Outcry in Pakistan over failure to outlaw child marriage

There is ongoing outrage in Pakistan by activists who are demanding the resignation of its Islamic council chief.
The outrage sparked after the chief of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) called an attempt to raise legal marriage age “blasphemous”.

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The council opposed a bill to increase the minimum legal age for marriage from 16 to 18 while Pakistan’s National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony rejected the “child marriage restraint” bill last week after saying it is “anti-Islamic”.

After the bill was opposed, critics called for the dismissal of the Islamic council chief.

“Maulvi Sherani must immediately be removed from his post as CII chairperson and an educated, enlightened, progressive, moderate and real Islamic scholar – who lives in the 21st century, and who does not hate women and girls – must be appointed to replace him,” civil society leaders demanded in a statement.

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