MIRPURKHAS: Spea­kers at the closing ceremony on Thursday of “Because I am a girl” project launched by the Sindh Rural Partners Org­ani­sation (SRPO)lamen­ted the dilemma most parents in villages faced when they had to opt for early marriage of their girls as a means to protect them from rape.

Zahida Detho, head of SRPO, said that under the foreign-funded project her organisation took up the issue, pointed out incidents of child marriages to police officers and forced them to take action against violation of the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013.

She said the NGO had waged a prolonged struggle to get the law approved by the Sindh Assembly but communities and even police were not aware of it. As the six-month project came to an end it was now responsibility of every individual to point out violation of the law, she said.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2016