ISLAMABAD: Technical experts as well as religious scholars and political leaders on Thursday expressed the resolve to strive collectively for the enactment of upgraded ‘Christian Marriage and Divorce Law’.

A coalition of 13 civil society organisations and minority rights activists convened a moot on ‘Christian Personal Laws’ and highlighted the need for upgrading the divorce law of 1869 and the marriage law implemented in 1872.

Bishop Samuel Azariah, director of the Christian Study Centre, said that marriage and divorce should be the responsibility of the state under the laws, and acknowledged that one of the impediments to the upgradation of Christian personal laws was the clergies.

He said that the marriages were solemnised by religious institutions all over the world and in Pakistan too, “but there is an option for court marriages as well as dissolution of marriages through the court; the same facility should be available to the Christians also.”

The event was jointly organised by Community World Service Asia, National Lobbying Delegation for Minority Rights, Peace & Development Foundation and others.

The speakers included Dr Shoaib Suddle, the chairperson of the one-man commission on minorities, Munizae Jehangir, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan co-chair and former senator Farhatullah Babar among others.

They highlighted that in the absence of options for separation in the Christian Personal Laws, women were vulnerable to exploitation. Ex-PPP MPA Anthony Naveed added that the 1872 law allowed the marriage of girls at the age of 13 years and boys at 16 years, which was against international human rights standards.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2023