ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has signed into law the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024, raising the marriageable age for minority Christian community to 18 years.
Addressing a special ceremony after signing the Act at the President House on Tuesday, the president said that all minorities are equal citizens of Pakistan who have equal rights, according to the press release issued on Tuesday by the President's Secretariat Press Wing.
Underscoring the need to further enhance the employment quota for minorities in all government jobs, he said, “I will definitely write to the government and ask them for this."
Highlighting equal rights for all minorities in Pakistan, he stressed that minorities should not be disheartened by some isolated incidents, saying that they had equal ownership over the homeland as much as anybody else.
The president accorded approval to the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024 under Article 75 of the Constitution. The act amends Section 60 of the Christian Marriage Act of 1872.
Previously, the age of Christian men and women intending to be married was 16 and 13 years respectively.
The ceremony was attended by the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony (MORA), Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs, Zulfiquar Haider, members of the Christian community and senior government officials.
Speaking on the occasion, Bishop Abraham Daniel expressed his gratitude to the President for signing the Act into law, saying that raising the age of marriage for men and women had been a long-standing demand of the Christian community.
He also thanked President Zardari for his role in his previous tenure in reserving a 5% quota for minorities in government jobs, besides allocating special seats for minorities in the Senate as well as declaring 11th August as Minorities' Day in Pakistan.
Secretary MORA Zulfiquar Haider said that the government was committed to safeguarding the rights of minorities in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan, and the vision and values of the country’s founding fathers.
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