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ON July 29, 2025, Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Christian girl, was abducted in Lahore by her 30-year-old neighbour. She was subsequently forced to convert to Islam and marry her captor. A police investigation confirmed that the marriage certificate produced by the abductor was fabricated and not registered with any union council. The girl’s father presented the Nadra-issued B-Form and school records to the honourable court, as evidence of her age. However, on Feb 3, 2026, despite the evidence, the court ruled in favour of the abductor, upheld the marriage and awarded the custody of the 13-year-old child to her captor. The court cited inconsistencies in the filing of dates and stated that her “physical appearance” suggested she was older than 13.
According to Unicef’s latest annual report (2025), Pakistan is home to an estimated 19 million child brides. Despite Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and the Capital Territory enacting laws to curb child marriage, an estimated 600,000 to 700,000 girls are still married each year before the age of 18. A recent survey by the Strengthening Participatory Organisation revealed the alarming data that 59.2 per cent of the 1,200 respondents selected across districts in Sindh and Balochistan were married before they turned 18. Clearly, the widely publicised marriage restraint laws contain significant loopholes that still permit early marriages and child abuse. Yet other reports suggest nearly half of all child brides in Pakistan become pregnant before their 18th birthday — significantly contributing to our runaway population figures.
Despite legislating numerous acts and rules, Pakistan has been unable to produce a single, standardised Nadra-based foolproof mechanism for prevention of child marriages. This is sheer incompetence. The nikahnama, the primary legal record of marriage, remains non-standardised, with multiple versions in circulation — some lacking even basic details such as the CNICs of the bride and groom. In many cases, the CNIC number is circumvented by inserting the 13-digit B-Form number instead. In yet other cases, CNIC numbers of other family members are inserted to get over the formality of filling the nikahnama. It is unreasonable to expect a nikahkhwan to authenticate a bride’s CNIC by comparing a much-veiled face with a blurred photocopy.
The laws appear intentionally structured with loopholes, as if to enable and encourage underage marriages. Consider the Sindh underage marriage law that explicitly states: “If a CNIC of either party to the marriage is not available, the parties may attach a medical certificate verifying the age of the parties.” It goes on to suggest yet more options by stating, “Any person or institution providing a medical certificate verifying age of a person shall sign and provide an affidavit stating that he has ‘satisfied’ himself about the age of the person examined. Such an affidavit shall be attached with the nikahnama, marriage contract or any other document having the same effect.” Thus, the law itself creates easy escape routes by permitting use of readily available medical certificates and dime-a-dozen affidavits.
It seems that our marriage laws contain deliberate loopholes.
Instead, why has Pakistan not availed Nadra’s excellent database and numerous Nadra Sahulat (Facilitation) outlets that provide identity and related services? Pakistan ought to enact one simple law. Every person intending to get married must go to the nearest Nadra Sahulat Centre with her/ his CNIC and secure a biometric verification confirming their name, CNIC and age. The attachment of Nadra-issued verification slips of both the bride and groom should be made mandatory for a nikahnama to be deemed valid.
It could be a game-changing move for Pakistan to expand or include in its existing Benazir Income Support Program-me, bonuses for families who ensure their daughters complete at least 10 years of schooling. Research shows that girls with a secondary education are significantly less likely to be married off early. Providing free meals at school and safe transportation could considerably boost girls’ school attendance.
In December 2025, the Sindh Assembly passed a unanimous resolution, calling upon the government to fix 18 as the uniform legal age of marriage across Pakistan. A very sane proposal, this would eliminate the loophole of “jurisdiction shopping”, where families have travelled to provinces with lower age limits (16) to conduct marriages. Finally, Pakistan should mandate real-time, compulsory digital registration of every birth — whether at home or in a hospital, through Nadra’s Birth Notification Tool. This would decisively settle the question of girls’ age and spare our honourable courts the trouble of relying on subjective visual assessments.
The writer is an industrial engineer and a volunteer social activist.
Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2026
