ISLAMABAD – President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday signed an Act to raise the minimum age to 18 years for marriage for both men and women of Christian community.
The president signed Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024 at the Aiwan-i-Sadr where Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Chaudhry Salik Hussain, secretary of the religious ministry, officials and representatives of the Christian community were also present.
Previously, the minimum age for girls was 13 years for marriage and 16 years for boys in Christian community.
“The Act provides for raising the marriageable age for Christian men and women to eighteen years. 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,” President Secretariat said in a press release.
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.
Meanwhile, President Zardari reiterated that the minority communities living in Pakistan, enjoyed equal rights and stressed upon increasing jobs quota for them in different government departments.
He said that he would write to the federal government to enhance the jobs quota in different departments including police, FIA etc, for the minorities.
