On Sunday, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah instructed relevant authorities to submit a report on child marriages in Dadu district, following recent media reports on the issue.
He has directed the Hyderabad commissioner to investigate the marriage of 45 underage girls in Khan Muhammad Mallah village, which has reportedly occurred since last monsoon, with 15 of these marriages taking place in May and June of this year.
The girls’ families have admitted to hastening these marriages, often for financial gain, as a way to alleviate poverty.
The Chief Minister has called for the formation of a committee to conduct a thorough inquiry into the situation in the village and to provide a comprehensive report on the social, economic, and legal conditions of the girls involved.
He emphasized the need to assess the current condition of the married girls and requested a detailed report from the commissioner, including whether the girls were from flood-affected families and the extent of aid they received.
Child marriages are prevalent in parts of Pakistan, which has the sixth-highest rate of girls married before the age of 18 globally, according to government data from December. Although the legal marriage age ranges from 16 to 18 in different regions, enforcement of these laws is inconsistent. UNICEF has noted “significant strides” in reducing child marriage, but extreme weather events pose additional risks, with a report indicating a potential 18 percent increase in child marriage rates due to the 2022 floods, effectively undoing five years of progress.
