Islamabad, Oct. 2 (ANI): A three-member parliamentary panel constituted by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has proposed a new bill, which if passed, will enable members of the Hindu community to register their marriages. Currently, there is no mechanism in place to enable registration of this kind.
If enacted, the law will also authorise representatives of the minority community to form a council which will disallow the registration of marriage of a female under 18 years of age and a male under 21 years of age, reports The Express Tribune.
"We will hand over this draft to (Religious Affairs Minister) Khurshid Shah on October 8 and hope it will be tabled in the National Assembly soon," said MNA Lal Chand, a member of the panel.
The Hindu Marriage Registration Bill has been pending with the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice since 2011. The delay was the result of a stalemate in the Hindu community preventing a consensus on various clauses ever since the bill was drafted in 2008, by the then minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti.
State Minister for Interfaith Harmony Akram Masih Gill also expressed hope that a bill regarding an increase in minorities' seats in parliament as well as provincial assemblies will be tabled in parliament next week.
"It will be a democratic victory for minorities, who have been waiting for decades to see such a huge increase in (their quota)," he said.
In its 13-page report, the panel also requested Zardari for the go-ahead to table the bill in parliament along with another bill against forced conversions. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
