The Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights on Wednesday unanimously approved a draft bill recommending to increase the minimum age of women for marriage in the country to 18 years, besides demanding abolition of joint investigation team (JIT) on Sahiwal incident. A meeting of the committee chaired by Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar was held at Parliament House.
Members of the committee discussed Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018 in detail to increase the minimum age by which women can marry to 18 years. Currently, the legal age for marriage for women in the country is 16 years, while that for men is 18 years.
The members were of the view that early child marriages destroy the very fabric of society as it has adverse effect on all facets of life of the individuals subjected to it.
Pakistan Peoples Party's lawmaker Senator Sherry Rehman being mover of the bill said that the law will help prevent child marriages in the country. "Sindh Assembly has already adopted a similar legislation and the law passed by the Parliament will also be applicable in Islamabad," she said.
"Eighteen years should be declared the age of adulthood in the country and the world 'child' should be clarified," she said, noting that 21 per cent of child deaths in the country are caused by childhood marriages. Rehman also informed the committee that Pakistan holds the second position on the list of countries with the highest child marriage rates.
Earlier, it was debated that as per Islamic law, puberty is the only condition for marriage; however, a consensus was evolved that as long as such liaisons are not allowed prior to it, Islamic Law was not breached. During the meeting, Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari said that her government "fully supports" the bill and it would be presented in the Parliament for vote next month.
The committee expressed its reservations on briefing by Inspector General of Police and Home Secretary Punjab on the Sahiwal incident regarding the facts presented by the Home Department, Punjab. The committee unanimously agreed that the JIT culture must be abolished; as per natural law a man cannot be a judge to his own case. The committee demanded to know under what provision of law Zeeshan was killed and not arrested.
As per briefing by the police and Home Department Punjab, Zesehan was under observation due to his alliance with Adeel Hafeez, a Daesh terrorist killed in an encounter on 15 January, 2019. The committee asserted if his whereabouts were known, then why was he not taken into custody earlier. The committee members said that another reason that the JIT must be rejected is that its ToRs have not been clearly defined and urged the government to constitute a judicial commission to probe the incident.
Discussing the death of Professor Mian Javed Ahmed in judicial custody, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokar stressed the need to visit all detention centres and submit a report to the committee. He said that the application of the National Commission of Human Rights to gain access to information regarding this case must be considered and a response must be sent within a week. The case of missing persons was discussed in the committee against an application received by leader of the Saraiki National Party, Abdul Majeed Kanjo regarding the enforced disappearance of the party's spokesperson from his house on 7 January, 2019.
The committee recommended that a report from former Justice Javed Iqbal, President Missing Persons Commission, be procured and that Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department Punjab, should assist to resolve this case at the earliest.