Pakistan’s legal system is under scrutiny for its treatment of child marriage, with the recent Federal Constitutional Court ruling in the Maria Shahbaz case drawing attention to this issue. The court upheld the marriage of a minor Christian girl to a Muslim man, citing Islamic jurisprudence allowing such unions, which has raised concerns about the inconsistent legal framework surrounding child marriage in the country.
This ruling comes amidst legislative reforms like the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Act, which criminalizes underage marriages and sets 18 as the minimum legal age for marriage. While these reforms signal progress towards aligning Pakistan’s laws with international human rights standards, the court’s decision to validate a marriage involving a minor while acknowledging the act as punishable highlights a troubling contradiction in the legal system.
The handling of cases like Madiha Bibi’s, where a 15-year-old girl was allowed to live with her husband despite being underage, further underscores the systemic issue of child marriage being treated as a procedural irregularity rather than a substantive violation of rights. The reliance on Islamic jurisprudence and the reluctance to invalidate such marriages reveal a broader trend of prioritizing religious interpretations over statutory protections, potentially leaving minors vulnerable to coercion and exploitation.
