Marriage in Islam
ALL parents desire to see the marriages of their children in their lifetime. Therefore, when their child (son or daughter) becomes an adult and reaches a marriageable age, they start…
The marriage age debate
THE new debate over the minimum marriage age for girls has revealed a massive regression in our society’s social thinking and the implications are truly alarming. Ninety years ago, a…
The missing rights of the child
Children constitute 50 percent of Pakistan’s population but remain the most neglected segment of our society. Because they cannot vote, political parties do not promise to do much for them…
The war on mothers and children
Last week, I noticed newspaper headlines about the rate at which newborn children die in Pakistan. The figures being cited were astonishing even for me. Having worked for the Alif…
Protecting child rights in Sindh
Pakistan is one of those unfortunate countries where hundreds of thousands of children under the age of five years die each year. Only those of our children who are lucky…
Criminal neglect of children
By taking suo motu notice of the grave violence against three little girls, two allegedly tortured by their employers and the third raped, badly wounded and thrown in a drain,…
Childhood stunting
Childhood stunting is the physical manifestation of profound mental and developmental delays in growth. Technically, it is defined as the height for a child’s age below the fifth percentile on…
On secret marriages
It happens far more often than anyone is willing to admit or acknowledge. A woman who is a widow, or whose family owes a debt, or who has caught the…
Child brides: The nationalist heritage of rape
Why is it that the widespread rape of young girls is seen as reprehensible, which it is, while the deep-rooted institution of child bride, is not considered deserving of equal…
The ulema’s marriage preoccupation
The one progressive piece of legislation passed in our history was Ayub Khan’s Family Laws Ordinance, 1963. It proclaimed the birth of no women’s revolution but merely put some brakes,…
