ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday signed into law the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2025, setting a minimum legal age of 18 years for marriages in the federal capital and prescribing punishment for the characters behind violations.While civil society organisations and the Pakistan Peoples Party, whose members tabled the bill in the two houses of parliament, hailed the president`s decision despite opposition by religious segments of society as well as Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), the Jamiat Ulema-i-1slam (JUI-F) announced that the party would challenge the law at every forum.

A notification confirming that President Zardari has accorded an assent to the bill was shared by PPP vice-president and parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman on social media platform X.

Senator Rehman termed it a landmark moment in Pakistan`s legislative history. `This is a milestone in Pakistan`s long and difficult journey toward protecting the rights of children especially girls, she wrote.

Despite resistance from various quarters, President Zardari signed the important bill into law, she said, adding that this bill was `against the atrocities committed against young girls`.

Citing the UNFPA Annual Report 2024, the PPP senator underscored that every 50 minutes, a woman in Pakistan dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. Pakistan has the second-highest infant mortality rate in Asia, with 50.10 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to the World Bank, she said.

`This law is not just about banning child marriage. It is a declaration that our girls deserve the right to childhood, to education, to health, and to a life free from coercion and harm. It is a message to every family, every school, and every policymaker that Pakistan`s children matter,` she said.

She also called on the provinces, other than Sindh where the child marriage act was approved as early as in 2013, to follow the federal capital`s lead. `It is now time for the provinces to take meaningful steps towards similar legislation. We cannot allow geography to determine the fate of a child.

Protection must be universal,` she remarked.

While referring to the criticism from some quarters, MNA Farugi made it clear the law was not meant to appease the West, but to protect children`s rights. She urged critics to view the issue through the lens of human rights.

She said, `In signing this law, President Zardari has not only fulfilled a constitutional duty he has stood on the right side of history. He has stood for justice. For the voiceless.

For the millions of young girls who are robbed of their childhood, education, and future through the cruelpractice of child marriage. This is not just a legal victory it is a moral one.

As Sindh is the only province of Pakistan to have a child marriage act, like the federal bill, the Sindh law, too, had faced stern opposition from many clerics when it was approved over a decade ago. Later, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC), in a landmark judgement of 2022, agreed to the right of the state to set marriage age and acknowledged the child marriage act of Sindh.However, despite the Shariat court`s ruling, the legislation has been facing stiff resistance from religious groups. The JUI-F opposed the bill and demanded that the same be referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology before vote. While the bill sailed through both houses without being referred to the CII, the latter at its own rejected the legislation, declaring it contrary to the principles of Sharia.

The CII had earlier as well rejected a similar child marriage bill which was forwarded by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to the council for vetting.

Many clerics belonging to major schools of thought in Islam are of the opinion that girls as young as 13 or 14 years can marry if they attain puberty.

Reacting sharply to the presidential assent to the bill, the JUI-F said parliament had passed an `un-Islamic law`. The president had shown haste in approving the anti-Sharia bill, JUI-F spokesperson Aslam Ghori said.

`The law is contradictory to the Quran and Sunnah and the Constitution of Pakistan does not allow legislation that contradicts the Quran and Sunnah,` Mr Ghori said, adding that the CII had also rejected the bill.

However, he did not mention the Shariat court`s decision.

NCRC statement The National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) rejected the concerns raised by the CII over the bills restricting the minimum marriage age for girls.

In a statement, the NCRC said child marriage was a violation of children`s rights. `It disrupts their education, endangers their health, increases exposure to domestic violence, and undermines their overall development and dignity,` it added.

It pointed out that Pakistan was a signatory to the UNCRC, which obligated the state to protect children from all forms of harm, abuse and exploitation. Article 9 ensures the right to life and liberty, which inherently includes the right to a safe and healthy childhood, while Article 25 guarantees equality of citizens.

The NCRC said various Muslim-majority countries including Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco have legislated to set 18 years as the minimum age for marriage.