[1] According to UNICEF report from 2018, around 18% of the girls in Pakistan are married before the age of 18 giving it the lowest rate of child marriage in South Asia after Sri Lanka.
[2] Child marriage occurs most often in rural and the primary driving factor is poverty among the low-income households where education is minimal.
[3] Early and child marriage are directly attributable to deep-rooted gender inequalities, traditional practices, and customs.
[1] Historically, it can be explained as a reaction to invasions by foreigners; desire to perpetuate the cult of the family by marrying the son early; by marrying the daughter early to escape the discredit caused to the family by the presence of grown-up maiden; or by desire of the mother to marry her son early so that she may sooner obtain the possession of a daughter-in-law in whom the mother could inculcate her habits of obedience and who could share the domestic chores with the mother.
They are also considered socially acceptable for reasons of responsibility and economically desirable for saving marriage expenses, bride price/ dowry.
[5] In certain situations, it is known as dand or bada in Sindh, vani in Punjab, and swara in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas.
This ensures that the girl child will not bear children in the future and will not demand her rightful share in the family property.
[12] Another custom in Pakistan, called swara or vani, involves village elders solving family disputes or settling unpaid debts by marrying off girls.
The trend of child marriages has been a major cause of girls' illiteracy or lower level of education.
The marital lives remain unhappy and child wives lack happiness due to their life-time inability to support their lot.
[17] Contravention is punishable with a fine of Rs.1000 and an imprisonment of one month or both for The 1929 Act is one of those few laws on the statute books that were introduced by the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, while he was a member of the British India Legislative Assembly.
[21] Similarly, any person having charge of the minor contracting a child marriage, whether as parent or guardian or in any other capacity, lawful or unlawful, is punishable with simple imprisonment extending up to one month, or with, fine extending up to Rs 1000, or with both, provided that no woman is punishable with imprisonment.
However, some Pakistani religious political parties like Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) opposed the bill.
However, the senator Sherry Rehman said that the Muslim countries like Oman, Turkey and United Arab Emirates have already set 18 as the minimum age of marriage.