ISLAMABAD: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has yet again expressed its views against the attempts to ban child marriage through setting a minimum age limit for the marriage a girl.
In a meeting on Friday, the CII said any legislation to ban child marriage would lead to what it called complications and added that the government should instead launch an awareness campaign to discourage the trend of early marriages and to address the causes, reported The Express Tribune.
The remarks came as the CII considered two bills – one approved by the Senate that fixes the age limit for marriage of a girl at 18 years, while another bill which remains pending in the National Assembly.
“The better way to tackle the practice of child marriage is to start an awareness campaign among the masses instead of passing legislation,” the CII said. “Legislating against child marriage and setting the age limit will lead to many complications,” it added.
A report prepared by the CII gave details of age limits for marriage in 12 Muslim countries, along with the opinion of leading Islamic scholars for and against setting the age limit.
The CII agreed that under-age marriages create problems, but asked the government to take solid steps to eliminate the causes, which compelled some families to marry minor girls.
The latest statement on Friday came days after the Senate passed the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
The bill, which proposes that the minimum age for marriage be set at 18 was passed amid noisy opposition from religious parties and some members of the ruling PTI. Some of the opposing senators had argued that the bill should be sent to CII before being tabled in the house.
A similar bill was also tabled in the National Assembly by a PTI lawmaker a day after the Senate passed the anti-child marriage bill. The bill in the National Assembly also faced strong opposition from members of the ruling party.