LONGAWAITED HINDU MARRIAGE BILL PASSED BY PAK SENATE

ISLAMABAD : The upper house of Pakistan’s Senate passed the much-awaited Hindu marriage bill on Friday, awaiting the President’s signature to become a law.

The bill — passed by the lower house in September 2015 — will help Hindu women get documentary proof of their marriage. The new law will pave way for the issuance of a Shaadi Parath, a document signed by a priest and approved by the department concerned.

This will be the first personal law for Pakistani Hindus, applicable in Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Sindh province has already formulated its own Hindu marriage law.

The bill was approved by the senate functional committee on human rights on January 2 with an overwhelming majority. Committee chairperson senator Nasreen Jalil of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said: “It was unfair — not only against the principles of Islam but also a human rights violation — that we have not been able to formulate a personal family law for the Hindus of Pakistan.”

However, some observers say that the bill in its present form leaves some serious gaps. “If parliament passes the bill in the present form, a clause, which makes changing religion grounds for the dissolution of the marriage, will lead to legal, social and political implications,” said analyst Peter Jacob.

Parliamentarian Ramesh Vakvani, who helped with the passage of the bill, said either partner can approach the court for separation if one of them changes their religion. “Making conversion grounds for the dissolution of marriage in the absence of safeguards against forced conversion is a travesty of justice,” he said. HTC

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