Rising number of poverty-induced child marriages makes Pakistan no country for girls

According to a report released in Pakistan, the poverty rate in Pakistan is at an alarming 31.3 per cent. There are a number of serious issues related to poverty in the country, but experts maintain that child marriage is among the most horrifying, reports The Nation.

In Pakistan, the underprivileged families are unable to send their children to school which is forcing them to make their boys to start working at a tender age.

They are also forced to marry their girl child even when they have not attained the correct age for it.

As per an organisation named Sahil, 'In the year 2020, a total of 119 cases of child marriages were reported. Out of the total 119 reported cases, 95 per cent cases were of girls, and 5 per cent cases were of boys', reports The Nation.

Experts have blamed poverty as the reason behind the rise in child marriage.

Qaiser Khan, a political activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told The Nation that poverty is the biggest cause of child marriages. Khan slammed so-called unions as the outright selling of young impoverished girls.

"In newly merged tribal districts and Malakund district, people take 500,000 rupees (€2,660, $3,180) to 2,000,000 rupees from men wanting to marry their underage girls. Most of these men are wealthy and already married," Khan said. 

The activist alleged that religious leaders and political personalities of the region are involved in it.

An Islamabad-based activist, Habiba Salman and an anonymous activist in Quetta said the situation is almost the same in the city of Chitral and Quetta.

“The wealthy people pay between Rs 1 million to Rs 4 million to marry underage girls,” they told The Nation.

Activists have urged the government to take major steps to tackle the issue, including harsh punishments. However, they reiterate that the society as a whole has to fight to uproot child marriages from Pakistan, the newspaper reported.