ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday assented to “The Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024,” increasing the minimum marriage age limit for members of the Christian faith from 16 to 18 years. The signing ceremony was held at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Addressing the signing ceremony, President Zardari also called for enhancing job quotas for minorities in every government department. He said minorities have equal rights as every other Pakistani has.
President Zardari said that he would write to the government to increase job quotas for minorities. He said that all minorities were equal citizens of the state having equal rights. He highlighted that minorities should not be disheartened by some isolated incidents, saying that they had equal ownership over the homeland as much as anybody else.
The President accorded assent to the Act under Article 75 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The Act amends Section 60 of the Christian Marriage Act of 1872. Prior to the amendments, the age of Christian men and women intending to be married was required to exceed sixteen and thirteen years respectively.
The ceremony was attended by the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony (MORA), Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Secretary MORA, Zulfiquar Haider, members of the Christian community and senior government officials.
Speaking on the occasion, Bishop Abraham Daniel said that raising the age of marriage for men and women had been a long-standing demand of the Christian community. He expressed his gratitude to the President for signing the Act into law during a special ceremony. He also thanked the president for his role in his previous tenure in reserving a 5% quota for minorities in government jobs, besides allocating special seats for minorities in the Senate as well as declaring 11th August as Minorities’ Day in Pakistan.
