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HVK Archives: Pakistani women protest against marriage law

Pakistani women protest against marriage law - The Times of India

AP ()
1 October 1996

Title : Pakistani women protest against marriage law
Author : AP
Publication : The Times of India
Date : October 1, 1996

Hundreds of women, chanting and carrying signs, demon-
strated on Sunday against a court decision requiring
women to get permission to marry from male guardians.

"We will fight in the courts against this law, which has
been passed in the name of Islam," said Hina Jilani, head
of the women's action forum.

The Lahore high court, the top provincial authority,
ruled on September 25 that 14-year-old Aysha Ijaz and 19-
year-old Shabina Zaffar, were not legally wedded to men
they married because they did not have their fathers'
consent. Both girls reportedly had eloped.

The decision violates women's constitutional rights, said
Jilani, who helped organised the rally outside the court-
house.

"This is a ruling to curb women's rights and make them
totally helpless," one placard read.

Just 100 metres away, about 40 women covered head-to-foot
in Islamic veils and tent-like gowns, gathered in silent
support of the ruling. They carried small placard that
simply read, "Trust Islam."

Justice Abdul Hafeez Cheema's ruling said that according
to Islamic law all women regardless of age must have
permission to marry from their guardians. Otherwise, he
said "the marriage is void."

Islamic laws are open to wide interpretation. Some strict
versions require a girl or women get the consent of a
male relative or guardian to marry. Under Pakistan's
Islamic laws, a girl can be married after reaching puber-
ty.

Ijaz and Zaffar had filed separate petitions calling on
the court to protect them from harassment from family
members after they married.

The fathers of the two girls filed their own petitions,
accusing the girls of `zinah', or fornication.

The judge rejected the girls petitions, and upheld their
fathers'.

Under Islamic laws `zinah' is punishable by stoning to
death, but accusers must bring four eyewitnesses to the
act. Confessions also need to be made four separate times
and can be retracted.



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