DADU, Sept 17: The ratio of child marriage in Pakistan was estimated to be around 24 per cent, however, in Sindh the ratio was around 70 per cent, said civil society activists on Tuesday.

They were speaking at a workshop on the issue of child marriage held in the Khairpur Nathan Shah Press Club, Dadu district, organised by a local NGO.

According to the organisation’s representatives, a survey conducted by them in Dadu district had revealed that the ratio of child marriage in the area was around 49 per cent.

Gulsher Panhwer of the NGO said that girls had to be at least 16 years old and boys 18 to get married according to the Pakistani law, whereas in the rest of the world the cut off age was 18.

He believed that journalists played a very important role in preventing human rights violations including child marriage.

He said that sometimes highlighting these violations led journalists into grave danger. He said that the purpose of the workshop was to appreciate their role as ‘frontline defenders’ of human rights and share relevant information with them so that they could be better equipped to report and highlight the issue of child marriages.

Mashooque Birahmani, SSO chief, said that child marriages also impacted other issues such as health, education and poverty.