Marriage Bill welcome, but concerns remain
It has taken close to seven decades for Pakistan to bring forth a Hindu marriage Bill, but as they say: Better late than never. The draft legislation of the Hindu Marriage Bill, 2015, has been passed by the Senate Standing Committee on law and Justice of the National Assembly at a time when minorities of all types — Hindu, Sikh, Christian and even sects within the Muslim faith — have been increasingly targeted and persecuted in Pakistan. From a healthy figure at the time of Partition to a negligible number today, Hindus have become second-class citizens in that country, with the community’s people being harassed and subjected to violence and its temples destroyed or desecrated.
While the majority community has benefitted from various legal provisions in the conduct of its personal and constitutional affairs, the Hindus have struggled for decades to have a marriage code of their own. Chairman of the panel Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk appropriately said that the failure to do so until now had been had been “unbecoming of us Muslims in general and the political leaders in particular”. He added, “We were required to facilitate the legislation, not obstruct it. If we 99 per cent of the population are afraid of one per cent, we need to look deep inside what we claim to be and what we are.” But it may be early to celebrate the achievement.
For one, the draft legislation has yet to be adopted by the National Assembly. More importantly, certain provisions of the Bill have turned into controversies, with the minority community and others at loggerheads. For instance, the clause that a marriage under the proposed legislation will stand annulled if either of the spouses converts to another religion has been red-flagged by leaders of the Hindu community. They say that the provision is an invitation to conversion; worse, it can be misused to perpetrate forced conversions of married Hindus, just as many unwed Hindu girls have been compelled to embrace Islam. They have a point since the fact is that several Hindu girls were kidnapped and then made to appear before a court of law with certificates that they had married after conversion.
Given that it's not just Hindu organisations — the few that still operate with some level of freedom in Pakistan — but also influential sections from the Muslim community that have opposed the provision, it is possible that the lawmakers will re-think on the matter. Certain panel members have already expressed willingness to discuss the issue threadbare. But they are likely to face stiff challenge from those such as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Pakistan Peoples Party, which have their narrow considerations to guard; already key leaders of the two parties have expressed their positions that can be obstacles in the passage of the Bill minus the specific provision of annulment. The threat of annulment in case of conversion has another dimension: It will discourage inter-religious marriages in Pakistan. let's hope good sense prevails.