An old colonial law finally goes away, but what is needed is protection from forced conversion.
by Massimo Introvigne
What is the minimum legal age to marry in Pakistan? If you believe the question has a simple answer, you are wrong. Among Pakistani provinces, only Sindh has amended its law to make 18 the minimum age for both boys and girls. Other provinces indicate 18 for the boys and 16 for the girls, although on April 15 this year the Lahore High Court declared having a different male and female minimum age in Punjab discriminatory.
Additionally, Christians had until this month a special law just for them, the Christian Marriage Act of 1872, a British colonial provision adjusting the secular law to the practice of some Christian churches, which at that time allowed girls to marry at 13 and boys at 16.
This old law has now finally been amended by the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which makes 18 the minimum age for marriage for both Christian boys and girls. The provision has been applauded by both Protestant and Catholic leaders. But.
While marrying underage girls is a persistent practice in Pakistan from which Christians who marry other Christians are not immune, notwithstanding the opposition of the churches, the main problem is the kidnapping, forced conversion to Islam, and forced marriage to their Muslim captors of Christian (and Hindu) girls, mostly minor.
The Christian Marriage Act of 1872 played a minimal or no role when courts and police protected the Muslim abductors. By the time of the marriage, the Christian girls allegedly were no longer Christian, as their conversion to Islam had been recorded.
A nation-wide minimum age of 18 would help. However, even the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2024 reiterates that in some areas of Pakistan birth certificates may not be available and in this case a medical examination should determine the “biological age.” In cases of forced conversions to Islam and forced marriages to Muslims, the medical examiners sometimes conspire with courts and police to declare a “biological age” of 18 for girls who in fact look like 13 or 14.
“We hope the government will take further steps to criminalize forced religious conversions,” a statement signed by the main Christian leaders in Pakistan concluded.
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
