MPAs, CII join hands to discuss child marriages

PESHAWAR: The lawmakers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) have joined hands for discouraging child marriages in the province.

The CII assured full assistance to the lawmakers in preparation pro-women legislation during an interactive session between the CII officials, legislators and key stakeholders.

The session was organised by Blue Veins, a non-governmental organization, in collaboration with the Australian Aid here on Tuesday.

The mostly female lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the assembly’s Deputy Speaker Mehmood Jan, chairman CII Dr Qibla Ayaz and its members and members of KP civil society working group on GSP Plus attended the event.

Dr Qibla Ayaz said the CII had conducted research on the issue of child marriages. He revealed that the research and a special meeting on the issue concluded that child marriages should be discouraged.

However, about fixing the marriage age limit at 18 years, he said the CCI had suggested to the government not to fix the 18 years age in haste and keep in mind the ground realities. He said that the government should pass the law which is implementable in society.

“We are preparing a draft and recommendations for women inheritance rights to be presented before the government for implementation,” the CII chairman said, adding that women were being deprived of inheritance rights. He said this is against the Holy Quran injunctions, Constitution and law of the land.

He said the CII was also preparing recommendations for the government to declare the practice of making divorce (talaq) through an act of three vocalised sentences be made an offence.

Dr Qibla Ayaz said that it was an injustice with a wife by a husband to use the three words of divorce against her consecutively, which is final and leaves no room for a patch-up.

KP Assembly Deputy Speaker Mehmood Jan thanked the CII chairman and members for their cooperation and assistance in formulating the pro-women laws.

However, he stressed the interaction of the CII with legislators before legislation for addressing the reservations of the CII and assistance in making the laws as per the Holy Quran and Constitution.

Ayesha Bano, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA and general secretary, Women Caucus in the KP Assembly, said the CII support and assistance was important in making the pro-women laws as there are some myths and societal taboos against women’s rights.

However, she said that being a woman lawmaker she would support and enact laws which are in accordance with the Holy Quran and Sunnah and Constitution of Pakistan. She said she was working on women inheritance law draft to be presented in the KP Assembly.

Aasia Khattak, another PTI MPA, said there was a lack of implementation of the pro-women legislation already done.

She said the present government is serious about pro-women laws and its implementation.

The MPA said that the cabinet had approved Domestic Violence against Women Bill that would be passed from the assembly after certain amendments.

Qamar Naseem, programme coordinator, Blue Veins, hoped the interactive session between legislators and CII would be fruitful for making pro-women legislation.