Punjab Province, Pakistan Gov. Saleem Haider Khan. (TheGuyFromPindi, Inventive Commons)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Day by 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 legislation 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 Baby Marriage Restraint Ordinance 2026 into impact underneath Article 128(1) of the Structure, because the provincial meeting will not be presently in session. The ordinance takes quick impact throughout the nation’s most populous province, house to greater than 120 million folks, together with a big Christian minority.
The ordinance replaces provisions of the practically century-old Punjab Baby 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 toddler 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 labeled as cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, which means police can register instances with out prior court docket approval, bail will not be robotically granted and instances can’t be privately settled between events.
The legislation additionally imposes penalties on marriage registrars, referred to as Nikah Khawans, who’re barred from registering marriages involving anybody underneath 18. Violations carry penalties of as much as one 12 months in jail and a high quality of 100,000 rupees ($357).
Adults who marry a toddler face rigorous imprisonment of at least two years and as much as three years, together with fines of as much as 500,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,787).
In a big growth of legal legal responsibility, the ordinance classifies cohabitation ensuing from a toddler marriage as “baby abuse,” punishable by 5 to seven years in jail and a minimal high quality 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 who promotes, permits or fails to forestall a toddler marriage, whether or not deliberately or by 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 solely 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 in opposition to 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,” stated Ejaz Alam Augustine, a Christian member of the Punjab Meeting and former provincial minister for human rights and minority affairs.
He stated the reform brings provincial legislation extra intently in keeping with constitutional ensures and Pakistan’s obligations underneath the U.N. Conference on the Rights of the Baby.
Augustine added that elevating the age restrict was essential to safeguard underage women, together with these from minority communities, from compelled religion conversions in guise of Islamic marriages. Whereas welcoming the strengthened penal framework, he burdened that the ordinance should be enacted as a everlasting legislation to make sure long-term safety. Ordinances promulgated by a governor lapse except authorized 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 women from 16 to 18, arguing that the earlier legislation discriminated on the premise of gender and left adolescent women weak to compelled marriages and abuse. Though the 1929 legislation prescribed penalties for contracting or solemnizing baby marriages, enforcement was broadly considered weak.
Tehmina Arora, director of advocacy for Asia at ADF Worldwide, referred to as the ordinance a big growth, significantly for women from spiritual minority communities.
“Over time, many underage women in Pakistan, significantly in Punjab and Sindh provinces, have reportedly been illegally married following abduction and compelled conversion,” Arora stated. “We hope that this ordinance will assist deter such incidents and that the provincial legislature will move it as an Act and implement it with out spiritual bias.”
Efforts to amend the 1929 legislation 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 women, 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 Courtroom 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 legislation inside 15 days.
Though lawmakers and advocates proposed further reforms in 2024, together with stricter age-verification mechanisms equivalent to necessary checks of nationwide id card information, these proposals have been debated by 2025 however had not been enacted earlier than the promulgation of the ordinance.
The ordinance is predicted to return earlier than the Punjab Meeting for formal consideration as soon as it reconvenes. Advocacy teams say that legislative evaluate will present a chance to strengthen implementation safeguards, together with clearer legal responsibility for individuals who solemnize baby marriages and enhanced child-centered safety measures.
“Legislative reform is a crucial milestone,” Arora stated. “However its success will finally rely on 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 Record of nations the place Christians face probably the most extreme persecution.
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