QUETTA: Civil society organisations have urged all political parties to make juvenile marriage restraint issue part of their party manifestos and play a role in getting a related bill passed from the provincial assembly.
Speaking at a joint press conference along with former MPAs Shakeela Naveed, Yasmeen Lehr, Nida Asghar and others, chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSOW), Balochistan chapter, Fauzia Shaheen, and director of Shirkat Gah, a women’s rights organisation said they had done a lot of work in preparing the Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2023, which has been pending before the Balochistan Assembly for a long time.
They said girls’ education was badly affected due to child marriages and mortality rate was also on the rise. “With the passage of this bill child marriages will stand banned in the province and on violation of the law the people found guilty will be awarded three years’ imprisonment and Rs200,000 in fine,” Ms Shaheen said.
The former lawmakers belonging to BNP, National Party and PkMAP present at the press conference announced their complete support to the Child Marriage Restraint Bill.
Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2023
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