Christians’ marriage age bar raised to 18

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday signed into law the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024, raising the minimum age for Christian men and women to eighteen years.

The president accorded assent to the Act under Article 75 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan during a special ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday. The Act amends Section 60 of the Christian Marriage Act of 1872. Prior to the amendments, the age of Christian men and women intending to be married was required to exceed sixteen and thirteen years respectively.

Speaking during the ceremony, President Zardari called for further enhancing the employment quota for minorities in all government jobs, saying that he would write to the government in this regard. He said that all minorities were equal citizens of the state having equal rights.

President Zardari highlighted that minorities should not be disheartened by some isolated incidents, saying that they had equal ownership over the homeland as much as anybody else.

Speaking on the occasion, Bishop Abraham Daniel said that raising the age of marriage for men and women had been a long-standing demand of the Christian community. He expressed his gratitude to the president for signing the Act into law.

He also thanked President Asif Ali Zardari for his role in his previous tenure in reserving a 5% quota for minorities in government jobs, besides allocating special seats for minorities in the Senate as well as declaring 11th August as Minorities’ Day in Pakistan.

Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony Zulfiquar Haider said that the government was committed to safeguarding the rights of minorities in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan and the vision and values of the country’s founding fathers.

The ceremony was attended by the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Secretary Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony Zulfiquar Haider, members of the Christian community and senior government officials.