CII recommends awareness campaigns against child marriage

ISLAMABAD: Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Friday recommended the government to initiate awareness campaigns against child marriages instead of passing legislation against the practice.

According to a statement issued here, members of the council were of the opinion that many complications would emerge due to legislation on fixation of 18 years age for marriage. Members of the Council stressed that government should take concrete steps to eliminate causes of the trend of child marriages in certain areas of the Country.

The apex body of the Council after a three-hour discussion finalised its recommendation based on the opinion of the Grand Mufti of Pakistan, the late Maulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi (father of Maulana Muhammad Taqi Usmani) that child marriages should be discouraged as it is fraught with multiple problems.

Council had presented a 10-page comprehensive report in which not only the details regarding age of marriage in 12 Muslim countries were mentioned but also the arguments of Islamic scholars in favor or against fixing age of marriage were provided.

Research Department of the Council of Islamic Ideology has issued details about the proposed child marriage bill under discussion in the Senate and the National Assembly and has said that the Council has held lengthy discussions on this issue in a number of meetings.

Former Senator Miss Sehar Kamran had presented the bill initially which came under discussion in the Council’s 212th meeting held on 26th-27th September, 2018, the statement added.