| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Sindh Assembly deputy speaker slams SHC judgement on conversion case |
| 2015-01-16 |
| [DAWN] Sindh Assembly Deputy Speaker Syeda Shehla Raza was on Thursday highly critical of the Sindh High Court order that allowed what she described as an underage girl to go with her husband, though there was a law that prohibited marriages of girls aged less than 18 years.She said the women complaint centre provided an opportunity to the women in distress for seeking recourse to legal way. She said that women were being empowered politically and socially. She said that the Sindh Women Parliamentary Caucus had got Anjali Kumari, who was named Salma after her conversion to Islam, medically examined that proved she was even younger than 14 years. But after allowing her to express free will, the court ruled that she may go with her husband, the deputy speaker said. She was expressing these views at a seminar titled Working of women complaint cell of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee. She later told journalists that the Sindh government would adopt a legal course in the backdrop of the Wednesday ruling of the Sindh High Court. Ms Raza said the law enacted by the assembly to prohibit marriage of girls aged less than 18 years reflected the political will of the Sindh government. She said when the law was passed the Council of Islamic Ideology issued an edict for dissolving it. She said religious minorities felt that girls belonging to their communities were converted to Islam under duress. She said the assembly would soon come up with legislation on forced conversions. But it was unfortunate that politicians doing their job were threatened with dire consequences and the assemblies faced threats of dissolution, she said. When the independent judiciary passed such orders, how many people would support politicians publicly, she asked. She argued if there was an age limit for voters to choose their leaders for five years, how could it be fair that there was no age limit for the girls who were going to spend their entire life with someone. She said she failed to understand how a 13-year-old girl was allowed to record her free will. When we spoke to Anjali she couldnt even recite full kalima, she said. She said that in some cases the standard of 18 years limit for free will was adhered to but in the recent case it was not considered. |
| Posted by:Fred |