The Sindh government has started preparations to introduce a new law in the province for the registration of marriages of the Christian community and the resolution and streamlining of the community’s inheritance-related issues.
The information to this effect was passed on by Barrister Murtaza Wahab, the adviser to the Sindh chief minister on law and information, on Sunday as he met a delegation of the Christian community led by an MPA of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Anthony Naveed.
The law adviser assured the delegation that the provincial government would make law to resolve the complications and issues related to inheritance and marriages of the people of the Christian community.
A bill related to the Christian community’s marriage and inheritance law would be tabled in the Sindh Assembly for the legislature’s approval, Wahab said, adding that the law department was currently working on the draft bill.
He maintained that the law department had also initiated consultations for the draft bill with all the stakeholders concerned, including representatives of the community as having their feedback was important to make the law effective.
The people of Christian community in Sindh would soon hear good news that their marriage rules have been formalised and codified in the shape of a proper law, Wahab said. He added that the PPP was a political party for the entire country, which believed in serving masses without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, sect, or ethnicity.
The delegation thanked the adviser for making efforts to give a formal shape to the family law of the Christian community. Later, talking to The News, the delegation head, Naveed, said there existed a marriage law for Christians dating back to 1869 which dealt with the matters related to the registration and formalisation of marriages of the members of the community.
The PPP MPA added that the law had become too obsolete as it was centuries-old now and dated back to the colonial era. He stressed the need for replacing the old law with a new marriage registration and inheritance legislation that could address the social, marital, and inheritance needs of the Christian community in the present era.
Naveed expressed his hope that the Sindh Assembly would pass the law just like it had passed the Hindu Marriage Bill some time back for solemnising marriages of the Hindu community in the province.
Medical student’s death
Wahab also took notice of the mysterious death of a medical student, Baby Murri, in Mirpurkhas. He directed the relevant police authorities to investigate the matter thoroughly and leave no stone unturned in ascertaining the actual cause of the student’s death.
The law adviser directed the deputy inspector general (DIG) of Mirpurkhas to carry out proper investigations into the incident. He asked the DIG to offer full cooperation of the police to the family of the deceased student, who sought justice.
Wahab also sought details from the officer regarding the murder of a person, Ghinsham Bheek, in Kunri. The DIG Mirpurkhas informed him that some accomplices of the perpetrator involved in the murder had been arrested.
According to the DIG, the murderer had fled to Punjab after the crime and raids were being conducted to arrest him. Ordering exhaustive inquiry into the incident, Wahab said to the DIG that no negligence on the police’s part in investigations and the arrest of the culprit would be tolerated.
