& education for everyone.
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Raza May 27, 2021 07:15pm
Mr Rasheed has narrowed down the problems facing the country I guess, since this is the only bill he has sponsored.
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Ejaz Ahmed May 27, 2021 07:18pm
stupid idea. will make pakistan a laughing \stock of the world.
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Zak May 27, 2021 07:53pm
Asifa Zardari is not married and over 18, so take this proposal to Bilawal house first, for review.
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Zak May 27, 2021 07:55pm
Why are quacks hiding behind religious parties, making a fool of everyone, and he is an MPA. He should go for a refresher course in Islam.
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Zak May 27, 2021 07:55pm
@Raza Mr Rasheed has narrowed down the problems facing the country I guess, since this is the only bill he has sponsored. Due to lockdown, he has lost his mind. He needs help.
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Zak May 27, 2021 07:56pm
@Aamir His next bill, don't educate girls.
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Mann May 27, 2021 08:02pm
Jokers.
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Pursuit May 27, 2021 08:09pm
That’s all you have in Pakistan as recreation. What a joke
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Bilal May 27, 2021 08:58pm
@Aamir unless your parents are wealthy enough, please stop living in fantasies.
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Sameer May 27, 2021 09:03pm
I think its a beautiful thing...and no laughing matter.
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NKhan May 27, 2021 09:44pm
Caught your attention! Cheap publicity. MMA's objective. Achieved.
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M. Saeed May 27, 2021 10:28pm
So, it would become mandatory for boys and girls to get married on or before their 18th birhday, or pay fine of Rs.500/- per day of delay?
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Ashiq Hussain May 28, 2021 12:08am
I think the bill should be other way round that is no marriage allowed below the age of 18 years.
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Patriotic May 28, 2021 12:47am
Does this guy need to remain as a lawmaker? What a joke!!!
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Asim May 28, 2021 02:56am
In my view it should not be mandatory but rather optional with some kind of financial benefit for those who follow it. Along with this I would highly advise them to plug-in optional 4 marriage for each person with certain income level. This would also solve many social issues which are arising due to increasing gender gaps in Pakistan.
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A.Jokhio May 28, 2021 03:27am
@Aamir agree
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A.Jokhio May 28, 2021 03:28am
@Masood Abbas ; every nation needs a vibrant younger generation, we dont want to become like nations, that are paying people to have kids, bcz they dont have much youth left...
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ShadowLugia May 28, 2021 07:37am
Pakistan's teenage boys are the luckiest. For them it is school, marriage, child, and then college or job.
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Umar May 28, 2021 07:50am
Is he that desperate to get a match for his son?!
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Bashir Riaz May 28, 2021 09:32am
It’s not so simple even though he has a valid point to prevent further moral decline of society and should be applauded for this, there may be mitigating factors economic or educational or societal such has parents poverty and the scrounge of dowry requirements maybe it would be more prudent to work on the socioeconomic reasons why some ladies become unmarried spinsters and men lifelong bachelors?
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Ali Vaqar Awan May 28, 2021 10:45am
Joke of the day. It seems government still lives in stone age era. According to civil law person has to be 18 to get married. Making it compulsory makes no sense at all. In these days 18 year old is not in a position to take responsibilities of married life so how making it compulsory makes sense then.
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Uzair May 28, 2021 11:21am
Most marriages fall because those who got married were idiots. 18 years old are idiots. You're setting them up for failure.
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Arshad Ghaffar May 28, 2021 12:00pm
I wish there Palestine March could have got the same media coverage as this bill !!!
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Hyra May 28, 2021 12:44pm
@Aamir curious to know your thought process. Can you even comprehend all possible troubles we can have by doing this. Its not West. Our kids are still dependent on parents till early 20s or graduation..lol. who will support more family members!?
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Saad May 28, 2021 12:56pm
Please correct. The minister doesn't belongs to MMP. He represents JI.
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Wajeeha May 29, 2021 04:58pm
Well done!! That is brilliant
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