ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Wednesday expressed concern over the different ages determined for marriage by the federal and provincial governments and directed the Ministry of Human Rights to adopt stringent measures to make the marriage age identical throughout the country by taking all provinces into confidence.

The meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights was held at the Parliament House, with MNA Asiya Naz Tanoli presiding over the meeting.

The committee appreciated the role of the Ministry of Human Rights for successfully conducting the 9th OIC Ministerial Conference on Women in Islamabad, which would help to enhance the role of Women in socioeconomic empowerment, digital inclusion and political participation.

Nonetheless, the committee expressed concern over the poor performance of ministries/departments responsible for curbing social evils in the country over the period of time due to improper liaison between various offices responsible for the purpose.

The body deemed that policies were confined to papers only, as their implementation seemed to be zero at gross root level. The committee directed the Ministry of Human Rights to develop proper liaison between all ministries/departments to curb social evils such as rape, harassment, child abuse, drugs and begging, etc.

The panel also directed that the ministry may launch a strong media campaign about the services provided by them to create awareness among the general public to enhance the performance of their departments.

Earlier, the committee was briefly apprised about the performance of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) and the Child Protection Institute (CPI) and problems faced by them in this regard. They sought the support of the committee members for enhancement of budget and recruitment on vacant posts so that they could deliver properly.

The meeting was attended by the MNA’s, Danyal Chaudhary, Shamsher Ali Mazari, Zeb Jaffar, Tamkeen Akhtar Niazi, Dr Nelson Azeem, Sehar Kamran, Shahida Rehmani, Naveed Aamir and Sabheen Ghoury, who joined through a Zoom link; Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar; and senior officers from the human rights ministry and concerned departments.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2026