Minorities call for new law on marriages, divorce

ISLAMABAD: Members of the religious minorities Thursday criticised the delay in formulation and upgradation of the Christian marriage and divorce law by replacing the 150-year-old Christian personal laws.

Christian, Hindu and Sikh communities’ members contended here at a news conference that women and children were the main sufferers due to the absence of upgraded Christian family laws, and the government was not moving ahead to submit the new draft law to the parliament for consideration and adoption.

The group, which introduced itself as the National Lobbying Delegation (NLD) for Minorities Rights, called on the federal as well as provincial governments to finalise the Christian Marriage and Divorce Act 2021 as early as possible to doing away with issues, related to it.

The group members, Atif Jameel, Dr Sabir Michael and Romana Bashir, contended that the draft of the new bill was lying with the Ministry of Law and Justice for more than 22 months and pointed out that currently the family laws for the Christians were the Christian Divorce Act 1869 and Christian Marriage Act 1872. It was also noted that the divorce bill came three years before the marriage bill at that time.

They also said that the times have changed as well as the social structure; therefore, the need for an upgraded law is imperative due to growing urbanisation and breaking of the old joint family and community based living.

Romana Bashir informed the media about the status of the draft bill and said that the federal cabinet, in August 20, 2019, approved the draft bill titled Christian Marriage and Divorce Act 2019, it was prepared after consultations with mainline churches in Pakistan by the Ministry of Human Rights.

Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari had expressed confidence in a meeting with the group that the bill would soon be presented in the National Assembly by her ministry, but for the last almost two years, the draft bill is lying in the law ministry.