Even though the Sindh government has fixed eighteen years as the minimum age of girls for marriage, the law is flouted repeatedly. In most villages of the country, no one knows for sure when he or she was born. But in cities at least, people do get their children's births registered. So, when a Hindu or Christian girl child is abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and then married to her kidnapper, it shouldn't be a problem for the courts to annul the marriage and give custody of the victim to her parents. Unfortunately, that is never done.
In February this year, a fourteen year old girl was told to live with her kidnapper-husband after she said that she had willingly converted to Islam and wanted to live with him. Today, we have the case of a thirteen year old who was married to her 44-year old neighbor, and she too said she wanted to live with him after embracing Islam voluntarily. I have no doubt that she too will be handed back to her husband, despite the law against child marriages.
The question arises, why are the courts so scared of the extremists in our society? Obviously, they know that they may be killed if they enforce the law, so why can't our judges be provided with adequate police protection, like that given to those who are in the government?
I wonder how Imran Khan can ask for human rights for Muslims in the West when in his own country minorities are treated like second class citizens. Why doesn't he speak out against the rape, kidnappings and forced marriages of Hindu and Christian girls to Muslim men? Does he think it is in accordance with our religion?
Post a Comment