IN Pakistan, patriarchy cloaked in cultural preservation continues to endanger the lives of young girls, with child marriage remaining one of its most tragic manifestations.
Far from being a private tradition, it is a state-tolerated injustice, as reflected in the Council of Islamic Ideology’s regressive dismissal of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2025 as “un-Islamic.” Such resistance ignores the fundamental rights of girls to safety, education and autonomy. Beyond religious or cultural interpretations, the bill represents a necessary step toward aligning national policy with universal human rights. The devastating toll of child marriage—on health, freedom, education and social mobility—can no longer be masked by appeals to tradition or the illusion of family honour.
In Dadu village, the Monsoon dawn brings light but sets in a sky stained with the blood of young girls suffering from child marriages. Stripped of self-determination, these girls are treated as commodities by their own parents, married off to settle feuds, clear debts or secure family honour. This ‘honour’ condemns them to a vicious cycle of violence, unwanted pregnancies and restricted mobility. Child marriages limit access to education, socially isolating girls and reinforcing their confinement to domestic duties. Evidence suggests education can delay marriage as school enrollment is often incompatible with marriage and childbearing. Yet, parents view early marriage as a “normal” tradition, evading the costs of educating daughters. This absence of education strips girls of rights, leaving them in passive roles, with limited access to legal protection and social empowerment. Gulnaaz, a mother of two at 17, married at 11, now an inmate at Central Jail Rawalpindi, shares: “My husband forcefully took the two children and I could not do anything.” Unaware of her legal rights, she was powerless.
Child marriage also threatens female health, exacerbated by food insecurity and lack of maternal support in underdeveloped areas where early marriages prevail. During Monsoon, marrying young girls to older men spikes amid natural calamities. Malnourished pregnant girls face high pregnancy-related mortality risks and their children suffer stunted growth. UNICEF reports Pakistan has the sixth-highest number of child brides globally, with 19 million girls married before 18, nearly half pregnant before adulthood, posing serious health risks for both mother and child. Qubra, a child bride, recalls her father’s belief: “A girl should marry when she is strong enough to fetch water.” But does this strength equate to bearing a child for nine months?
In-laws often worsen the plight. Gulnaaz cried, “When my in-laws forced me out, I was pregnant with my second child, holding my first in my arms.” Despite these injustices, the cycle of intergenerational poverty, driving families to marry off daughters, persists unbroken. Child marriage, a desperate measure, sacrifices countless young lives and is neither sustainable nor just. Addressing this requires an approach rooted in objective human rights principles, not cultural or traditional subjectivity which has hindered resolution. No religion or cultural tradition justifies such life-threatening injustices. The Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2025 must be enacted to protect girls’ rights to education, health and agency, breaking this cycle of oppression.
—The writer is contributing columnist.
