Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday cited examples from Muslim countries to defend his party’s demand for a ban on underage marriages.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari tweeted that: “UAE marriage age is 18, Indonesia is 18 & Turkey is also 18. Are they not Muslim countries,” he questioned in a tweet.
“In Sindh where marriage age is 18, we saw how law stopped an adult marrying a 10 year old,” the PPP chairman said in a reference to the 40-year-old man’s bid to marry a 10-year-old girl in Shikarpur.
He lamented every 20 minutes a girl dies in Pakistan as a result of underage pregnancy.
UAE marriage age is 18, Indonesia is 18 & Turkey is also 18. Are they not Muslim countries? In Sindh where marriage age is 18, we saw how law stopped an adult marrying a 10 year old! Every 20 minutes a girl dies in Pakistan as a result of underage pregnancy. #EndChildMarriage
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) May 4, 2019
Earlier, on April 29, the Senate adopted the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2018 moved by PPP senator Sherry Rehman amid protest by religious parties as senators of the ruling PTI abstained from voting.
The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) protested against the bill, terming it an un-Islamic.
They were of the view that the bill is against Shariah and that it should have been referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) before being presented before the house for passage.
