Punjab Province, Pakistan Gov. Saleem Haider Khan. (TheGuyFromPindi, Inventive Commons)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Each day Worldwide–Morning Star Information) – In a landmark transfer welcomed by Christian rights advocates, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab Province on Wednesday (Feb. 11) signed into regulation an ordinance elevating the minimal authorized age of marriage to 18 and making baby marriage a non-bailable offense punishable by as much as seven years in jail.
Gov. Saleem Haider Khan signed the Punjab Little one Marriage Restraint Ordinance 2026 into impact underneath Article 128(1) of the Structure, because the provincial meeting shouldn’t be at the moment in session. The ordinance takes fast impact throughout the nation’s most populous province, dwelling to greater than 120 million individuals, together with a big Christian minority.
The ordinance replaces provisions of the practically century-old Punjab Little one Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, underneath which the authorized marriage age was 18 for males and 16 for ladies. The brand new measure eliminates that gender-based distinction by setting 18 because the minimal age for each sexes.
Beneath the revised authorized framework, anybody who contracts, facilitates or promotes a baby marriage faces stringent penalties. Offenders can obtain as much as seven years’ imprisonment and fines of as much as 1 million Pakistani rupees ($3,500). All offenses underneath the ordinance are categorised as cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, which means police can register instances with out prior court docket approval, bail shouldn’t be robotically granted and instances can’t be privately settled between events.
The regulation additionally imposes penalties on marriage registrars, generally known as Nikah Khawans, who’re barred from registering marriages involving anybody underneath 18. Violations carry penalties of as much as one yr in jail and a advantageous of 100,000 rupees ($357).
Adults who marry a baby face rigorous imprisonment of a minimum of two years and as much as three years, together with fines of as much as 500,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,787).
In a big enlargement of felony legal responsibility, the ordinance classifies cohabitation ensuing from a baby marriage as “baby abuse,” punishable by 5 to seven years in jail and a minimal advantageous of 1 million rupees (USD 3,500), no matter whether or not the minor purportedly consented.
The ordinance additional criminalizes baby trafficking linked to marriage and locations obligation on dad and mom and guardians. Any guardian or one that promotes, permits or fails to forestall a baby marriage, whether or not deliberately or by way of negligence, can face two to a few years’ rigorous imprisonment and fines of as much as 500,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,787).
All instances underneath the ordinance shall be tried completely in Courts of Session and should be concluded inside 90 days, a provision geared toward stopping extended litigation. The ordinance seeks to modernize baby safety legal guidelines in Punjab, take away gender discrimination within the minimal marriage age and strengthen safeguards towards exploitation and abuse.
Christian leaders welcomed the ordinance, describing it as a long-overdue reform and urging lawmakers to transform it into everlasting laws when the meeting reconvenes.
“The institution of 18 because the uniform minimal age sends a transparent message that baby marriage won’t be tolerated,” mentioned Ejaz Alam Augustine, a Christian member of the Punjab Meeting and former provincial minister for human rights and minority affairs.
He mentioned the reform brings provincial regulation extra carefully consistent with constitutional ensures and Pakistan’s obligations underneath the U.N. Conference on the Rights of the Little one.
Augustine added that elevating the age restrict was essential to safeguard underage women, together with these from minority communities, from pressured religion conversions in guise of Islamic marriages. Whereas welcoming the strengthened penal framework, he harassed that the ordinance should be enacted as a everlasting regulation to make sure long-term safety. Ordinances promulgated by a governor lapse until authorised by the legislature inside a constitutionally outlined interval.
For years, nationwide and worldwide advocacy coalitions have lobbied to lift the authorized age of marriage for ladies from 16 to 18, arguing that the earlier regulation discriminated on the idea of gender and left adolescent women weak to pressured marriages and abuse. Though the 1929 regulation prescribed penalties for contracting or solemnizing baby marriages, enforcement was extensively thought to be weak.
Tehmina Arora, director of advocacy for Asia at ADF Worldwide, referred to as the ordinance a big growth, significantly for ladies from spiritual minority communities.
“Through the years, many underage women in Pakistan, significantly in Punjab and Sindh provinces, have reportedly been illegally married following abduction and compelled conversion,” Arora mentioned. “We hope that this ordinance will assist deter such incidents and that the provincial legislature will go it as an Act and implement it with out spiritual bias.”
Efforts to amend the 1929 regulation have confronted resistance from some spiritual leaders and political events. The Council of Islamic Ideology, a constitutional advisory physique, has beforehand objected to elevating the wedding age for ladies, arguing that Islamic jurisprudence doesn’t prescribe a particular minimal age tied to trendy statutory definitions.
A key authorized growth got here in April 2024, when Lahore Excessive Court docket Justice Shahid Karim struck down the gender-based age distinction in Part 2(a) of the 1929 Act as unconstitutional. The court docket dominated that the availability setting 16 because the minimal age for females was “with out lawful authority and of no authorized impact” and directed the provincial authorities to amend the regulation inside 15 days.
Though lawmakers and advocates proposed further reforms in 2024, together with stricter age-verification mechanisms resembling obligatory checks of nationwide id card data, these proposals had been debated by way of 2025 however had not been enacted earlier than the promulgation of the ordinance.
The ordinance is predicted to come back earlier than the Punjab Meeting for formal consideration as soon as it reconvenes. Advocacy teams say that legislative evaluation will present a chance to strengthen implementation safeguards, together with clearer legal responsibility for many who solemnize baby marriages and enhanced child-centered safety measures.
“Legislative reform is a vital milestone,” Arora mentioned. “However its success will in the end rely upon efficient enforcement, institutional coordination and sustained public consciousness.”
Pakistan, the place greater than 96 p.c of the inhabitants is Muslim, ranked eighth on Open Doorways’ 2026 World Watch Listing of nations the place Christians face essentially the most extreme persecution.
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